Samuel to be new president of Surrey Board of Trade

14 June 2013

To be inducted at the Surrey Board of Trade’s 49th Annual General Meeting and President’s Dinner on June 20th at Eaglequest Golf Course from 5:30-9pm is the new President of the Surrey Board of Trade, Bijoy Samuel.

Bijoy Samuel is the General Manager for REDFM 93.1FM. He will serve a one-year term from July 2013-end of June 2014. Bijoy will serve as the 50th President of the Surrey Board of Trade, in what is a high profile volunteer position that helps to positively impact Surrey’s business community at levels of government and advances the success of the Surrey Board of Trade.

Gerard Bremault, CEO, Centre for Child Development will be inducted as the 1st Vice-President.

The Surrey Board of Trade annual Board Director nomination process brought in the following new faces joining its Board of Directors by acclimation:

1. Steven Mo, District Vice President, TD Commercial Bank
2. Parm Sidhu, Director Airport Operations, Abbotsford International Airport
3. Steven Stew, Partner, B&B Contracting
4. David O’Sullivan, President, PW Trenchless
5. Ann Marie Walsh, Coordinator Health Promotion, Canadian Cancer Society – BC Chapter

Annual BC secondary school rankings coming on June 17

14 June 2013

The Fraser Institute’s Report Card on British Columbia’s Secondary Schools 2013, the go-to source for measuring school performance and improvement, will be released Monday, June 17 at 6:30 a.m. (Pacific).

The report card provides parents with information they can’t easily get anywhere else. In addition to five years of academic results, the report card shows which B.C. secondary schools have improved, or fallen behind, in academics over the past five years.

A news release with additional information will be issued via Marketwire on Monday, June 17 at 6:30 a.m. (Pacific).

School results will be published in Vancouver 24 Hours and Sing Tao. The complete results for 284 secondary schools will also be available at www.compareschoolrankings.org, where visitors can compare individual school results on a variety of academic indicators and ratings.

Peter Cowley, co-author of the report card, will be in Vancouver and available for media interviews the week of June 17.

Canada Can Do Better For Prostituted Women

14 June 2013

The Supreme Court of Canada has begun hearings on the charter challenge to Canada’s prostitution laws. The outcome of this court case will have a direct impact on the safety and equality of all women in Canada.

Women Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW) Rape Crisis Centre demands Canada do better for prostituted women. As a Rape Crisis Centre, with over 30 years of experience, we know that the prostitution industry is rooted in male entitlement to women’s bodies and violence against women, with the brunt of the violence directed at Indigenous women and marginalized people.

“Canada can do better than putting the onus on women to create their own safety and to survive male violence. It is crucial to understand the responsibility lies with men to exercise their agency and power to end violence against women and support women’s equality” states Stephanie Reifferschied, WAVAW Counsellor.

WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre supports the Nordic Model which decriminalizes women and criminalizes the purchasing of women for sex while implementing a social safety net that gives real options and empowers women.

“Decriminalization or legalization of the industry of prostitution will further entrench women’s inequality and allows the state to further abandon their responsibility to create socio-economic conditions that ensure equality. The Nordic model outlines the necessary legislation, services, and supports required to further substantive equality for women in Canada” states Irene Tsepnopoulos-Elhaimer, WAVAW’s Executive Director.

It is time that Canada expands the discussion and takes leadership from models that consider women as complete human beings who are entitled to equality and safety. “Prostitution is the oldest oppression and needs to be dismantled instead of being promoted as a viable option for women’s economic liberation” says Carissa Ropponen, Executive and Development Assistant.

Passengers missing flights at Seattle airport due to long security line waits

14 June 2013

Increased summer travel is responsible for delays at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport security lines, the airport and Transportation Security Administration said, according to The Associated Press.

About 150 passengers have missed flights on Alaska Airlines since Sunday because of waits of more than an hour in security lines, airline spokeswoman Marianne Lindsey said.
“Summer travel season is on,” she said.

The airline is sending text messages to travellers advising them to prepare for an hour at security checkpoints, she said.

The worst times are between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. when Alaska has 60 flights departing. Alaska is the largest single carrier at Sea-Tac.

The airport advises passengers to arrive two hours early, said spokeswoman Christina Faine.

SeaTac averages about 100,000 passengers a day from June through August, compared to about 85,000 off-season.

IGI airport gets world’s second best airport award

14 June 2013

Indira Gandhi International Airport New Delhi was Friday named the world’s second best airport in the 25-40 million passengers category by the Airport Council International. The airport also has been adjudged as the fourth best in the world among 199 airports across all categories.

A nine-member team, comprising representatives from airport operator Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), Central Industrial Security Force, Airport Operations Control and Air India received the ‘ACI ASQ Award’ at an award ceremony organized by theAirport Council International (ACI) in Istanbul, Turkey on Thursday. “This recognition is testimony to the efforts of all our employees and partners who have consistently met the expectations of the industry,” DIAL CEO I Prabhakar Rao said.

IGI airport scored 4.83 out of 5 on the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) scale.

IGI has managed to retain its position of second best airport in the 25-40 million passengers per annum category for 2012 year.

The airport had an ASQ score of 3.02 in 2007 and ranked last among the 101 participating airports of the world. The airport has an annual capacity of over 60 million passengers, but in 2012, around 34.2 million passengers passed through it.

IGI handled around 550,000 tonnes of cargo and over 300,000 aircraft movements during the same period.

Since its inception in 2006, the ASQ Awards have become the world’s leading airport passenger satisfaction benchmark with over 275 airports participating in it.

The ASQ Awards recognise and reward the best airports in the world based on ACI’s ASQ passenger satisfaction survey done on uniform format worldwide and represent an opportunity to celebrate the commitment of airports worldwide to continually improve passenger experience.

Canadian Olympic Wrestler Arjan Bhullar Brings Wrestling Seminar to Richmond

14 June 2013

Canadian Olympic Wrestler Arjan Bhullar will be there on Monday, June 17, 2013 at 9:30 a.m. at the Richmond Olympic Oval regarding upcoming wrestling seminars for youth in Grades 4-12.
The seminars will take place at the Oval on June 22, 2013. Sessions will be led by Arjan Bhullar, (Olympian, Commonwealth Games Gold Medalist and 5 time National Champion), Nick Ugoalah (Commonwealth Games Gold Medalist and National Champion) and Clete Hanson (3x All American, Assistant Coach SFU Wrestling) and the Oval’s High Performance Coaches.

What: Arjan Bhullar

When: Monday, June 17, 2013 at 9:30 a.m.

Where: Richmond Olympic Oval
6111 River Road
Richmond, BC

Free fishing in BC on Father`s Day weekend

14 June 2013

New and experienced anglers alike can cast their lines for free this Father’s Day weekend, as part of the 14th Annual Free Family Fishing weekend.

This year’s celebration runs from June 14 to 16, and allows Canadian families to fish for free in most freshwater lakes and non-tidal streams anywhere in B.C. on all three days. With 49 different events planned in communities throughout the province, families have a wonderful opportunity to learn how to fish and explore B.C.’s beautiful recreation sites.

These events are supported by the Family Fishing Weekend Society, which provides financial assistance and materials, including fishing gear. The Freshwater Fisheries Society stocks 800 lakes and streams with eight million fish each year. The Habitat Conservation Trust Fund has also contributed funding to support Family Fishing Weekend. Throughout the province, hundreds of knowledgeable volunteers will share their advice and passion for fishing with all who attend.

Families planning to fish at a location outside of a sponsored event listed on the Family Fishing Society of BC’s website are advised that people fishing for species requiring a conservation surcharge stamp or on classified waters will still need to purchase these supplementary licences. For information on these few exceptions, please consult pages 7-8 of the 2013-15 Freshwater Fishing Regulations Synopsis, available online at: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/fish/regulations/

Study says cross border shopping drain on retailers

14 June 2013

B.C. residents spent an estimated $2.6 billion cross-border shopping in the U.S. last year, according to estimates from the Business Council of B.C.

And it says the higher-than-normal level of spending south of the border is contributing to the weakness of retail sales for businesses in B.C.

According to the study, the rise of cross-border shopping in recent years has been driven by three main factors – the strong Canadian dollar, recent increases in duty-free exemptions and the large gap between gas prices in Metro Vancouver and Washington State.

The business council estimates short-term spending by B.C. residents in the U.S. added up to as much as $1.6 billion last year, while that figure rises to between $2 and $2.6 billion if longer vacation-type trips are counted.

And those figures count only shopping for goods, fuel and groceries, they don’t include services, restaurant meals or entertainment, which the report says might add another $1 billion or more.
Same-day trips across the border by B.C. residents have soared 143 per cent from 2.3 million crossings in 2009 to 5.7 million last year.

“The increase in trips is plain to see,” the report said. “There are frequently long line ups at border crossings, gas stations in adjacent U.S. communities are busy, and parking lots at shopping centres are filled with B.C. licence plates.”

It also recounts calls in Bellingham for American-only shopping times when locals won’t have to jam into stores with hordes of bargain-hunting B.C. visitors.

Increases in B.C.’s carbon tax and TransLink’s fuel tax in the Metro region “have compounded earlier price discrepancies, creating powerful incentives for many British Columbians to fill their tanks south of the border.”

A 70-litre fill-up costs about $25 less south of the line.

Fortis BC to Increase Rates

14 June 2013

Metro Vancouver natural gas customers will see their bills rise an average of $61 a year after the B.C. Utilities Commission approved FortisBC rate changes.

FortisBC said in a news release Friday that the BCUC approved a 94-cent-per-gigajoule increase to the commodity rate, the cost of the gas itself, as the price of natural gas has risen.

But the BCUC has also approved a 29- cent-per-gigajoule decrease in the delivery rate, thus sparing users the full brunt of the gas price increase.

“The combined rate change means an increase of $0.642 per GJ, or approximately $61 per year for an average residential customer in the Lower Mainland,” the release said.

Cynthia Des Brisay, vice-president of energy supply and resource development for FortisBC, said in the release: “Natural gas costs fluctuate depending on market conditions.

“Over the past year, North American market prices have recovered from the depressed levels seen in early 2012 due to increased demand, a colder winter and a slowdown in production growth. These higher costs are requiring us to raise commodity rates.

“At the same time, delivery costs for some customers will be decreasing following a recent review by the BCUC.”

Dix announces shadow cabinet

14 June 2013

Adrian Dix, leader of the B.C. New Democrats, announced the Official Opposition shadow cabinet, saying his team will hold Premier Clark and the B.C. Liberals to account for their promises and record.

“Premier Clark’s government was elected on the claims of a balanced budget, reduced debt, increased core services and increased jobs,” said Dix. “British Columbians expect the Liberals to live up to the commitments they made, and our caucus will do just that.

“Already, we have seen her government award hefty pay increases to political insiders while imposing wheelchair rental fees on vulnerable seniors. British Columbians will not tolerate a return to the say one thing, do another approach that has characterized Liberal rule.

“When the legislature sits again starting June 26, we expect the government to demonstrate how its budget is balanced and how it will avoid massive cuts to core services,” said Dix. “Our team of critics, including seven new MLAs, will be a strong voice to ensure the government is held accountable.”