Next to music and my dogs, my biggest obsession is cars. I’ve always been a car nut. I’m one of those people with a list of cars I’ll buy when i win the lottery…
I’ll start with production sports cars. A Porsche 911 Turbo 4 will be my daily driver, although there will be a Lamborghini Uris SUV for those times I need to haul people and stuff. For those summer days, I think a McLaren 750s Spider would be cool.
I’ll need a car for track days, of course. No one else in the neighbourhood would have a Koenigsegg. I’d probably order the Jekso Absolute (1600 horsepower sounds about right.)
And just to show everyone that I’m not out to completely destroy the planet, there will be at least one EV. Right now, that would be a Rimac Nevera.
That’s what? Four million dollars’ worth of vehicles? Not including insurance and maintenance, of course. I’m never going to win that kind of lottery, but it’s nice to dream.
For other people, though, this is the kind of machinery sitting in their air-conditioned, highly secure underground garages. That includes a lot of rock stars.
Eric Clapton is so well-known at Ferrari that the company built him a custom one-of-a-kind model that probably cost him upward of five million. Neil Peart had a selection of very collectible sports cars from the 1960s, all in silver.
Brian Johnson of AC/DC has a bunch of Bentleys, Ferraris, and some classic race cars. Same with Nick Mason of Pink Floyd. He’s even written a book about this collection.
Then there’s everything we use in the car to listen to music. Radio, car audio, satellite radio, infotainment systems, and all that.
All this got me thinking about the relationship between cars and rock. The two things go hand-in-hand. We should look at this history, yeah?
We’re still looking for more affiliates in Calgary, Kamloops, Kelowna, Regina, Saskatoon, Brandon, Windsor, Montreal, Halifax, Charlottetown, Moncton, Fredericton, and St John’s and anywhere else with a transmitter. If you’re in any of those markets and you want the show, lemme know and I’ll see what I can do.
You might not have heard his name, but you’ve heard his machine. Japanese engineer Ikutaro Kakehashi passed away in April 2017. He was a founder of Roland, the music electronics company, and the inventor of the ubiquitous Roland TR-808 drum machine.
The 808 has cemented its place in music history and pops up on a wide variety of tracks, from Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” to Kanye’s entire 808s and Heartbreaks album. But the machine almost died early.
The 808 was originally released in 1980 as a cheaper alternative to fancier machines. But cheaper parts meant less memory and more electronic sounds, which critics did not like. The 808 was pulled from shelves only three years later, but saw a resurgence thanks to underground producers in the worlds of techno-pop, hip hop, dance and techno. Used machines were selling for only a couple hundred dollars, and the interface was super easy to program. It didn’t take long for the 808 to start showing up everywhere.
Inspiration oftentimes comes from unexpected places and the story of co-producer Guy Stevens’ mad genius in the making of The Clash’s London Calling fits the bill.
The Clash turned to Stevens to return them to their rock and roll roots for their third album, London Calling. CBS Records, on the other hand, was appalled that the band had chosen such an unconventional and substance-abusing guy. And sure enough, when the time came to begin recording at Wessex studios in August of 1979, he showed up with two bottles of tequila, and the mayhem began.
The Clash loved Stevens’ antics: shouting in faces, wrestling for control of the board, knocking down stacks of chairs, throwing a ladder at guitarist Mick Jones during a solo, and pouring beer into numerous pieces of equipment. Ultimately, Stevens was more interested in capturing emotions rather than fiddling with knobs and dials. Something about grabbing them by the throats and screaming instructions really elevated The Clash’s performance.
WATCH: Toronto outlines plan to battle FIFA World Cup congestion
Airbnb calls it the “biggest new host incentive program ever” — $1,000 for anyone in Toronto who signs up for its platform and rents out their place around the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“Demand for World Cup stays on Airbnb is surging, giving residents of host cities the opportunity to boost their incomes by sharing their homes and the communities they love,” Airbnb’s chief business officer Dave Stephenson said.
“There’s truly never been a better time to become a host on Airbnb.”
However, in Toronto, some are concerned about the effects the policy could have on an already-expensive rental market for the residents left behind when soccer’s biggest tournament moves on.
Tom Slee, a member of the advocacy group Fairbnb and a writer, suggested the World Cup offered an opportunity for Airbnb to attract new long-term hosts.
Rather than just boosting its supply of houses for a few weeks around the tournament, it could move some rentals from long-term leases into the short-term market.
“There’s always a danger with Airbnb that it is always trying to expand its footprint in cities, it’s always trying what opportunities it can, and there’s a danger that, as it does so, that it drives housing stock out of long-term housing,” he explained.
The timeline of the offer underscores the concern. Toronto will only host World Cup matches from June 12 to July 2; the offer rewards anyone who completes a booking before the end of July — weeks after the event is over.
“I think that’s what Airbnb is trying to do,” Slee said. “They want new people on their platform. They don’t just want them for the month of June, July. They want them on long-term.”
Global News asked Airbnb if the offer was part of an expansion plan.
“The program is designed to help host cities like Toronto meet the surge in demand for various types of accommodation during the FIFA World Cup 2026,” a spokesperson said.
“With the city expecting to welcome about 146,000 visitors, it creates a unique opportunity for residents to open their homes, earn extra income and benefit from the biggest host incentive program Airbnb has ever offered.”
For some landlords, the opportunity to make $1,000 along with short-term rental revenue could prove tempting. According to Rentals.ca, the average rent has fallen almost seven per cent in the last year. In March 2026, a one-bedroom apartment averages $2,201 per month.
Douglas Kwan, the director of advocacy and legal services at the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, said some property owners may try to free up their properties to take advantage of the offer
“I’m concerned that there’s marginalized tenants who are living in basement apartments or room houses that might be given cash for keys as those landlords look to flip them and make them Airbnbs,” he said.
“I’m also concerned that units that are exempt from rent control, those tenants living in those types of units might end up being evicted for short-term gain.”
The City of Toronto itself has a strict program governing short-term rentals. Anyone who wants to let a property on Airbnb has to register it with the city to guarantee compliance and bylaw officers try to identify properties that aren’t registered and have them banned.
It’s unclear, however, what an explosion in short-term rentals could do to that program at a time when city bylaw and other services will be stretched to their maximum hosting tens of thousands of soccer fans.
“The challenge in Toronto is that although Toronto has a strong short-term rental bylaw in place, the influx of more units coming onto the market as a result of World Cup — and also possibly the increase in illegal short- term rentals — will put an extreme level of burden on our bylaw officers, who already have a challenging time playing whack-a-mole to ensure that we have the right supply,” Kwan said.
The city’s media department repeatedly declined to make anyone available for an interview with Global News.
FILE - Stock image shows a young man and woman looking at a phone together in a city street. New polling by Ipsos suggests young men in Canada are more likely to hold traditional views of gender roles and negative views about gender equality compared to the overall population.
Getty Images
Canadian adult men under the age of 35 are more likely to say gender equality has gone “far enough” and hold traditional views of gender roles than the general population, new polling data suggests.
The Ipsos data found 57 per cent of young males surveyed think Canada has done enough in giving women equal rights to men, compared to 40 per cent of Canadians overall.
One-quarter of male respondents under 35 said they agreed that “a husband should have the final word on important decisions made in his home,” while 54 per cent believe the promotion of gender equality has reached the point of discriminating against men.
Both numbers also exceeded the general population responses by double digits.
“It’s heartbreaking, it’s upsetting, but it’s not surprising,” said Humberto Carolo, CEO of White Ribbon Canada, an organization focused on engaging men and boys on healthy relationships and ending gender-based violence and misogyny.
“This is the kind of ideology that younger men are being more and more exposed to nowadays (online),” he added. “We have a new generation of boys and young men growing up with these kinds of sexist, misogynistic, outdated norms, and you see that reflected in this new data.”
Ipsos shared the detailed Canadian findings with Global News on Thursday.
Overall, Canada was among the countries with the most positive views on gender equality among those surveyed, which included the United States, Britain, India, Brazil, Japan and South Africa.
Across questions like whether gender equality has gone far enough, if men are being discriminated against, and whether men are expected to do “too much” to support equality with women, Canadians overall were below the 29-country average by as much as 12 points.
Canadians were also less likely than the global average to agree with statements like wives should “obey” their husbands, that young men should strive to be physically tough, or that women shouldn’t appear “too independent.”
However, the share of Canadians who said gender equality has gone far enough in their country is up six points from last year.
And, as with the global average, attitudes become more traditional and negative towards equality when moving from older generations to younger age groups, particularly among men.
Carolo said the data reflects bigger challenges that mirror the organization’s own research, and are part of a larger global trend.
“Our own research has confirmed that, increasingly, boys and young men are being exposed to very sexist, outdated and misogynistic beliefs and attitudes and ideologies” on social media and within social and gaming platforms online, he said.
“Our research has indicated that four out of five educators have seen these kinds of misogynist and sexist ideas play out before them in their classrooms, and a majority of them have seen actually the transition from that kind of belief, that attitude, into actual acts of harassment and gender-based violence in classrooms and in schools.”
Ipsos also found that Canadian adults under 35 were less likely to agree with negative or traditional gender statements than younger age groups in other countries.
For example, while 26 per cent of 18-to-35-year-olds in Canada said husbands should have the final word on household decisions, the global average was 28 per cent for millennials — who would be between 31 and 46 years old in 2026 — and 33 per cent for Generation Z, who are between ages 14 and 30.
The poll also found a majority of Canadian adults under 35 generally believe achieving equality between men and women is personally important to them.
However, there was a 16-point gap between men and women in this age group, with 61 per cent of young men agreeing versus 77 per cent of women.
Women under the age of 35 were found to be much more positive toward gender equality and negative toward traditional gender roles compared to men.
Asked if they believe women won’t achieve equality with men in Canada unless there are more female leaders in business and government, 68 per cent of young women said yes — 31 points above young men who said the same.
Similarly large gaps were found on questions like whether the push for equality is discriminating against men (just 27 per cent of young women agreed versus 54 per cent of young men) and whether men are being asked to do too much to support gender equity (25 per cent versus 50 per cent)
Carolo said it was important for educators and organizations like White Ribbon to have the resources necessary to compete with viral online communities that oppose equality and that promote misogyny, often referred to as the “manosphere.”
He also stressed that education on healthy relationships and views on women needs to start younger than middle school or older grades of elementary school so that when boys encounter these narratives, they can reject them.
“Otherwise, our younger generations are falling into these kinds of ideologies that are not good for any of us — especially for women and girls who are on the receiving end of those misogynistic treatments and attitudes and behaviours, the violence and the harassment,” he said.
These are the results of a 29-country survey conducted by Ipsos on its Global Advisor online platform between Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, and Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. For this survey, Ipsos interviewed a total of 21,028 adults aged 18- 74 in Canada, Republic of Ireland, Malaysia, South Africa, Türkiye, and the United States, 20-74 in Thailand, 21-74 in Indonesia and Singapore, and 16-74 in all other countries. The sample consists of approximately 2,000 individuals in Japan, 1,000 individuals each in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Mexico, Spain, and the U.S., and 500 individuals each in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Thailand, and Türkiye.
The “29-country average” reflects the average result for all the countries and markets where the survey was conducted. It has not been adjusted to the population size of each country or market and is not intended to suggest a total result. The precision of Ipsos online polls is calculated using a credibility interval with a poll of 1,000 accurate to +/- 3.8 percentage points and of 500 accurate to +/- 5.0 percentage points. Percentages cited may not always add to 100% or to the sum of each value due to the effects of rounding.
OTTAWA – Martin St. Louis may have tough decisions ahead.
The Montreal Canadiens coach raised eyebrows when he announced Jacob Fowler would start Wednesday against the Ottawa Senators.
The 21-year-old was instrumental, however, in Montreal’s 3-2 victory with 32 saves.
After his recall from the American Hockey League’s Laval Rocket, Fowler was in Ottawa ahead of his teammates Tuesday while Jakub Dobes made 17 saves in Montreal’s 3-1 win over the Maple Leafs in Toronto.
Samuel Montembeault was Dobes’ backup in Toronto, but the Canadiens still opted to recall Fowler.
He’d played his first 10 NHL games earlier this season. Fowler from Melbourne, Fla., went 4-4-2 with a .903 save percentage and a 2.62 goals-against average in that stretch. His previous appearance was Jan. 15 against the Buffalo Sabres.
With the Canadiens (36-18-10) looking to firmly lock down a playoff spot, it’s clear St. Louis was willing to go with whoever he felt provides his team with the best chance to win.
He was impressed by his young goaltender’s composure in a game that had playoff intensity. The Senators (32-23-9) are on the outside of the playoffs and fighting to gain ground.
“I thought he battled,” said St. Louis. “He made some huge saves for us. It’s such a game of inches in terms of winning and losing and it usually comes down to your goaltender and I thought he did that …this game could have gone either way and I think Fowler did the job.”
Teammates were quick to recognize their young goaltender’s performance.
“We know what he’s capable of, but I mean some of those saves he made late in the game there is a big reason why we won the game,” said Alex Newhook. “A lot of credit to him. Great to see.”
Fowler wasn’t as nervous as he was in his debut Dec. 11, when he had 33 saves in a 4-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“The first experience had me a little bit more ready for this,” said Fowler. “Before (it) was a little bit more new stuff. Here, I was just kind of rejoining a team I felt I was a part of and super-happy to be a part of this team and great win for our group.”
Fowler lauded his teammates’ efforts in the final three minutes Wednesday when Ottawa pressed hard for an equalizer.
Fowler made a number of key saves, but Alexandre Carrier and Phillip Danault also blocked shots by from Fabian Zetterlund and Tim Stutzle to secure the win.
“It was pretty hectic,” recalled Fowler. “Couple plays there that our guys on the ice were pretty gassed and a lot of huge blocks there down the stretch. You know the last few minutes, there were a lot of guys doing a lot of hard things to get a win, and that’s what it takes this time of year.”
With 18 games remaining in their regular season, the Canadiens are focused on positioning themselves for a playoff run.
The win over the Senators ranked the Canadiens third in the Atlantic Division, with a three-point lead on the Detroit Red Wings and four on Boston, who hold the two wild cards.
‘You can’t buy that experience where we are in the season against that team,” said St. Louis. “Pretty good rivalry for us, on the road. You can’t buy that. So, for me, I think high marks the way (Fowler) played.”
With back-to-back games against San Jose and Anaheim this weekend, the coach’s decisions around his starting goaltender will be interesting.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 12, 2026
TEHRAN, Dec. 3, 2025 Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf speaks at a press conference in Tehran, Iran, Dec. 2, 2025. Ghalibaf said on Tuesday that the main problem preventing the resumption of talks between Iran and the United States is the latter's ''excessive demands.''. He made the remarks at a press conference in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on the occasion of the National Parliament Day, while elaborating on the reasons preventing the resumption of nuclear negotiations with the United States.. Ghalibaf said the United States does not want to negotiate but instead aims to impose its demands and force Iran to give in.
Eshagh Ghalibaf studied at an Australian university and vacationed in Milan, Paris, Amsterdam, Zurich, Dubai and Istanbul before setting his sights on Canada.
He is also the son of a hardline member of the Iranian regime, which has killed thousands of protesters and is now attacking its neighbours with missiles.
Although his father, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, has said the Islamic republic would defend itself “until the last breath,” his son appears to have avoided compulsory military service.
Documents obtained by Global News show that when Eshagh applied to immigrate to Canada he was asked for details of any armed forces duty. He wrote, “none.”
As Iran’s regime suppresses its opposition and targets surrounding Gulf countries in response to the U.S. and Israeli war, its sons and daughters are living more comfortably.
They are in North America and Europe, and include the children of some of the Iranian government’s most outspoken defenders.
That is a sore point among many Iranians, who taunted the regime about it during a protest in Tehran in January, chanting, “Their child is in Canada, our child is in prison,” according to a video of the incident.
High-level government officials have themselves moved overseas, including more than two dozen alleged to have relocated to Canada, some with their children.
The Canada Border Services Agency has been trying to deport them since 2022, with little success. Only one has been removed from the country so far, although others face pending hearings.
Following an appeal by Global News, the Immigration and Refugee Board on Tuesday identified the latest Iranian citizen the CBSA has sent for a deportation hearing for being a suspected “senior member” of the regime, Abbas Omidi.
But activists said it was particularly troubling that regime children were enjoying Western freedoms while Iranians have few rights under the system enforced by their parents.
The son of Iran’s longtime foreign minister Mohammad Jarad Zarif, for example, lives in Manhattan, according to an online petition that calls for his deportation.
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
The daughter of Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, also lives in the United States, the Guardian reported.
Since the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khomeini, Larijani has emerged as a key regime figure, and has insisted his government would not surrender.
He recently made headlines for warning the U.S. to “be careful not to get eliminated.” His nephews live in Canada and the United Kingdom, the Guardian further reported.
“The list goes on and on and on,” said Maral Karimi, a professor at Toronto Metropolitan University’s department of politics and public administration.
“It is quite common. I mean, right here in Toronto, where I live, is one of their strongholds. Many Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and other government elite live in Toronto, either themselves or their families, or both.”
An engineer by training, Eshagh Ghalibaf, the 38-year-old son of the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has applied to move to Canada twice, records show, and was most recently rejected in 2024.
He did not respond to questions sent by Global News.
His father recently spurned calls for a ceasefire, writing in a social media post that “we believe we must strike the aggressor in the mouth so that it learns a lesson.”
The son’s current whereabouts are not known, but in a court case he filed in Canada as part of his attempt to immigrate, he wrote that he had temporary residence in Australia until 2022.
Documents filed in Federal Court in his case indicate that he applied for a visa to study in Ottawa in 2013 but after it was denied, he enrolled at Melbourne University.
While Iranian men are required to serve two years of military service upon turning 18, the documents on his case indicate he has never done so.
Instead, according to his Canadian immigration file, he visited more than a dozen countries, listing the purpose of his travel as “tourism.”
Banking records he filed in court show payments at sushi and Vietnamese restaurants, car rentals and a Spotify subscription.
In 2019, he applied to immigrate to Canada, and then launched a court case claiming the federal government was taking too long to approve him.
“The delay has a direct impact on many aspects of my life,” he wrote in an affidavit filed in Federal Court as part of his bid to move to Canada.
“I have already said no to two new construction projects in Iran in the last two years in which I was going to take a role as a site manager,” he said.
“This would have provided me with a higher income and a better career path, however, since these opportunities require long-term commitment, as I remain uncertain of when I will finally be granted my PR, I had to turn them down.”
Iranian Basiji men carry mock missile, trailing cleric, at parade Tehran, Iran, Jan. 10, 2025. Photo by Hossein Beris/Middle East Images/ABACAPRESS.COM
He said he owned two properties in Tehran but had “lost the opportunity of developing” them because of the uncertainty over his Canadian immigration.
“This caused me a huge loss of money,” he said.
He said he had told potential employers in Canada he would be arriving within six months, but continued to wait for his immigration papers.
“The existing delay in processing my PR application has caused tremendous opportunity loss in life,” he wrote.
“Furthermore, I have met a wonderful woman in Iran with whom I feel we can build a life together. However, I am now holding back on taking it further as I do not know where I will end up or when I can come to Canada.
“This puts an enormous psychological burden on my everyday life.”
In its defence, the government said the delay in approving his immigration was the result of the “need to conduct security screening.”
Without mentioning his father, the Federal Court wrote in its 2023 ruling that “very little has happened” in the processing his application.
“This is despite repeated inquiries about the matter from the office of a Member of Parliament, Pierre Poilievre,” the judge wrote.
The file shows that a staff member in the Conservative leader’s Ottawa riding office repeatedly contacted Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada about this case.
Poilievre’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Iranian community and supporters rally in Ottawa in solidarity with protesters in Iran, after Mahsa Amini died in police custody, Sept. 25, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
In a Feb. 21, 2024 social media post, then-immigration minister Marc Miller said the government had refused his permanent residency application.
Another online petition launched in January 2026 demanded that Australian border authorities expel him. It has gathered more than 125,000 signatures on the site change.org.
The organizer of the campaign could not be reached for comment, but the petition called him the embodiment of “stark inequality and injustice.”
“While the common people of Iran suffer under a cruel regime, these privileged families bask in safety, far removed from the consequences of their actions,” it said.
Deporting him was about “not just about removing one individual, but about sending a strong, unequivocal message to the Islamic Republic and its affiliates that hypocrisy and injustice will not be tolerated.”
“We call on Western governments to hold the Islamic Republic’s privileged families accountable for the roles they indirectly play in supporting and upholding a system that brutalizes its own people.
“Safeguarding their lifestyles while ordinary Iranians struggle for freedom is unacceptable.”
Manitoba Minister of Health Uzoma Asagwara, centre, addresses the media at a wrap-up news conference following a health ministers meeting in Calgary, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
JMC
The Manitoba government is planning to set up two committees as part of its promise to improve health care.
A bill now before the legislature would set up one group to come up with appropriate nurse-to-patient ratios and recommend which areas of health care, such as intensive care units, would be subject to the numbers.
Another bill would allow the health minister to set staffing and other benchmarks for health providers, with the aim of ending mandatory overtime for nurses.
The bill would allow for a committee to advise the minister on how to proceed.
The NDP government has promised to bolster nursing ranks, and Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara says the bills set a framework to accomplish those goals.
The Opposition Progressive Conservatives say health-care unions have raised questions about whether there are enough workers to meet the government’s goals.
Asagwara said the NDP government has hired more nurses and other health care professionals, and the bills will help improve patient care.
“We’re saying very clearly to nurses and to health-care providers and the system as a whole that patient safety and the quality of care … must be a top priority,” Asagwara said.
The government has been examining similar moves undertaken in British Columbia, Asagwara said.
If the bill is passed into law and guidelines are set to eliminate mandatory overtime for nurses, overtime would still be allowed in certain circumstances, such as a scenario in which a patient’s life or health is at imminent risk, or in a major disaster.
Tory health critic Kathleen Cook said details of the government’s plan are still lacking.
“We need to make sure that these bills are more than symbolic,” she said.
After a marathon seven hour public hearing, Kelowna council is now deciding whether to allow the redevelopment of a golf course.
as Klaudia Van Emmerik reports, a land swap is being offered to allow construction of an industrial park at the site.
Kelowna, B.C., city council is expected to vote on a controversial land swap proposal on Monday after a seven-hour long public hearing on an issue that has divided the community.
If approved, the land swap between the city and a development company would see a portion of the Kelowna Springs Golf Course on Penno Road industrialized.
“The proposed development of asphalt, bricks and mortar is not the best use for any portion of Kelowna Springs,” said one opponent at Tuesday’s public hearing.
The issue is a contentious one that has divided the community.
“I do support this proposal as I do believe it is a practical and balanced step forward for a growing city,” said a supporter.
The proposal gives the municipality ownership of 60 acres of land owned by Denciti Development Corp. That allows the city to preserve a nine hole course.
In exchange, Denciti receives nine acres of nearby city-owned industrial land and retains 46 acres adjacent to the golf course, which would have to be rezoned for industrial use.
Opponents argue that paving over an ecologically-sensitive area would harm wetlands that help manage flooding in a flood-prone area and damage local wildlife habitat.
“Once those wetlands are gone, they don’t come back,” said an opponent, who addressed council at the public hearing.
It’s a sentiment echoed by the Central Okanagan Naturalists’ Club.
“The point was made in a proposal by Denciti that most of that the Mill Creek Valley has already been industrialized,” said the club’s past president, Douglas Graham.
“All the more important that the city preserves all of the remaining remnants of these wetlands. This is important for the ecological integrity of this area in the long term.”
While Denciti Development declined Global’s request for an interview on Wednesday, the company’s president touted job creation as one of the benefits when he spoke at the public hearing.
“We’ll be bringing approximately 400 construction jobs to that … over a decade, as well as 700 or so full-time industrial and manufacturing jobs,” said Volodya Gusak, Denciti’s president.
It’s the kind of economic growth those in construction industry say is needed.
“The challenge we are facing across our economy is acute in construction,” said Chris Gardner, president and CEO of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association, as he spoke in favour of the proposed land swap at Tuesday’s public hearing.
“For the first time in a generation, we are seeing layoffs in the construction sector.”
The pickleball club also spoke in favour of the proposed deal, which includes an indoor playing facility near the Kelowna Springs Clubhouse that would be constructed by Denciti.
“An indoor facility would allow the club to responsibly expand, remove our waitlist and create opportunities for leagues, youth programs, lessons and community events,” said Jamie Menzies, the club’s president.
But one speaker questioned the entire process leading up to Tuesday’s public hearing.
“It’s pretty unacceptable that city staff enter the negotiations for a land swap deal with the developer before council has even voted on the land use designation,” the opponent said.
City council is expected to vote on the land use designation at its next meeting.
A northern B.C. woman says her mother, who is bedridden with Huntington's disease, was sexually assaulted in her Fort St. John care home. Angela Jung has the details.
WARNING: Details in this story might be upsetting. Discretion is advised.
A northern B.C. woman says her mother, who is bedridden with a debilitating disease, was sexually assaulted inside her care home.
The attack is alleged to have happened on Feb. 13 at the Peace Villa Care Home in Fort St. John, which is operated by Northern Health.
The woman’s daughter, whom Global News is identifying only as “Amber,” says her mother is living with late-stage Huntington’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that has left her bedridden.
“I’m really upset with it,” Amber said.
“I mean, she didn’t deserve that at all. Nobody ever does. So it’s just a really, really bad feeling.”
Amber said she was called on Feb. 13 by staff at the care home, who told her there was an incident between her mother and another resident, in which they allegedly found the man locked in her mother’s room and he sexually assaulted her.
She added that her mother’s physical limitations would have made it impossible for her to call for help or defend herself.
Amber said that since that night, her mother has been noticeably shaken.
“She is a little uneasy, I’d say, with people coming into a room. She’s upset with it, she’s mad,” she added.
The BC RCMP say an investigation is ongoing and active and no one has yet been charged.
Northern Health says it is supporting the resident and family and it takes the incident very seriously.
“In response to any incidents and/or violence in our facilities, immediate steps are taken to ensure resident safety, including enhanced monitoring, additional staffing and security supports,” they said in a statement.
“We can confirm that Peace Villa, which is a multi-wing facility, did recently implement dedicated units for male and female residents. Placement on specific units/wings is based on the care and safety needs of individual residents.
“Northern Health is cooperating with the RCMP’s ongoing investigation, and any updates in that regard would be for RCMP to provide.”
Health Minister Josie Osborne said she is also working with Northern Health.
“Any situation like this needs to be learned from, so that we can do everything we can to ensure that standards are met for patient and resident safety in any facility or long-term care facility,” she said.
Amber said she is speaking out to get some accountability for her mother.
“It’s what my mom would want. She would want somebody to be held accountable. She would want people to know.”
Ad Choices
