Local news from Fort St. John, Taylor, Fort Nelson, Dawson Creek and the rest of Northeast B.C. Energeticcity.ca is your source for news and events! We are the only local news source with full-time staff working in Fort St. John.
NEAT is a bringing a documentary about food waste to the Aurora Cinema on Thursday, October 8th. The film was created by Jen Rustemeyer and Grant Baldwin, who dug into just how much of our food is being wasted every day by committing to eating nothing but discarded ingredients. Since it’s premiere at the Vancouver […]
An Ottawa-area sex shop says a city bylaw that saw it slapped with a fine for selling a chest binder to someone under 18 is also triggering important conversations about resources for youth struggling with their gender identity.
The owner of Venus Envy says bylaw officers originally came to the store on Monday in response to a complaint from a parent whose child purchased a band designed to flatten the chest.
Shelley Taylor says the store was originally fined $260 for failing to keep minors off the premises and quickly found itself at the centre of public outcry.
Taylor says local politicians, including the mayor, swiftly spoke up questioning the fine and saying the bylaw was out of date in an era where erotic toys and literature can be obtained nearly anywhere.
Taylor says the city has since waived the fine, but believes that wasn't the main issue.
She says it's more important to discuss the dearth of resources available to youth who fall outside gender norms.
"We were really saddened by this one person's story, obviously, but then also the repercussions of what that meant for access to a whole bunch of youth who might not have parental support," Taylor said in a telephone interview.
"It felt like it was really going to be a problem for a lot of people."
Taylor said Venus Envy is a "sex-positive" store carrying everything from sexual health education pamphlets to children's books depicting homosexual parents to toys and other paraphernalia.
She said similar merchandise aimed at gender-normative people is readily available, sometimes even in popular drugstore chains, but said her merchandise also includes alternatives for those with less mainstream preferences.
The chest binder, she said, is one such item that is not carried in a number of similarly themed stores she has encountered in her travels.
Taylor said she has no recollection of the purchase that touched off the controversy, adding the store sells about 20 chest binders each week and bylaw officials declined her request to see a receipt or other proof of the transaction.
But that's no matter, she added.
The larger issue at hand, Taylor said, is that youth grappling with issues of gender identity don't always have safe spaces to ask questions or gather information, and barring them from stores like Venus Envy limit their options even further.
Visiting the store in the company of an adult may not be feasible for those who lack support or are unwilling to share such personal issues, she added.
"It's a vulnerable place for people to be in often unless they've had a lot of experience buying these products," Taylor said.
Ottawa city councillor Catherine McKenney, who represents the mid-town Ottawa neighbourhood where Venus Envy is located, said that vulnerability is what prompted her to speak out against the fine and request a repeal of a bylaw she describes as outdated.
She added it isn't up to municipalities to regulate who's going into stores and what they're purchasing.
"For myself, as a parent, I feel that's my role," McKenney said, adding her view is shared by Mayor Jim Watson, who has backed her effort to revisit the rules.
"His stance was, like mine, that the wellbeing of anyone in our community, but especially (those) who are dealing with their sexuality or their gender — their well-being has to prevail over any application of a bylaw," she said.
McKenney said city staff have agreed to study the bylaw issue and hopes to see it off the books by early next year.
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By Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press
BROSSARD, Que. — A concussion kept defenceman Noah Juulsen out of most of his first NHL training camp but at least he healed in time to get in a pre-season game with the Montreal Canadiens.
"They're treating me well," said Juulsen, who pencilled into the lineup for a game Thursday night against the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Centre, likely paired with veteran Alexei Emelin. "It's a great feeling just getting back here.
"It's not an ideal scenario, but I've got to go out and play my game."
Nearly all the prospects were dispatched to their junior teams or sent to St. John's of the AHL on the weekend, but Juulsen was kept on to get at least some camp experience.
The Canadiens' first round draft choice, picked 26th overall in June from the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League, was unable to take part in the team's rookie camp, a week before main camp. He only started full skating with the team on Saturday.
"It's pretty tough," the Abbotsford, B.C., native said. "You watch the guys every day and you want to be out there.
"There's a protocol you've got to go through and once you're through that you do non-contact practices and then work your way into contact."
Juulsen's concussion history is murky, but the Canadiens don't seem overly concerned. After rookie camp, he signed a three-year entry level contract.
He said it was not his first concussion, but didn't want to get into how many he's had. And he gave no details of what caused his latest one, other than that it occurred "off ice."
"I'm good to go now and from here on forward everything's going to be good," he said, adding that he has been free of concussion symptoms for a couple of weeks.
Juulsen expects to return to Everett by the end of camp, but says he has learned plenty skating with the likes of P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov that he can use back in junior hockey. He got to see NHL players' work habits and game preparation, and got a taste of the extra quickness he'll need in pro hockey.
At six-foot-one, 170 pounds, he'll also need to add some muscle, but some will that will come with age.
"I'm not the biggest guy yet but I think in a couple of years I will be," he said.
Juulsen had 52 points, including nine goals, in 68 games last season with Everett, where he was a teammate of forward Nikita Scherbak, Montreal's top pick in the 2014 draft. The Canadiens selected 26th overall two years in a row and both times took Silvertips.
Scherbak is to play in St. John's this season.
A right-shot defenceman who can move the puck, Juulsen also hopes to make Canada's team for the world junior championship in Finland in December. He attended the team's camp in the summer.
"I played in two of the four games," he said. "I felt really good in it. Hopefully everything goes well."
Bill Beacon, The Canadian Press
One of the biggest criticisms of the Toronto Maple Leafs during their tailspin last season was a lack of effort. Even as players insisted they were trying, they didn't have the look of a team hell-bent on winning.
As the rebuild continues, the Maple Leafs might not be much better, even under Mike Babcock. But the star coach will make sure that at least they put up a fight.
"Two things that irritate me the most are lack of preparation and lack of compete," he said. "That's not happening. We're going to get that fixed."
The Leafs should be motivated by playing for a new coach and needing to impress a new general manager, Lou Lamoriello. Phil Kessel's already gone, and almost no one on the roster is untouchable.
Management brought in several players on one-year, "prove-it" contracts. Shawn Matthias signed for US$2.3 million, Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau $1.5 million, Matt Hunwick $1.2 million, Mark Arcobello $1.1 million and Brad Boyes $700,000.
They also have players with a year left on their deals, like centre Nazem Kadri, defenceman Martin Marincin (acquired from Edmonton) and winger Michael Grabner (acquired from the Islanders).
Toronto probably won't contend for a playoff spot, but it won't be because players aren't trying.
"We're not going to lose because of lack of effort this year," Kadri said. "It's something that's going to change. We're going to be a skating team, a team that is going to move quick and with pace."
Much has been discussed about Babcock bringing a more puck-possession style to the Leafs. His Canadian Olympic team had the puck so much that it dominated the tournament.
Babcock's Detroit Red Wings also thrived on puck possession. But it's not like flipping a switch.
"The better players you have, the more that you have the puck. That's reality right there," Babcock said. "We plan on having the puck. We're going to work very, very hard to play defence fast and (then) we're on offence. I think that's the whole key to having success."
Babcock's first Leafs training camp has included a lot of hands-on teaching. Totally new systems means even the veterans have a lot to learn.
From the first few days, players understood why Babcock brought a reputation for attention to detail. If all goes according to plan, that'll carry over to game action when Toronto hosts the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night to open the regular season.
"He is very structured," captain Dion Phaneuf said of Babcock. "His teams play with a structure that no matter who's in the lineup, injuries, guys moving on, they play a consistent way. So as players, I think that helps you. When you have that structure on your team, our jobs is to put the work in and we'll see where that takes us from here."
A lack of talent will probably take the Leafs to another top-10 draft pick because it'll be almost impossible to make up for Kessel's lost production. Babcock said he and Red Wings GM Ken Holland used to sit together before each season and figured out how many goals the team would have to score to make the playoffs.
"You have to score about 230 to get in," Babcock said. "When we did the math, it didn't add up. So we had to find some other way to get better."
It'll be on Joffrey Lupul, Kadri, Grabner, Parenteau, Matthias and others to try to replace Kessel's goals.
"I don't know if we have a 35-goal scorer on the team," Lupul said. "I need to score more. Kadri needs to score more. We need more goals from our bottom six. It's going to have to come from a lot of different players."
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Stephen Whyno, The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER — Officials with the Artificial Reef Society of B.C. say the sea floor is adapting well six months after the sinking of a decommissioned Canadian warship in Howe Sound, north of Vancouver.
HMCS Annapolis went down amid controversy in Halkett Bay off Gambier Island in April, ending years of legal battles from critics who argued paint on the ship's hull contained toxic chemicals.
Howard Robbins, the president of the artificial reef society, says those worries appear unfounded and the ship is living up to its environmental goal.
Rockfish stocks have been declining in Georgia Strait, but Robbins says some of the small, spiny fish have already been spotted nosing around the Annapolis.
He says the old ship is also becoming increasingly popular with divers, closing the loop on a circle route for scuba fans that includes the HMCS Chaudiere in Sechelt Inlet, and several ships near Nanaimo.
In all, the artificial reef society has sunk seven vessels in B.C. waters. (CKAY)
The Canadian Press
MONTREAL — SNC-Lavalin is turning another page on its sullied past with a deal to settle corruption allegations in two African countries in a move it hopes could provide a formula to resolve problems in Canada.
Under the deal, the company has agreed to pay $1.5 million and accept certain conditions to settle a corruption case filed by the African Development Bank Group, both the bank and SNC said Thursday.
The regional development bank said the settlement resolves allegations, which SNC didn't contest, that former employees of SNC-Lavalin International Inc. ordered illicit payments to public officials to secure two contracts.
The development bank said one of the contracts was awarded to SNC (TSX:SNC) in October 2008 to supervise construction of a road and bridge in Mozambique. The other was awarded in 2010 to supervise a road upgrade in Uganda.
"The sanctions imposed under the settlement agreement reflect the level of co-operation provided by the company in the investigation of the matter," said Anna Bossman, director of the development bank's anti-corruption department.
In addition to the monetary penalty to support anti-corruption initiatives in Africa, SNC has agreed to meet certain undisclosed conditions for two years and 10 months. The settlement means the subsidiary won't be barred from bidding on future contracts in the two countries. No other SNC subsidiaries will be sanctioned.
In 2013, the World Bank suspended SNC-Lavalin International and more than 100 affiliates from bidding on projects it finances for up to 10 years over allegations of bribery in Bangladesh and Cambodia.
Outgoing SNC-Lavalin CEO Robert Card said the African settlement demonstrates that companies "can engage in a constructive dialogue and find effective means to reward remediation while allowing companies to move forward."
SNC-Lavalin wants Canada to adopt a similar model used in Britain and the United States that allows it to pay a fine but spares companies trials that could prevent convicted firms from bidding on government contracts.
The Montreal-based company will appear in court Oct. 16 for a criminal fraud case filed in Canada. The RCMP alleges that SNC-Lavalin paid nearly $47.7 million to public officials in Libya between 2001 and 2011 to influence government decisions.
It also charged the company, its construction division and its SNC-Lavalin International subsidiary with one charge each of fraud and one of corruption for allegedly defrauding various Libyan organizations of about $129.8 million.
SNC has said it will plead not guilty and that the charges stem from alleged activities of former employees who face criminal charges.
If convicted, SNC-Lavalin could be banned from bidding on Canadian government contracts for 10 years under Ottawa's so-called integrity framework. However, the federal government has moved to reduce penalties if companies co-operate with authorities and take remedial action. But SNC-Lavalin says the government's changes don't go far enough and are out of step with Canada's trading partners.
Analyst Maxim Sytchev of Dundee Capital Markets said the Africa settlement was a small step in a lengthy process by SNC to clean up its operations and deal with issues of the past.
"If the company is not being debarred from foreign jurisdictions I believe the probability of them being squeezed by Canada is diminishing as we speak," Sytchev said.
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Ross Marowits, The Canadian Press
TORONTO — Like many, Greg Vanney is relishing the Toronto Blue Jays' playoff run.
The Toronto FC coach sees positives in the Jays' makeup and style of play that ring true for many sports. He also believes the fervent support for the baseball team could be headed his way if the MLS side achieves its long-awaited goal of making the playoffs.
"They are fun to watch," Vanney said of the Jays. "They've got a great attacking team. They put runs on the board, They do a good job of getting themselves out into leads early which has been fun to watch.
"I think they do a lot of things that are important regardless of your sport. They do a lot of things that good mature teams that have good pieces, that have been together, do to put themselves in the best chance to get as far as possible.
"I grew up playing baseball, so I have some sense of the game and I think they have a great group. And they've also got their mojo about them and a camaraderie about them that you get through experiences. Hard experiences as well as great experiences, you get this energy about you and this mojo about you.
"That's what I enjoy watching, because they truly are this team that's come together and feels great about who they are and what they're doing."
TFC could book its first-ever trip to the playoffs this weekend if it dispatches Philadelphia and gets some help from Montreal and D.C. United in other matches
Vanney says the fervent support for the Jays is hard to miss, especially when the two Toronto teams play same day and TFC is resting in its downtown hotel near the Rogers Centre.
"We're often in the hotel and they play at 1 o'clock and we play at 3 o'clock and we see the crowds pouring into the stadium in the Blue Jays shirts and everything else. You can see there's a groundswell of support for this group and people feel it.
"And that for us is also motivation. We know if we continue to win games and build that momentum and get over some of the hurdles that people keep bringing up in our past and we move forward and people start believing in us, that's same groundswell will come with this group because people are waiting for us to make that statement."
Vanney, who played his club soccer in MLS and France, says in his younger days he was a second baseman/leadoff hitter and occasional catcher who batted for average but not for power.
Centre back Josh Williams, an Ohio native who follows the Indians and also used to play baseball himself, has also been watching the Jays' progress.
"It's exciting for them and I'm enjoying it. It's good baseball," he said.
TFC players have gone to Jays games, with some of the foreign players a little mystified at the rules.
"You could tell guys were a little thrown off by it. They had no idea why guys (were) coming out of the bullpen, why is this guy on the field now, stuff like that," Williams said. "But for the most part I think most of the guys get it"
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Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
TORONTO — Disgraced former broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi pleaded not guilty Thursday to five charges against him.
The former host of CBC Radio's cultural affairs show "Q'' is facing five charges including four counts of sexual assault and one count of overcoming resistance by choking.
Ghomeshi's trial on those charges begins Feb. 1, 2016 and will be by judge only.
The 48-year-old did not speak with reporters as he walked into the courthouse in downtown Toronto where he was arraigned during a court appearance.
Ghomeshi, wearing a dark suit and tie, spoke only two words in court, "not guilty," when asked how he pleaded. He had to repeat that because he wasn't speaking into a microphone.
Judge William Horkins then cleared the public and media from the courtroom to deal with a motion.
Ghomeshi was originally charged with seven counts of sexual assault and one count of overcoming resistance by choking, but the Crown withdrew two sexual assault charges in May because they said there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.
He is also facing one charge of sexual assault that is being tried separately. That trial is scheduled to begin next June.
The CBC fired Ghomeshi last October after executives saw what they described as graphic evidence that he had physically injured a woman.
The one-time radio star has admitted to engaging in rough sex, but said it was consensual.
The alleged assaults for which he was originally charged occurred between 2002 and 2008.
Ghomeshi's $100,000 bail conditions require him to remain in Ontario and live with his mother.
Liam Casey, The Canadian Press
CALGARY — ATB Financial is forecasting that Alberta's economy will contract in 2015 — a more pessimistic view than in early July when the regional financial services group said the province would likely avoid a recession this year.
"After five consecutive years of exceptionally strong growth, it now appears certain that Alberta's economy will contract in 2015," the bank wrote in its fourth-quarter outlook released Thursday.
The provincially owned bank predicts real GDP contraction of 0.7 per cent in 2015 before the economy gets out of its slump and grows 1.4 per cent in 2016.
That compares with real GDP growth of 4.4 per cent in 2014, when oil and gas prices were much higher.
ATB says the drop in oil prices is the "single reason" for the economic challenges as prices have fallen to about US$45 a barrel at present from more than US$100 in the summer of 2014.
The drop in oil prices has caused energy companies to drastically cut costs, leading to further job losses as well as reductions in both wages and overtime hours.
ATB is predicting that the unemployment rate will rise to 5.9 per cent this year from 4.7 per cent last year before improving slightly to 5.7 per cent next year.
The bank says it expects the North American benchmark price for oil to trade around US$45 to US$50 a barrel for the rest of 2015, rising only moderately to between US$55 to US$60 by mid-to-late 2016.
Indicators outside the oil and gas industry have shown more stability, with the bank saying residential construction was solid, retail and wholesale trade has stabilized and manufacturing has levelled off.
The report says that agriculture, the Alberta's second-largest sector, had disappointing crop production this year due to drought in some parts of the province, while forestry remains in good shape thanks to strong prices for lumber.
For the economy to recover, the bank says oil prices would need to rebound at least a little, labour costs would have to rebalance and sectors outside the energy industry such as agriculture, forestry and tourism need to see strong performances. As well, the Canadian dollar needs to stay low to help exporters.
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Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press
TORONTO — Disgraced former broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi has pleaded not guilty to all five charges against him.
The former host of CBC Radio's cultural affairs show "Q'' is facing five charges including four counts of sexual assault and one count of overcome resistance, choking.
Ghomeshi was arraigned this morning during a court appearance in Toronto.
More coming.
The Canadian Press
