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canada.com
58307 '00100
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen staff
Eighteen kittens airlifted last Friday from Prince George to North Vancouver by WestJet were all adopted to new homes within two days.
Jeannine Woodhouse, executive director at the local SPCA shelter, who arranged for Operation Kitty Lift to relieve high numbers at the shelter, said she’s delighted with the result.
Woodhouse is hoping to send more kittens to the Lower Mainland, where there are not enough to meet the demand due to successful spaying and neutering programs.
In June, 253 cats came into the Prince George shelter, which is about 100 more than the monthly average. Of those, 32 were adopted, an additional 19 were adopted through Pet Cetera and eight
were claimed, Woodhouse said.
Woodhouse said the over-abundance of cats is due to the numbers of six- to eight-week-old kittens, born in the spring, which are now leaving their mothers and striking out on their own.
There are still more than 100 kittens and cats at the shelter waiting for homes.
“Anything that’s adoptable we try and keep for a month, but that’s hard to do when we have these high numbers and only 37 cat kennels,” she said. “We get about 2,300 cats in the shelter in a year.”
Woodhouse is launching a new cat registration program Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. at the shelter on Lans-downe Road.
Right now there is no way to register cats in the city so fewer than 5% of cats
The kittens that were shipped from Prince George to Vancouver in kennels similar to this one have been adopted. Citizen file photo
in the shelter are claimed “because we have no way of contacting owners,” Woodhouse said.
The program is being held in conjunction with Child Find B.C. where families, fingerprinting children for identification purposes, can also register their cats. For more information call the SPCA shelter at 562-5511.
On average, the shelter takes in about 350 cats, dogs and other animals every month, but right now there are more than 400 animals at the shelter.
Mercy flights of adoptable cats and dogs are becoming more common in B.C., said Craig Naherniak of the SP-CA’s main office in Vancouver.
“We do it whenever there are surplus animals anywhere in the province and there is shelter space available in another location.”
Dissidents made a serious tactical error: Harris
GORD HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
Canadian Alliance party whip Dick Harris struck back Monday at dissident MPs as leader Stockwell Day retracted his offer to step down.
Harris, MP for Prince George-Bulkley Valley, said the dissident MPs’ refusal to agree to Day’s terms to step down shows they don’t have the party’s best interests at heart.
“I think the dissidents have made a serious tactical error. They have exposed what could really be their Achilles heel,” said Harris. “The world believes they simply had a problem with Stock, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. As I’ve said on a number of occasions, this isn’t about the leader at all. It’s about power: the power they once had and lost, and simply want back again. This demonstrates that in spades."
"They have exposed what could really be their Achilles heel.”
—Dick Harris
Day offered to step down, taking a leave of absence until just before the leadership convention when he would resign the leadership.
Day also stipulated caucus critics and officers would remain in position until a new leader was chosen. The dissidents would have had to agree to come
back into caucus. Day also wanted to see Grant Hill serve as interim leader.
The dissidents insisted Day resign immediately and leave the choice of interim leader up to caucus and party governors.
“Stock made a very courageous and generous offer, a reasonable offer,” said Harris, a Day loyalist who backed him in last year’s party leadership race. “He’s not going to leave the party or the caucus in the hands of people who clearly appear to have only their own self-interest at heart.”
Prince George-Peace River Alliance MP Jay Hill, one of the 13 dissidents, could not be reached for comment Monday. Some of the 53 MPs who remained in caucus are already saying there’s no turning back for Day.
“Once you’ve made a public statement that you’ve offered to step down and have an interim leader lead the par-
ty, then you must step down — that’s the bottom line,” said Victoria-area MP Keith Martin, who frequently works in Prince George as a medical doctor.
Day has been facing mounting pressure from dissident MPs for three months, calling on him to step down for the good of the party. The dissidents cited a list of political gaffes and blunders and poor communication, saying Day had become a political liability. Support for the party has plummeted from a high of 28% last October to 6% last month.
But pressure had begun to come from outside groups, including the party’s executive committee. The committee, including some members who were the leader’s former allies, had begun to draft a letter asking Day to leave for the good of the party.
— See stories on page 6
SWITCHBOARD: 562-2441
CLASSIFIED: 562-6666
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TUESDAY, JULY 10,2001
PRINCE GEORGE
Serving the Central Interior since 1916
80 CENTS (HOME DELIVERED: 50 CENTS A DAY)
Bring out the marshmallows, backyard fire pits all but OK’d
Kitten rescue mission a success
High today: 22 Low tonight: 7 Details page 2
Nursing program a go
LPNs to
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen staff
The College of New Caledonia’s 32-seat licenced practical nursing (LPN) program will begin in September, a college official said Monday.
John Meagher, acting vice-president academic, said the students, who will complete the program in 12 months, will be ready for the workplace in September 2002. “The College of licensed Practical Nurses of B.C. (CLPNBC) have given Vancouver Community College the go-ahead to begin the program here,” said Meagher.
“It’s a go, and because the CLPNBC knows we need a September start, it’s doing everything it can to facilitate us. Even a necessary site visit, usually done prior to the program start, will be done in late September” so the program can get under way, Meagher said.
The program, a partnership between
jbegin training at CNC in September
CNC and Vancouver Community College, which provides the curriculum, still needs some written requirements, “like how the advisory committee will interact with CNC and further needs assessments,” but nothing that will delay the program, he said.
The students who have met qualifications for enrollment are being notified now to be ready to go, said Meagher.
He said about 100 applications for the LPN program were submitted and most applicants come from northern communities.
The program provides students with the theory and skills required to practice in acute, extended and intermediate care and community settings.
“CNC people are thrilled about the news. It’s been a long-awaited program that CNC has been working on for at least three years,” Meagher said.
Two full-time instructors have been hired and additional part-time faculty are still to be hired to teach students who will earn a Vancouver Community College certificate. The program is being funded by the Ministry of Advanced Education, Training and Technology.
An LPN program began last September at CNC’s Quesnel campus with 16 students scheduled to graduate in November. That program is a partnership between CNC and the Quesnel Community Health Council.
The new LPN program “certainly helps to round out the medical program at CNC,” said Meagher, referring to training programs including:
■ Northern Collaboration Baccalaureate registered nurses program between CNC and UNBC;
■ Refresher nursing program for 20 nurses, graduating in August, who
wish to get back into the field;
■ Dental assistant program;
■ Dental hygienist program;
■ Home support/resident care at-
tendant (support worker) program to provide assistance to individuals and families in the community and longterm care settings.
by SCOTT STANFIELD Citizen staff
Council approved Monday the first three readings of a revised clean air bylaw which will allow recreational fires in backyard fire pits in the Bowl area, north of the Nechako River and in College Heights.
The bylaw defines recreational fires as “the burning of wood in a permanent outdoor fireplace.”
The city still does not allow open burning in these areas. Open burning is defined as “the combustion of yard and garden waste.”
Coun. Gord Leighton expressed his pleasure with the bylaw, which he hopes will help cut down on road dust in the city.
TODAY
Cornered by Baldwin
“I hope that we as a community can zero in on air pollution issues, especially road dust,” Leighton said The bylaw only permits the burning of wood in recreational fires.
As it was originally worded, the bylaw prohibited backyard fire pits in the Bowl and College Heights areas, but allowed them north of the Nechako River, in Blackburn, St. Lawrence Heights and all other areas in the city’s southwest.
Last fall, council requested development services staff to expand the boundaries of the zone restricting open burning to include the residential areas along the north bank of the
Nechako and Edgewood Terrace.
“As all of these neighbourhoods are well below the 630 metre level and within the river valley and exist typographically as part of the Bowl area, they should be included in the restricted zone,” states Bob Radloff, the city’s director of development services, in a report to council.
The new bylaw also provides an exemption clause to allow residents and businesses to continue burning wood during an Air Quality Advisory, provided they can demonstrate they have no alternative means of heating their premises.
Another hearing on Pine Valley
Despite the potential for future big-box retail developments along the Highway 16 West corridor, the golf course at the Pine Valley Golf Centre may remain as is.
On Monday, council voted to rescind second and third readings previously given to the OCP bylaw, which originally designated the Pine Valley golf course as regional commercial.
This means another public hearing must be held before the final fate of the golf course is determined.
The last OCP public hearing occurred June 25, after which council approved third reading of several OCP bylaw amendments.
The date of the next public hearing has yet to be announced.
Citizen photo by Brent Braaten
BEATIN’ THE HEAT — Signe Soerensen from Denmark hams it up for the camera at the Rotaract waterspray park. The four local Rotary Clubs and Rotaract hosted a picnic at Fort George Park Monday evening for Rotary exchange students -who are touring Canada. The group of 80 youths, from 23 different countries, are being billeted at Rotary members homes as they travel across Canada.
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