BRIAN Jean, United Conservative Party leadership hopeful, on Tuesday became the first candidate to submit his Leadership Candidate Questionnaire, $20,000 good conduct bond and the final half of the $75,000 leadership entry fee to the United Conservative Party.
Jean released the following statement regarding the campaign’s success:
“I’m humbled by the support our positive vision for Alberta has received and I truly appreciate the thousands of individuals who have made financial and volunteer contributions to our campaign. Assembling this much in small contributions, this quickly, couldn’t happen without the support and enthusiasm of so many Albertans. I particularly want to thank the over 500 persons who made “$200 foundational contributions” to our campaign.
“This new party must be built on a strong foundation of conservative principles and ideals that will appeal to as many Albertans as possible. I am encouraged by how Albertans have responded to our positive campaign designed around those mainstream conservative ideals and I encourage all interested Albertans to buy a membership in the United Conservative Party in the 16 days before the deadline.”
On Wednesday, Jean garnered the endorsements of former Mayor of Sundre and Conservative MP Myron Thompson, Rimbey Mayor Rick Pankiw, and Rocky Mountain House Mayor Fred Nash.
FOLLOWING the U.S. State Department’s notification to the U.S. Congress that the proposed sale of 18 Super Hornet fighter jets to Canada would cost $6.4 billion, James Bezan, Shadow Minister for National Defence, and Tony Clement, Shadow Minister for Public Services and Procurement, said on Wednesday that this confirms that the Liberal plan to replace Canada’s CF-18 fleet has been fundamentally flawed from the onset.
They pointed out that during the 2015 federal election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to hold an open competition, yet at the same time he committed to exclude one of the contenders. This promise was not based on the advice of experts but was made for purely partisan reasons, they alleged.
Bezan and Clement said: “The Liberal plan would result in Canada spending over $6 billion CDN on 18 planes. Last February the United States Department of Defence announced its intention to purchase 90 F-35s for $8.5 billion USD. As defence analyst David Perry from the Canadian Global Affairs Institute has said, ‘$6.3 billion is awfully expensive for temporary aircraft’. Conservatives wholeheartedly agree.
“On a per plane basis, the United States deal for 90 F-35s would mean a per unit cost of approximately $90 million USD. The Liberal plan proposes to spend over $350 million CDN on each Super Hornet. Even after accounting for the exchange rate, this makes no sense whatsoever. These figures also do not factor in the additional training and maintenance costs that are inevitable when running a mixed fleet. It is unfortunate that Canadian taxpayers are being forced to pay for the Prime Minister’s ill-conceived campaign promises.
“With the threats that exist in the world today, especially from rogue states such as North Korea, it is absolutely necessary we provide our military with the best available equipment to defend Canadians and our allies. According to a recent survey by the MacDonald-Laurier Institute, the vast majority of Canada’s defence experts agree that the government should abandon its plan to purchase an interim fleet of fighter jets and immediately proceed to an open competition. Several of Canada’s allies have completed such a competition in less time than these Liberals have been in power.
“It is time for the Prime Minister to set politics aside and do what is right for Canada’s national defence. He should follow the advice of experts and immediately proceed to an open competition to find a permanent replacement for Canada’s CF-18s.”
ONTARIO’S Durham Regional Police constables Amandeep Thakur and Husen Aswat are among five people charged in a drug investigation in Ajax.
Incidentally, both these officers’ names appear on the province’s Sunshine List of public employees earning more than $100,000 per year.
The investigation began in the summer of 2016 when officers became aware of excessive alcohol serving and illegal drug transactions at the Black Bear Bar and Grill on Westney Road South in Ajax. As part of the investigation, it was determined two Durham Regional Police Service (DRPS) officers from west division were associated with the owner of the establishment.
On Tuesday, September 12, the investigation, led by the Criminal Intelligence Branch and the Professional Standards Unit, resulted in five arrests related to the sale of marihuana and cocaine in connection with this establishment.
Thakur, 30, of west division, with eight years of service, has been charged with: theft under; two counts of breach of trust; and possession of property obtained by crime. He was held for a bail hearing and has been suspended from duty.
Aswat, 32, of west division, with nine years of service, has been charged with: seven counts of breach of trust; four counts of trafficking in substance schedule 1 (cocaine); three counts of weapons dangerous; theft under; possession of property obtained by crime; and three counts of proceeds of crime. He was held for a bail hearing and has been suspended from duty.
Three other persons have been charged as part of this investigation. All three were held for bail hearings: Rajalingam Varatharajan, 44, of Pickering, Kevin Chung, 34, of Toronto and Shaun Carter, 40, of Ajax.
Durham Regional Police Chief Paul Martin expressed his concerns over the charges and said they are not a reflection of the hard working and dedicated women and men of the DRPS.
He said: “Obviously it’s very concerning and disappointing when we find ourselves investigating our own employees. When we became aware of the possible involvement of our DRPS members, we conducted a vigorous investigation. No one is above the law and every one of our employees is accountable for their actions. I want to assure the community that this is not a reflection of our women and men who work so hard every day to uphold the law and keep our communities safe. We are sharing this information with the public, as we always do, in the interest of openness and transparency. We are committed to accountability and integrity as an organization.”
Anyone with new information about this investigation is asked to call Sgt. Walker of the DRPS Professional Standards Unit at 1-888-579-1520, ext. 4366.
Anonymous information can be sent to Durham Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.durhamregionalcrimestoppers.ca and tipsters may be eligible for a $2,000 cash reward.
THE City of Surrey released a new community history book on Monday night in a special presentation to Surrey City Council; Surrey: A City of Stories comprises historic photos, maps, artifacts and stories of Surrey residents from the distant past to modern day. The book is a Canada 150 legacy project that was spearheaded by the Surrey Heritage Advisory Commission.
“Surrey is in a period of incredible growth and transformation, however it is also a city rich with history,” said Mayor Linda Hepner. “Surrey: A City of Stories invites us to reflect on our past and celebrate our accomplishments. This comprehensive and well researched book is a wonderful legacy commemorating Canada’s 150th birthday.”
“We didn’t want a dusty history book,” explains Councillor Dave Woods, Chair of the Surrey Heritage Advisory Commission. “We wanted a vibrant, accessible book that anyone could pick up, flip to a page and take in a quick story, tidbit or photo. Something that could live on your coffee table and be visited again and again.”
Written by award-winning author K. Jane Watt, Surrey: A City of Stories is a coffee table style book created with the intent to inspire conversation and create a sense of community. Residents scanning the book will discover long-gone landmarks like the Crescent Hotel and recognize historic locations they may pass every day, such as the 1912 Municipal Hall on Highway 10. Readers will also see the faces and read the stories of people for whom schools and communities have been named.
The book showcases over 500 visuals, including 332 images, 40 maps, 73 artifacts, 61 documents, and features the voices of 80 Surrey residents, past and present. Watt hopes the book will appeal to newcomers, seniors, families and anyone interested in learning about their community’s history.
Surrey: A City of Stories can be purchased for $25 at the Surrey Archives, Historic Stewart Farm, Surrey Arts Centre and Surrey City Hall. The Surrey Heritage Advisory Commission has purchased a copy for every Surrey school and branch of Surrey Libraries. For more information, visit www.surrey.ca/heritage or call 604-502-6459. Follow City of Surrey Heritage Services on Facebook @HeritageSurreyBC.
A number of shots were fired into a silver Honda Civic in East Vancouver just before 2 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon. Police towed away the vehicle from East 33rd Avenue and Argyle Street, according to one report.
All that police will say at this time is that they are “investigating shots fired” and that “this incident appears targeted and there are no reports of injuries.”
Anyone who may have information about this incident is asked to call police.
VANCOUVER Police Department have reported that the City of Vancouver saw a total of 23 suspected overdose deaths during the month of August, a slight increase from the 18 deaths confirmed in the month of July by the BC Coroners Service.
Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services (VFRS) also reported a 12 per cent decrease in overdose support calls with a total of 499 in August, down from 568 in July.
Despite this slight decline, overdose support calls for the month are still 46 per cent higher than they were in August of 2016.
The City Of Vancouver has been urging the federal and provincial governments to make this public health emergency a top priority. In response to Monday’s provincial budget announcement which allotted significant funding towards fighting the overdose crisis, Mayor Gregor Robinson said: “I’m very encouraged to see the BC government making bold decisions in this week’s budget to work in partnership with the City, first responders, front-line community service workers and people with lived experience to scale up response to the drug overdose death crisis. The $322 million allocated for immediate relief will save lives and bolster BC’s mental health and addictions system to better connect people to the services they need, when they need them. I look forward to working with the BC government in the coming weeks to action this new funding.”
From August 28 to September 3, VPD reported a suspected five overdose deaths, down from nine reported the previous week. VFRS reported a slight drop in overdose calls for the same period, with a total of 102 calls, down from 156, a decrease of 35 per cent.
Toxicology reports on the most recent deaths are not yet complete, and final overdose death numbers need to be confirmed by the BC Coroners Service.
Washington (PTI): US President Donald Trump has nominated noted Indian-American lawyer Manisha Singh to a key administration position in the State Department, making her in charge of economic diplomacy.
Currently, Chief Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor to Senator Dan Sullivan, Singh from Florida, if confirmed by the Senate, would replace Charles Rivkin as the assistant secretary of state for economic affairs.
The nomination was sent to the Senate on Monday.
The position has been laying vacant since January when Rivkin put in his papers as Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the US.
Singh, 45, is a former deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of Economic, Energy and Business Affairs and has served as a senior aide to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Singh’s private sector experience includes practicing law at multinational law firms and working in-house at an investment bank.
She earned an LLM in International Legal Studies from the American University Washington College of Law, a JD from the University of Florida College of Law and a BA from the University of Miami at the age of 19.
She also studied at the University of Leiden Law School in the Netherlands.
She is licensed to practice law in Florida, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia and speaks fluent Hindi.
Uttar Pradesh-born Singh moved to Florida along with her parents as a child.
In an interview to Washington Examiner early this year, Singh said she worked on broader foreign policy component in the office of Senator Sullivan.
RCMP are seeking the public’s assistance to locate a suspect police believe was involved in a fatal motor vehicle incident on Highway 3.
On September 11, at approximately 3 p.m., RCMP officers from Fraser Valley Traffic Service and Hope responded to a report of a two-vehicle motor vehicle collision about 10 kilometers east of Hope on Highway 3.
The vehicles involved in the collision were an Equinox SUV, believed to be travelling southbound, and a maintenance truck. A female in her thirties, a passenger in the Equinox, died as a result of the crash. An individual suspected to be the driver of the Equinox allegedly left the scene in a white Ford F350 truck stolen from a Good Samaritan who had
stopped to help, and who had left his Ford unattended.
The suspect is described as:
● White male.
● Height: approximately 5’9”-5’10”.
● Hair: dark, cut short.
● Thin face, slim waste, broad shoulders.
● Facial stubble.
● Wearing a white and red coloured motorcycle-style jacket
and tan coloured shorts.
“We believe that the suspect travelled to Hope in the white Ford F350 he stole from the Good Samaratin who stopped to help,” said Traffic spokesperson Constable Melissa Wutke on Tuesday. “We have now recovered that truck, but are still seeking the suspect and information from anyone who may have dealt with him since the crash yesterday afternoon [September 11]. If you see him, do not approach him and please call 9-1-1 immediately.”
Highway 3 was closed to assist with the investigation, but has since been re-opened to all traffic.
Fraser Valley Traffic Service have conduct of the investigation with the assistance of collision reconstructionists and the office of the Coroner. No further details are available at this time as next of kin notifications are still ongoing and the investigation remains very
active.
Anyone with information of the whereabouts of this person is asked to
contact the Fraser Valley Traffic Service RCMP at 604-702-4039, Hope
RCMP at 604-869-7750 or, should you wish to remain anonymous, call Crime
Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).
LAST June, it was revealed that former associates of the three who have been charged with the first-degree murder of Red Scorpion gang leader Jonathan Bacon – Jujhar Khun-Khun of Surrey, Michael Jones of Gibsons, and Jason McBride of North Vancouver – would be testifying against them at the trial that had gotten underway at the B.C. Supreme Court in Kelowna.
On August 14, 2011, three masked gunmen opened fire on Bacon, Larry Amero, a full-patch Hells Angels member from White Rock, James Riach of the Independent Soldiers and two women, Leah Hadden-Watts and Lyndsey Black, who were in a vehicle parked in front of the Delta Grand Hotel in Kelowna. Bacon was killed. Hadden-Watts was rendered a quadriplegic. Amero and Black sustained gunshot wounds. Riach escaped without injury.
Last week, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Allan Betton released his detailed ruling explaining why he had dismissed a defence motion last June to stay charges against the accused on the basis of a breach of their right to be tried within a reasonable time. In the ruling, he provided more information about those who had agreed to testify against the accused.
The ruling noted: “The police investigation into the incident, assigned the name Project E‑Nitrogen, began almost immediately. Investigators very quickly recovered the burnt remains of the suspect vehicle, linked to Mr. Jones, as well as clothing linking the three applicants [Khun-Khun, Jones and McBride] to the shooting. The firearms used in the incident were recovered in November 2011, and security video from the Grand Hotel and surrounding businesses yielded further evidence regarding the movements of additional vehicles of interest on the morning of the incident.”
Khun-Khun, Jones and McBride were arrested on February 22, 2013, and charged with the first degree murder of Bacon as well as four counts each of attempted murder.
Manjinder “Manny” Hairan, 29, who was shot dead on January 15, 2013, in Surrey, was also involved in the Kelowna shooting.
The ruling revealed: “In December 2011 and again in May and June 2012, Manjinder Hairan gave statements to police detailing his role in the shooting, as well as that of the three applicants and a number of Mr. Hairan’s associates. Among the associates were AZ and LO (both of whom … later became cooperating witnesses for the Crown).”
The ruling said: “By the time of a PTC [pre-trial conference] on January 9, 2015, the Crown’s approach to proving its case against the applicants had evolved as the first of four individuals who had previously denied any involvement in or knowledge of the shooting provided witness statements and agreed to testify for the Crown. That witness was AZ, who gave several statements to police in late January 2014, and entered into a limited immunity agreement (“LIA”) in May 2014. As AZ was in custody on an unrelated matter, the Crown advised that disclosure could not occur until arrangements for his security were put in place some months later.
“While this was going on the police were engaged in trying to secure the cooperation of other witnesses in addition to AZ. Those efforts were successful and two further witnesses agreed to testify for the Crown. LO had begun engaging in the LIA process in January 2015. He provided several statements to police between April and June 2015, and his LIA was finalized in December 2015. He also waived his informer privilege at that time. However, the relevant disclosure could not be made until [redacted], and safety concerns related to his status as a cooperating Crown witness were addressed, which occurred in January 2016.
“MN had given a witness statement to police in March 2015. Given [redacted], investigators were of the view that disclosure related to MN could not occur until the disclosure related to LO could also be made.
“The cooperation of these witnesses led the Crown to change its trial strategy. Instead of seeking the admission of Mr. Hairan’s hearsay statements, it would now rely on the circumstantial evidence of AZ and the two new witnesses to prove the identity of the perpetrators, what came to be known in this application as Plan B. The Crown informed the applicants in a brief letter dated September 24, 2015 that it would no longer be seeking to rely on Mr. Hairan’s hearsay statements.”
The ruling also stated: “In June 2016, a further witness came forward to cooperate. HU [redacted], and began engaging in the LIA process with E‑Nitrogen investigators. He provided statements in June and July 2016, and an agreement was finalized in August 2016.”
JOINING a running group can help you quit smoking. That’s the conclusion of a new UBC study that found that half the people who completed a 10-week program were able to successfully quit smoking.
“This shows that physical activity can be a successful smoking-cessation aid and that a community-based program might offer that. Because doing it on your own is very difficult,” said Carly Priebe, postdoctoral fellow in UBC’s school of kinesiology and lead author of the study.
One hundred and sixty-eight smokers from across Canada registered for the 2016 Run to Quit program at Running Room stores, and 72 of them stuck it out until the final week, when 37 participants had their claims of quitting verified by carbon-monoxide testing. The number of successful quitters held up during follow-up interviews six months later. The group that finished the program also included 91 per cent who reported reducing their smoking.
The weekly sessions included classroom time divided between running instruction and strategies for quitting smoking, plus an outdoor walking / running component that progressed toward a five-kilometre run. Participants had access throughout the program to one-on-one phone counselling via the national quit-smoking line.
Coaches from the Running Room and the Canadian Cancer Society received training from UBC researchers in administering questionnaires and using a tool called the Smokerlyzer to measure carbon monoxide in participants’ breath. Questionnaire responses indicated significant improvement in participants’ mental health during the program, and Smokerlyzer readings revealed that their average carbon monoxide level decreased by about one-third.
“Even if someone wasn’t able to fully quit, reducing their smoking is great,” Priebe said. “But it’s also about just being active. Most of our sample was new to running, and if it’s something that can become part of their lifestyle then there are health benefits that may counteract some of their smoking behaviours.”
Run to Quit operated in 21 Running Room locations in 2016 and is up to 50 locations this year. Attrition was fairly high, with a noticeable drop in attendance following the designated “quit week” in week five. Researchers want to address that as the program expands to 100 locations in 2018. Fall clinics begin this month around the country.
“In the future what we’re really trying to stress to participants is to just keep coming — even if you don’t quit on your first attempt, keep attending the sessions with the group and keep learning,” Priebe said.
Run to Quit is a partnership between Running Room and the Canadian Cancer Society, and is funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. UBC kinesiology professor Guy Faulkner led the research team and co-authored the study, along with John Atkinson of the Canadian Cancer Society.
The study will be published in the October 2017 issue of Mental Health and Physical Activity.
