Ibrahim Amjad Ibrahim of Surrey, shot dead in Richmond, was targeted

11 October 2017

THE Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) on Wednesday announced that the homicide victim whose body was discovered on Tuesday (October 10) just after 4:15 a.m., in Richmond’s Garden City Park is Ibrahim Amjad Ibrahim, 30, of Surrey.

Ibrahim was known to police and investigators believe his murder was targeted.

(Although IHIT said he was from Surrey, Surrey RCMP had said last July that he was from Coquitlam).

Kamloops CFJC Today reported that Ibrahim was present at the murder of gang kingpin Konaam Shirzad, a leader of the Red Scorpions gang, in Kamloops on September 21, but he was not injured.

RCMP Cpl. Jodi Shelkie told CJC Today that Ibrahim was not cooperative as a witness to the shooting.

IHIT Cpl. Frank Jang said: “Mr. Ibrahim was associated to gangs but to say these associations are the reason for his murder would be premature. It remains early in the investigation and investigators are working to determine motive.”

When Richmond RMCP found the body, it appeared the victim had sustained gunshot wounds. The death was deemed suspicious in nature and IHIT took conduct of the investigation.

IHIT is working closely with the Richmond RCMP, the Integrated Forensic Identification Section and the B.C. Coroner’s Service during this evidence gathering phase.

“Anyone in the area of the parking lot of Garden City Park during the overnight period of October 9 is asked to contact IHIT.” Cpl. Jang said. “This is yet another life that has been lost too soon. It is a reminder that if you are involved in or associated to criminal activity, then you are not immune to its inherent dangers.”

On July 31, Surrey RCMP had cautioned the public against interaction with five individuals, including Ibrahim, who had been the targets of shots fired incidents over the previous two months.

The five who were being targeted.
Photo by Jay Sharma by Mahi Photo Studio

The five had been the victims or intended victims of shootings that had occurred in Surrey in summer.

“They have each been spoken to by investigators and, although their lives are in danger, they have not provided statements to police. As such, Surrey RCMP believes these people have become a risk to public safety,” the RCMP said at the time.
The others were Karman Singh Grewal, 25, from Vancouver; Manbir Singh Grewal, 28, from Coquitlam; Indervir Singh Johal, 23, from Surrey; and Harmeet Singh Sanghera, 23, from Surrey.
“Each of these individuals has refused to provide information to police on these violent incidents,” said Assistant Commissioner Dwayne McDonald, Surrey RCMP Officer in Charge. “At this point, we must assume that these men continue to be targets and, as such, we are advising the public to be cautious of any interaction with these five individuals.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the IHIT Information Line at 1-877-551-IHIT (4448) or by email at ihitinfo@rcmp-grc.gc.ca.

Should you wish to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

Surrey man charged for collision with rail overpass in Coquitlam

11 October 2017

A 64-year-old Surrey man has been charged for an August 18 collision with a Canadian Pacific (CP) Rail overpass in Coquitlam.

Robert Thomas Bateman is facing one count of dangerous driving and one count of mischief. Bateman’s next court appearance is November 20.

Bateman is accused of driving a flatbed truck with a crane on the back that collided with a CP Rail overpass on Lougheed Highway just south of Barnet Highway. The collision caused a visible hole in the overpass and led to full and partial closures of Lougheed Highway that lasted through the afternoon rush hour.

The rail overpass was examined by CP engineers in the aftermath of the collision and is now operating normally. There were no other vehicles involved in the collision and no injuries.

Six-in-10 say United Conservative Party will be good for Alberta, but half fear it will be ‘too right-wing’: Angus Reid

11 October 2017

Seven-in-10 say Notley government is ‘out of touch’ with what Albertans really want

WITH the unification of the former Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties culminating October 28 with the election of a new leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP), Premier Rachel Notley will know her challenger for the 2019 election, states Angus Reid Institute.

Whether it turns out to be Brian Jean, Jason Kenney, or a surprise choice other than those two front-runners, the new leader will find himself on a relatively promising path to the Premier’s office, according to a new Angus Reid Institute analysis of quarterly polling data.

Both Jean and Kenney are viewed more favourably than the current premier, and an overwhelming number of Albertans (70%) see Notley as “out of touch” with what Albertans really want from their provincial leadership.

More Key Findings:

Fewer than three-in-ten Albertans (29%) approve of Notley; both former PC leader Jason Kenney (38%) and former Wildrose leader Brian Jean (48%) surpass her on this marker

Asked which of the front-runners they would prefer to see leading the United Conservative Party into the 2019 election, 33 per cent of Albertans choose Jean, while 22 per cent would prefer Kenney. The rest opt for neither of the two (22%) or express no preference (23%)

Just under half of Alberta’s residents (47%) express concern that the UCP will be too right-wing, and would like to see a centrist alternative emerge

Suspect in gas-and-dash incident that killed Jayesh Prajapati found guilty of second-degree murder

11 October 2017

Jayesh Prajapati with his wife, Vaishali, and son.

MAX Edwin Tutiven of Toronto has been found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of gas attendant Jayesh Prajapati, 44, in North York on September 15, 2012, in a gas-and-dash incident.
Tutiven pleaded not guilty but he admitted that he hit and dragged Prajapati with his SUV after stealing $112.85 worth of gas. However, he claimed that he never saw Prajapati near his vehicle and only realized that he had hit someone a couple of days later.

Crown attorney told the court that Tutiven felt the impact of hitting Prajapati and heard people yelling at him to stop. A resident of a nearby apartment building testified he could hear the sound of Prajapati being dragged in the wheels of the SUV from his 18th-floor unit, according to the Toronto Star.
It took the jurors six hours on Tuesday to reach a guilty verdict. Prajapati was an immigrant from India and had got Canadian citizenship not long before he died,
Tutiven will be sentenced on November 1.

Sex with wife below 18 years of age is rape: India’s Supreme Court

11 October 2017

New Delhi (PTI): Sexual intercourse with a girl below 18 years of age, even by the husband, would now amount to rape, the Supreme Court held on Wednesday in a historic verdict which criminalised sex with a wife who is not a major.

The apex court read down a provision in the Indian Penal Code of 1860 exempting males from being tried for rape if the wives were between the age of 15 and 18 years.

The top court also made clear that it had not “dealt with the larger issue of marital rape (sexual intercourse with wife without her consent) of adult women” as it was not raised before it.

In an unprecedented decision, the top court amended the wordings of ‘Exception 2 of Section 375 (definition rape) of the IPC, which would now read: “Sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under eighteen years of age, is not rape.”

Earlier, the provision stated that sexual intercourse by a man with his wife is not rape if she is not under 15 years of age.

The apex court also made it clear that this judgement will have a “prospective effect”.

“The issue before us is limited but one of considerable public importance whether sexual intercourse between a man and his wife, being a girl between 15 and 18 years of age, is rape? Exception 2 to Section 375 of the IPC, 1860 answers this in the negative, but in our opinion sexual intercourse with a girl below 18 years of age is rape, regardless of whether she is married or not.

“The exception carved out in IPC creates an unnecessary and artificial distinction between a married girl child and an unmarried girl child and has no rational nexus with any unclear objective sought to be achieved,” a two-judge bench headed by Justice M B Lokur said in a path-breaking judgement.

Justice Deepak Gupta, who wrote a separate 57-page-long verdict, concurred with the findings of Justice Lokur and said, “I am clearly of the opinion that Exception 2 to Section 375 IPC in so far as it relates to a girl child below 18 years is liable to be struck down.”

Justice Gupta said the provision was “arbitrary, capricious, whimsical and violative of the rights of the girl child and not fair, just and reasonable and, therefore, violative of Article 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution.”

The two separate but concurring verdicts, running into 127 pages, dealt with various aspects, such as the practice of child marriage, indifferent treatment meted out to married children, adverse effects of sexual intercourse, violation of their human rights, anomalies in laws and apathy of Parliament in preventing such a malice.

Both the judges were unanimous that there should be harmonious construction of all pro-child laws — the Juvenile Justice Act, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act and the IPC to avoid any conflict among them while dealing with the issue of sexual intercourse involving a girl below the age of 18.

“There is an apparent conflict or incongruity between the provisions of the IPC and the POCSO Act. The rape of a married girl child (a girl child between 15 and 18 years of age) is not rape under the IPC and therefore not an offence in view of Exception 2 to Section 375 thereof, but it is an offence of aggravated penetrative sexual assault under Section 5(n) of the POCSO Act and punishable under Section 6 of that Act.

“This conflict or incongruity needs to be resolved in the best interest of the girl child and the provisions of various complementary statutes need to be harmonised and read purposively to present an articulate whole,” the bench said.

“The artificial distinction (between a married girl and others between the 15 to 18 years of age group) is arbitrary and discriminatory and is definitely not in the best interest of the girl child. The artificial distinction is contrary to the philosophy and ethos of Article 15(3) of the Constitution as well as contrary to Article 21 of the Constitution and our commitments in international conventions.

“It is also contrary to the philosophy behind some statutes, the bodily integrity of the girl child and her reproductive choice. What is equally dreadful, the artificial distinction turns a blind eye to trafficking of the girl child and surely each one of us must discourage trafficking which is such a horrible social evil,” Justice Lokur said.

The court voiced concern over thousands of minor girls being married in mass wedding ceremonies on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya and observed that child marriage cannot go on like this just because this illegal practice was assumed to be legal and going on for ages.

It had earlier also questioned the Centre how Parliament could create an exception in law declaring that intercourse or a sexual act by a man with his wife, aged between 15 and less than 18 years, is not rape when the age of consent is 18.

New Liberal tax on employee discounts will target the working class: Conservatives

10 October 2017

CONSERVATIVE shadow finance minister Pierre Poilievre has condemned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new tax on employee discounts, a plan uncovered by Globe and Mail reporter, Campbell Clark, who published an email he received from a Canada Revenue Agency official confirming the new rule.

Under the new rules, local business owners will now need to track each time a waitress gets a discount on food or a shoe salesmen gets 10% off on footwear, so the government can tax these workers on “the fair market value of the merchandise purchased, less the amount paid by the employee,” according to the Canada Revenue Agency’s “folio”.
“When the Liberals said they would go after ‘wealthy tax cheats’ this is what they meant: hard-working waitresses having a pizza at midnight after an eight-hour shift or a fitness trainer who gets a gym membership with his job,” said Poilievre. “Now local business owners will need to track all of these discounts so the government can charge higher taxes to low-income wage earners.”
While the Retail Council warned the Finance Committee about the change in September, most MPs believed it had to be a mistaken interpretation, until Monday.
Poilievre noted: “This latest Liberal tax increase will target those who can least afford to pay more. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ‘family fortune’, as he likes to call it, will be untouched once again.
“If the government wants to tax the difference between the ‘fair market value of the merchandise purchased’ and the price paid, then perhaps that rule should apply to the Prime Minister. Justin Trudeau and his family enjoyed thousands of dollars of vacation benefits paid by wealthy friends and he should pay tax on that price discount.
“The Liberals cannot simply blame this decision on the CRA. The Prime Minister has set the tone. By attacking our local businesses and family farmers, and calling them tax cheats, he has unleashed the tax collectors to hound all hardworking Canadians for more money.
“There is an alternative, Prime Minister: get government spending under control, so you will no longer need to pick the pockets of working people.”

Poilievre pledged to continue the fight against this and other tax increases on the floor of the House of Commons.

A lesson for Canada: Quebec pharmacare system creates winners and losers

10 October 2017

QUEBEC spends $200 more per person than the rest of Canada to provide prescription drug coverage to everyone in the province, finds new research that could inform plans for a nationwide universal drug plan.

Quebec introduced a private-public drug coverage system in 1997. In contrast to a universal public drug plan, the Quebec system requires all employers that provide any health benefits to also provide private drug coverage for their employees. Seniors, people on social assistance and anyone else who does not get private coverage through their employers are required to contribute to an insurance-style drug plan from the provincial government.

“Quebec introduced an insurance-based drug coverage system 20 years ago that was supposed to save taxpayers money,” said Steve Morgan, a professor in the school of population and public health at UBC and lead author of the study. “We found that it came at an astounding cost to Quebecers.”

Researchers at UBC, Carleton University, Concordia University and the University of Montreal examined the benefits and costs of Quebec’s system, 20 years after it was implemented, and compared the results to the rest of Canada and similar countries around the world.

The researchers found that Quebec’s private-public system has increased access to medicines for the working population but it has come at a cost of approximately $200 more per person than the rest of Canada.

Canada as a whole spends $200 more per person than comparable countries that include prescription drug coverage within their universal healthcare systems.

“Private and public spending for medications is 75 per cent more per person in Quebec compared to countries with universal pharmacare,” said Marc-André Gagnon, a professor at the school of public policy and administration at Carleton University. “However, as compared to these countries, we are far behind in terms of access to medications: more than twice as many Quebecers cannot fill their prescriptions for financial reasons.”

The researchers also found that the increased coverage in Quebec is disproportionately expensive for low-income individuals and families compared to households with higher incomes. The premiums under Quebec’s partially-subsidized public drug plan can amount to more than three per cent of a $40,000 household income, but only 1.6 per cent for households with an $80,000 income.

Workers with private insurance offered through their employers can end up paying even more as insurers are able to raise premiums annually. Researchers found that the private plans can cost 10 per cent of a person’s income if they are a part-time worker.

“The biggest winners in the Quebec system have been the industry stakeholders that have made billions more than they would have made if Quebec had implemented a universal public plan 20 years ago,” said Morgan.

A recent report from the parliamentary budget officer estimates that a universal, public pharmacare system would save Canadians more than $4 billion per year while this study suggests that applying Quebec’s private-public model in all provinces would cost Canadians over $5-billion more per year than they currently pay.

The researchers say these findings should be considered as the federal government contemplates different models for providing universal pharmacare to all Canadians.

This study was published today in CMAJ.

New online application speeds up service for landlords and tenants

10 October 2017

A new online application to file for dispute resolution will make it easier and faster for B.C.tenants and landlords to resolve tenancy issues.

Recently launched by the Residential Tenancy Branch, the redesigned application will guide the applicant through the process to make sure they are providing the right information. This will help avoid adjournments and dismissals due to incomplete or incorrect applications.

The system allows users to apply for disputes directly from their computer or mobile device. People can still access the paper application as well.

Significant improvements to the new service include:

User-friendly, intuitive question-and-answer format
Step-by-step instructions and evidence requirements
Ability to securely upload evidence
Automated email notifications and reminders
Works on all devices

Low-income tenants may apply for a fee waiver at the time of application and upload proof of income, which is also a new feature of the online application.

This is part of the B.C. government’s commitment to strengthen services for tenants and landlords. In September, the provincial government added $6.8 million in new funding for the Residential Tenancy Branch to reduce wait times for tenancy disputes and to establish a new compliance unit to take action against landlords and tenants who are repeat or serious offenders.

Quick Facts:

The Residential Tenancy Branch promotes successful tenancies by providing tenants and landlords with information on their rights and responsibilities.
The branch also plays an administrative justice role by resolving tenancy disputes.
Each year, the branch receives approximately 22,000 applications for dispute resolution and over 300,000 phone calls.

Learn More:

For information about residential tenancies, visit: www.gov.bc.ca/landlordtenant

To find out about dispute resolution, go to: www.gov.bc.ca/landlordtenant/dispute

Access to the new online application is available here: www.gov.bc.ca/landlordtenant/online

Suspicious house fire at 13571 Blundell Road in Richmond (updated)

10 October 2017

RICHMOND RCMP are investigating a suspicious house fire at 13571 Blundell Road.
Brian MacLeod, Community Relations Officer of the department, told The VOICE on Monday (October 9) that the fire started around 4:55 a.m. The house was engulfed in heavy smoke.
There were no injuries to first responders or residents. Originally there was some confusion regarding a missing person but they were located by Richmond RCMP.
RCMP Cpl. Dennis Hwang told The VOICE on Friday that police responded to the fire to assist Richmond Fire-Rescue and that “the cause of the fire is under investigation but appears suspicious.”
If anyone has any information regarding this incident, contact Cpl. Chris Gerow from the Richmond RCMP General Investigation Section at 604-278-1212 or email police at Richmond_Tips@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

2018 Chevrolet Equinox Designed for Everyday Life

10 October 2017

Oshawa, Ontario — People turn to social media to share experiences and track the latest trends in fashion and design. So does Chevrolet. When working on the 2018 Equinox’s interior, the design team crafted a comfortable, fashion-forward interior with features and materials developed for easier everyday use. During the process, they followed real people on Instagram and other social media channels, along with designers and lifestyle influencers, monitoring colour and fabric trends as well as common consumer problems such as dark-wash denim staining other fabrics it touches — including new-vehicle seats.

“Many fashion trends disappear after a year of two, while the Equinox is designed for the long haul, making the durability of its materials very important,” said Mara Kapsis, colour and trim designer for the 2018 Equinox. “By following real people and absorbing the little things in life that help or hinder them — such as photos posted of muddy paws, spilled drinks or stains on the seats — we learned more about how we could make the new Equinox easier to live with and enjoy every day.”

The 2018 Equinox interior offers a durable denim-like seat fabric that is easy to clean, or available leather seating surfaces with a new treatment that resists staining and scuffing.

The denim-like material’s appearance and colour were inspired by contemporary trends in black denim clothing, while the material offers exceptional wear resistance and easy clean-up.

“The fabric is very durable, while the colour and even the pattern help hide dirt and stains,” said Kapsis. “It’s also very easy to vacuum and clean, which saves owners time and helps keep the interior looking great year after year.”

As for the available leather-trimmed seats, the newly developed surface treatment makes it easier to clean any “bleeding” of other materials such as new jeans and annoying scuffs from black leather belts or boots.

“The Equinox is designed for the way our customers live,” said Kapsis. “Complementing its style with durable, easy-to-clean materials helps ensure it and its owners make a fashion statement every day.”

Fashion forecasting was also part of the process, as the design team needed to anticipate colour trends about three years ahead of the Equinox’s launch, which is typical for vehicle design.

“More than anticipating where design will be when the vehicle is introduced, you’ve got to balance it with a timeless quality that will keep it looking modern for years to come,” said Kapsis. “There’s risk involved with that, but it paid off with the new Equinox.” The 2018 Equinox is on sale now, starting at $25,445 plus a destination freight charge of $1,798.

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