The Globe and Mail - British Columbia News

Who ran three campaigns in B.C.?

IAN BAILEY — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

New Democratic PartyGerry Scott, manager of the federal NDP campaign in British Columbia, learned the grind of retail politics running as a provincial candidate against Social Credit legend Grace McCarthy. He also ran federally against John Turner in Vancouver-Quadra in 1988.

Parents of slain Chinese girl upset Emerson didn't meet with them

IAN BAILEY — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

The parents of murder victim Amanda Zhao are dismayed that David Emerson cancelled a planned meeting with them yesterday, and plan to stay in Canada for much of this month in hopes of meeting with the Foreign Affairs Minister and the Justice Minister.

Insite revelation proves RCMP needs watching

GARY MASON — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

Those heading up our national police force must be so glad people have other things on their minds these days.Otherwise, Canadians might be howling about the Mounties' latest antics and demanding our political leaders hold them accountable.

FIVE THINGS: THIS WEEKEND

Jennifer Van Evra — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

1Fall FeastsBefore you start whipping up that Thanksgiving feast, enjoy a walk in the fall leaves, then stop by one of the province's many farmers markets and bring home a little seasonal bounty (eatlocal.org). And head for Fort Langley's annual Cranberry Festival for a pancake breakfast, entertainment and, of course, loads of cranberries (today, fortlangley.com).

Tory riding official quits, backs Grewal opponent

ROBERT MATAS — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

An active Conservative Party member in the hotly contested British Columbia riding of Fleetwood-Port Kells jumped to the Liberal Party yesterday, prompting a charge that the Liberals were orchestrating a publicity stunt four days before the election.

Sales of ticket packages brisk on first day, company says

STEPHANIE LEVITZ — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

Canadians who don't want to leave Olympic gold-medal hockey tickets up to lady luck can take their fortune into their own hands.Or at least spend a fortune with their own hands by buying one of the hospitality packages that went on sale yesterday for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Islamic group's complaint about Maclean's fails again

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

The B.C. Human Rights Commission has rejected a complaint that a Maclean's magazine article about Islam violated Canada's anti-hate laws.It is the third time the complaint has been dismissed by various human rights commissions in Canada after it was filed by two members of the Canadian Islamic Congress, which claimed the piece by columnist Mark Steyn raised hatred against Muslims.

Film fest honours the best in the West

FIONA MORROW — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

The 2008 Vancouver International Film Festival wrapped last night with a gala screening of Laurent Cantet's Palme d'Or-winning The Class. The screening was preceded by the award ceremony for the audience and jury prizes.

Young candidate takes self out of run for mayor

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

The man who was the youngest candidate for mayor in Victoria has decided he's really too young for the job and will run for city council instead.Simon Nattrass, 19, says should spend a while on council to get some experience before going after the mayor's chair.

Teachers face complaints of sexual misconduct

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

Two female teachers in separate B.C. communities are facing allegations of sexual misconduct involving students.In Vernon, 43-year-old Deborah Ashton has been placed on leave after being accused of invitation to sexual touching and touching for sexual purposes in the case of a child under 14.

Arrest leads to kidnap accusations against RCMP

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

The RCMP say they were accused of kidnapping when they went to arrest a Vancouver man yesterday on U.S.-based drug charges.The Mounties say they had a warrant for 26-year-old Mandeep Kumar Ranga, who U.S. authorities want extradited on drug-dealing charges.

Boy is youngest to receive smallest heart pump

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

A 13-year-old boy from the Vancouver area has survived a potentially fatal heart condition by becoming the youngest patient in the world to receive the world's smallest heart pump.

Three ridings in the spotlight

Ian Bailey — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

1 KAMLOOPS-THOMPSON-CARIBOOWhen NDP Leader Jack Layton took a West Coast trip in late September aimed at boosting the party's hopes in British Columbia, he began in one of the most fiercely fought ridings in the province, if not the country.

Scotland Yard officer disputes justice's account of his arrest

ROBERT MATAS — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

A top Scotland Yard investigator has publicly contradicted the account of the former Canadian judge who was arrested last month in the Cayman Islands on allegations of misconduct while serving as a justice in the British colony's Grand Court.

THREE NEW FACES TO WATCH

Justine Hunter — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

Briony Penn, the Liberal candidate in Saanich-Gulf Islands is a veteran environmentalist, founder of the Land Conservancy of B.C. and a former director of the Raincoast Conservation Foundation. But she is perhaps better remembered for staging a topless Lady Godiva ride in downtown Vancouver against logging on Saltspring Island. If she wins, she topples a high-profile Conservative, Gary Lunn.

What's bugging British Columbia that no one's talking about?

JUSTINE HUNTER — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

When Conservative Leader Stephen Harper visited the B.C. capital this week for a rally, he could have been standing in a hotel meeting room anywhere in Canada. The 150 party supporters in the cramped, windowless room provided a colourful backdrop for Mr. Harper as he delivered a message to Canadian voters on the national economy.

'Ordinary Canadians'

Philip Jackman — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

Why do politicians keep calling us that?

THEATRE: GOING OUT

Michael Harris — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

THE HISTORY BOYSWritten by Alan BennettDirected by Dean Paul GibsonStarring Bernard CufflingAt the Granville Island Stageto Oct. 25***1/2The Arts Club's Canadian premiere of Alan Bennett's brainy and unabashedly erotic comedy, which tracks the final year of high school for a squad of potential Oxbridge boys, is deftly delivered by director Dean Paul Gibson. The eight boys are wide-legged at their outgrown desks, wearing loose-knotted ties and bemused smirks.

AIDS researcher blasts RCMP for undermining Insite

WENDY STUECK — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

Newly released e-mails show the RCMP tried to discredit Vancouver's supervised-injection clinic and are part of a pattern of interference in science by the federal government, a renowned AIDS researcher says.

Accused in puppy shooting barred from B.C. island

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

A Victoria-area man facing charges after a puppy was shot and killed on Quadra Island has been ordered to stay away from the island after making a brief appearance in court here.

Mayoral debates could use a pterodactyl or two to liven things up

ROD MICKLEBURGH — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

I took in the second of the Ladner-Robertson mayoralty debates and, er, um ... zzzz ... where was I? Oh yes, in the improbable setting of Science World's steeply tiered Omnimax, where one kept hoping a pterodactyl movie would break out to relieve the tedium.

B.C. braces for spreading contagion

DAVID EBNER — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

The already shaky British Columbia economy is set to weaken further amid the collapsing U.S. housing market and the credit crisis it has spawned.The impact is widespread, affecting real estate, construction, forestry, consumer spending and commodities, and expectations for growth are being slashed.

Slain couple known to police

IAN BAILEY — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

The RCMP have identified the victims of a ''targeted homicide'' in a Prince George home this week as a man and woman who were known to police.Police refused to explain further, but said 19-year-old Brittany Giese and Garrett McComb, 23, were found dead in the six-bedroom home near the main campus of the University of Northern British Columbia.

Harper defends Insite opposition

STEVEN CHASE — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper found himself once again defending his government's controversial efforts to end supervised street-drug injections at the Insite facility during a campaign stop in Richmond yesterday.

Federal foes, provincial friends. Can Campbell bring peace to his own party?

JUSTINE HUNTER — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

Wednesday morning, win or lose, federal election campaign workers of every stripe will be busy unplugging phone banks, tearing down posters and collecting up their candidates' lawn signs.The lucky ones then get to take a break. Others get to start all over again in B.C., where the provincial parties dig in for a pair of tough by-election battles with just two weeks left until voting day.

'I had no option,' says man who won death struggle with bear

MARK HUME — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

When Jim West clubbed a bear to death with a stick on the weekend, after he was attacked in the woods near his British Columbia home, he did more than even the score in the old battle of man versus beast.

Civic candidates spar over athletes village

FRANCES BULA — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

All of Vancouver's current and would-be councillors are anxiously watching the city's troubled 2010 Olympic athletes village project.But in interviews, the politicians display significantly different opinions over how confident they are that the project will conclude successfully, whether they think the city is safeguarded from a financial disaster and whether it was a good deal to start with.

FLASHBACK: 15 YEARS AGO: 25 YEARS AGO

Brennan Clarke — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

Oct. 5-11, 1993Chretien eyes majority, Campbell faces disasterWith three weeks left in the federal election campaign, polls pointed to a majority government for Liberal Leader Jean Chretien and spelled disaster for Prime Minister Kim Campbell's Progressive Conservatives.

Vancouver Opera posts operating surplus

James Bradshaw — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

Vancouver Opera has continued an impressive trend, posting its eighth operating surplus in nine years.Audited statements show the company some $50,000 in the black for 2007-2008 on a budget of $8.7-million. The company also received record individual gifts and saw increases in both earned and contributed revenues.

RCMP willing to give China evidence

ROD MICKLEBURGH — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

The RCMP is more than willing to turn over its evidence in the troubling Amanda Zhao murder case to Chinese authorities so that the only suspect in her death can be tried in China, chief B.C. Superintendent Dick Bent said yesterday.

Environmental groups force Ottawa to court in bid to save orcas

MARK HUME — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

A coalition of six environmental groups is taking the federal government to court for allegedly failing to protect British Columbia's endangered killer whales under the Species At Risk Act.

Deficits loom for Translink, official says

ROBERT MATAS — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

The current year could be the last time Translink, the regional public transportation system, balances its books unless significant changes are made in its sources of revenues, a Translink spokesman says.

MORE WATCHABLE THAN THE DEBATES

Brad Wheeler — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

In a Canadian Stage Company-Vancouver Playhouse Theatre co-production that premiered in Vancouver in last month, Ted Dykstra directs Frost/Nixon, Peter Morgan's Tony-nominated re-creation of the events surrounding the televised interviews of disgraced former president Richard Nixon by British chat-show host David Frost in 1977.

Cornucopia festival

Fiona Morrow — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

The financial crisis is making itself felt in the run-up to Whistler, B.C.'s annual Cornucopia bash, which will be held from Nov. 6 to 10. Ticket sales for the food and wine festival are down. Hardest hit are sales for the luxe winemaker's dinners held at the resort's swankiest restaurants - tickets range from $150 to $295 a person. Concerned that the festival did little to encourage attendees to eat out locally, the Restaurant Association of Whistler pushed Watermark Communications Inc., Cornucopia's new organizers for 2008, to rethink Crush, the most popular event of the festival.

MUSIC: GOING OUT

Jennifer Van Evra — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

You'll have to camp out on Craigslist if you want tickets to Aussie dance group Cut Copy, theatrical New York Gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello, hipster electrofunk duo Chromeo, or California Celtic rockers Flogging Molly, because they're all sold out. But there are plenty of other great shows.

Should we ditch 'the linen and serve steak frites?'

FIONA MORROW — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

A year ago Vancouver was a boom town for restaurants.In three blocks of the Gastown neighbourhood alone, there were 800 new seats available for dining. The Olympics fever that fuelled the rapid growth continues. Between now and January, four of the most highly anticipated rooms in the city will open: Voya Restaurant at the Loden Vancouver hotel; Lumiere and DB Bistro Moderne by Daniel Boulud in Kitsilano; and Market at the Shangri-La Hotel, courtesy of Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

RCMP defends hiring experts to review Insite research

WENDY STUECK — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

Hiring academic experts to review research is part of being an ''effective and impartial police force,'' an RCMP spokeswoman said yesterday.The practice helps determine whether findings are accurate and supported and ''goes for all subjects, not just supervised-injection sites,'' said Constable Annie Linteau of B.C.'s E Division.

Civil-rights group disputes VANOC's ad buy

Thu, 9 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

The sale of every inch of outdoor advertising in Vancouver to 2010 Olympic organizers for the duration of the Games may be in violation of the law, a civil-rights watchdog says.

Act hobbling investigation, B.C. lobbyist registrar says

DIRK MEISSNER — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

B.C.'s registrar of lobbyists says he will no longer investigate complaints of unregistered lobbying because his office doesn't have the mandate to do the job.In a letter to New Democrat MLA Leonard Krog, David Loukidelis says his role and authority is limited by the terms of the provincial Lobbyists' Registration Act.

Harper hammers Green Shift as uncaring

STEVEN CHASE — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper played the carbon-tax card during a campaign stop in Victoria yesterday, trying to counter Liberal charges that he lacks empathy for victims of market turmoil by reminding voters that his rivals promise a levy on fuel similar to one British Columbians already pay.

Canucks owner seeks rezoning for high-rise

Thu, 9 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

The owner of the Vancouver Canucks is on a breakaway as developers race to build high-rises in downtown Kelowna.Francesco Aquilini of Aquilini Developments will have a rezoning proposal October 21 that could allow for the first high-rise on Bernard Avenue.

Auto association drops waiting-list insurance

Thu, 9 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

The B.C. Automobile Association has dropped its plans to offer members a form of medical waiting-list insurance. BCAA president Bill Bullis says a survey of 145,000 association members found it's not in the company's interest to continue a trial offer of the insurance.

Vancouver construction boom levelled by skittish lenders, high costs

FRANCES BULA — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

Vancouver developers say the housing-boom party is over in this region, as condo pre-sales have dropped to a sluggish trickle, lenders have become increasingly skittish about financing projects and high construction costs continue to wreak havoc.

An officer, a gentlewoman and a Muslim

JANE ARMSTRONG — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

In her crisp, white shirt, pressed black skirt and white hijab head covering - Canadian Forces Lieutenant Wafa Dabbagh looked every inch the disciplined soldier.The only part of her appearance that looked out of place was that her shirt wasn't tucked in. As a faithful Muslim woman, Lt. Dabbagh's dress code doesn't permit her to wear tight or form-fitting clothing. And the Canadian Forces is fine with that. Since joining the forces 12 years ago, Lt. Dabbagh said, the Canadian Forces have gone out of their way to accommodate her faith's dress code and dietary restrictions.

Will the global economic crisis be a factor in funding for athletes village?

GARY MASON — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

Despite assurances that everything will be just fine, Vancouver's civic politicians know that construction of the athletes village for the 2010 Winter Games could still become a boondoggle for which taxpayers will be left holding the bag.