Vancouver Information and Newspaper

Archive for August, 2009

Police have concluded their search of a rural property near Prince George in relation to the disappearance of a missing tree planter from Alberta — one of 18 women to have disappeared along the stretch of road known as the Highway of Tears.

Nicole Hoar, 25, a woman from Red Deer, Alta., went missing on June 21, 2002, while hitchhiking to visit her sister in Smithers.

RCMP Cpl. Annie Linteau said police are unable to disclose whether any items of interest or human remains were located.

“It typically takes some time for investigators to determine the significance of any items collected,” she said.

Mounties started combing through the property on Pinewood Road, west of Prince George, at the end of last week.

Yesterday, they also searched through a second location that appears to be an unauthorized dumping site.

Linteau said investigators are not expecting to find human remains at this location, but may find discarded items of interest.

“Of special interest is an abandoned vehicle found at that location that will be seized and forensically examined,” Linteau said.

Three people have been killed and one person was taken to hospital after a string of stabbings in the Lower Mainland.

A 37-year-old man and a yet-to-be identified female victim were stabbed to death, and a 33-year-old man was arrested, during an altercation at a McDonald’s near Granville Street and No. 3 Road late Friday night.

Police are asking that witnesses, including a woman seen on Granville Street and two men who were in the restaurant at the time of the assault, to contact the RCMP or Crimestoppers.

Earlier that night, in an unrelated incident, a 36-year-old man was killed after being stabbed in an Abbotsford home.

Michael Allan Froese, 25, and Melissa Linda Cox, 28, have been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death.

Police say the victim, whose name is being withheld at the request of his family, had an “extensive history” with them.

“(The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team) says both the suspects and victim knew each other,” said RCMP Cpl. Dale Carr. “It’s unknown whether there’s a connection to drugs or organized crime.”

A third stabbing that happened early yesterday morning in Burnaby sent one man to hospital in serious but stable condition.

Witnesses said the victim was stabbed at the Superstore and wound up at a Best Western hotel across the street, where he collapsed.

B.C. arts and theatre groups are scrambling to pay debts and said yesterday that they are concerned about their survival because promised multi-year funding from provincial gaming revenue has evaporated.

The groups, which include the B.C. Children’s Festival and Vancouver’s Touchstone Theatre, say they were promised funding over three years and prepared their budgets accordingly.

The government, however, contends that funding was not guaranteed and that priorities for gaming grants include things like programs that provide hot lunches for underprivileged children.

Katrina Dunn, artistic director of Touchstone Theatre, said her company enjoyed one of its best seasons, but now find itself wrestling with its largest deficit in 35 years.

She said they were promised $120,000 over three years. They received $40,000 last year, but haven’t received anything for this year and are worried that they won’t receive any next year.

“Contracts are signed, programming is done,” Dunn said. “It’s a very large portion of our operating budget so it’s a huge impact for Touchstone. Shows will be cancelled, people will be laid off.”

Housing Minister Rich Coleman, whose ministry is responsible for distributing gaming grants, said the ministry has “technically” reduced the amount of funding that arts groups receive from gambling revenues.

He said the three-year grants applied only to the applications, meaning that groups wouldn’t have to apply for the same grant every year and thereby reduce operating costs.

“It didn’t guarantee that the grant would be there every year,” he said.

New Democrat MLA Spencer Herbert said the grants represent “signed contracts” that the government is not honouring. He said some groups were considering legal action.

Coleman said his ministry funded $10 million in gambling revenue to the B.C. Arts Council, which also provides artistic grants.

The province’s oldest private television station goes off air tonight after more than a half century.

An employee-led bid to purchase Victoria’s CHEK-TV was rejected by owner Canwest Global on Friday.

Richard Konwick, an assignment editor who has been at CHEK for the past eight years, said the bid’s rejection was disappointing, but morale at the closing station is high.

“People have been really working hard to make something happen and it has been a really positive experience,” said Konwick, who is president of the local Commun­ications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.

In July, Canwest announced it could not afford to keep CHEK running and had failed to find a buyer for the station.

According to media reports, employees and private investors had raised $2.5 million to purchase the station and put a formal bid to Canwest. The bid, however, did not meet Canwest’s guidelines.

To mark the closure, CHEK is holding a celebration today to thank viewers and supporters. It will be included in the evening newscast.

“We’re hoping to have lots and lots of people come and enjoy themselves,” Konwick said. 

As of tomorrow, British Columbia will officially be the lowest of the low — it will pay the lowest minimum wage in Canada and have one of the highest costs of living.

Until now, B.C. and New Brunswick had been tied with the lowest minimum wages at $8 an hour.

But New Brunswick — which has a 34 per cent lower cost of living than B.C. — is boosting its wage to $8.25, leaving many British Columbians the poorest paid workers in Canada.

NDP Leader Carole James said it’s a distinction for which the provincial Liberals should be “embarrassed.”

She said it will be even worse next year when the HST kicks in.

James pointed out that when Premier Gordon Campbell was elected eight years ago, B.C. had the highest minimum wage in Canada, and there hasn’t been an increase in all that time.

“There isn’t anyone I know who hasn’t seen their cost of living go up in the past eight years, and I think it’ll be a sad legacy of this premier,” James said.

Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, said it’s “ridiculous” to argue               that raising wages would hurt the economy or the restaurant industry —which has been opposed to minimum wage hikes.

“It’s crazy to argue that when people have money in their pocket it’s bad for the economy,” said Sinclair. “The premier has lowered the wage 25 per cent for new hires and immigrants.

And what’s he done with his own wage? He raised it by 109 per cent.” Sinclair added that minimum wages are consistently adjusted to inflation in most other provinces and territories, and their economies are fine.

VANCOUVER, Wash. – A 78-year-old man with a licensed concealed pistol said he was trapped by two pit bulls he had never seen before, and the only way to survive was to shoot and kill one of dogs.