Archives for February 24, 2019

Osoyoos Indian Band Councillors results – hot off the press

Elected

Veronica (Ronny) McGinnis 176

Sammy Jo Louie 161

Leona Baptiste 150

Nathan McGinnis 125

Justin Hall 121

Not elected:

Incumbent- Theresa Gabriel 107

Incumbent- Anthony (Tony) Baptiste 107

Sonja Jensen 118

Ramona (Bent) Louie 85

Jeddy Baptiste 49

Jason Baptiste 48

Jacob Joseph Kruger 37

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One of the quietest elections in recent years

Chief Clarence Louie – incumbent re-elected against three challengers:

Chief Louie 199 votes

Sandra Falkus 43 votes

Clifford Louie 17 votes

Zaza Hall 16 votes

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Previously on ODN Feb 17 2017

Chief Clarence Louie, 56, elected again with 214 votes – each term 2 years

This is his 12th term as Chief – first elected in 1984

Councillors elected Thursday

Sammy Jo Louie tops the poll with 171
Theresa Gabriel with 146
Veronica (Ronny) McGinnis with 141
Tony Baptiste with 137
Leona Baptiste with 131

Tony had served previously but knocked off two years ago
Yvonne Weinert served the last two years but not re-elected.

Publisher: A well researched and thought-out letter. Celia is the wife of Michael Newman, former councillor and publisher of the Oliver Chronicle.

I have read the letter carefully and will likely write a response by the end of the day.

ODN apologizes for the look of the letter – it could not be taken as a document from council agenda material so it was seized as a series of photographs. Not one word has been changed.

Council may “rise and report” Monday on in-camera discussions as there was a chance that councillors might change or modify a decision made last year prior to the civic election which was designed to limit traditional participation in Town business by representatives of the rural area.

To: Editor  – Oliver Daily News

From: Tim Garrish

The negative  reaction to the recent NEB decision to allow the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and with it one additional tanker a day in the BC coastal waters is off base.  If the opponents  are truly concerned for the health of the orca population you would expect them to be also incensed with the announcement the same day that BC Ferries is increasing its annual sailings by 2700.

As has been noted previously by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Jonathan Wilkinson the impact on the orcas of a ferry or tanker are comparable.  The orcas don’t know the difference. 

If we are serious about protecting the orcas should we not also be moving aggressively to reduce ferry sailings not increase them?

by Richard Cannings  – MP for South Okanagan-West Kootenay

On February 14th, Air Canada gave Penticton fliers a Valentine’s Day present—they announced that this spring they would be switching out the old Dash 8 aircraft they use now for newer, larger and quieter Q400 planes.

That would provide more seats in and out of Penticton on a daily basis, good news for travellers and tourism operators alike. But the real benefit, as I’ve mentioned before in this column, is that the Q400s have modern avionics that allow them to land and take off under cloudier, foggier, or smokier conditions.

When I last wrote about this topic early last spring, I was promoting a lobbying effort from local communities to convince Air Canada that the Q400s would be a sound business investment. The demand for more seats and more reliable service is already there—60 per cent of Penticton travellers fly out of Kelowna, in part because they are concerned that the unreliable service in Penticton, particularly in winter, would jeopardize their connections to important business or holiday flights out of Vancouver.

There is one more other step that must take place before travellers can take full advantage of the new aircraft and their advanced avionics. NAV CANADA, the corporation that owns and operates Canada’s civil air navigation system, must develop and implement Required Navigation Performance (RNP) protocols for Penticton. These are the precise paths that aircraft must take when landing and taking off. NAV CANADA recently announced that they are undertaking this process and hopefully it will be in place before next winter.

The situation at the Castlegar airport is trickier. The narrow valley there makes It more difficult to land and take off at times of low cloud and fog, and cancellation rates in winter vary from 25 to 50 per cent. On top of that, and travellers from the West Kootenay have farther to travel for alternate flights, making long drives to Kelowna, Cranbrook or Spokane.

Developing RNP protocols for Castlegar would require Transport Canada to allow the use of RNP in the more mountainous terrain of the Columbia Valley. The United States has such RNP protocols and it would simply mean making Canadian protocols match those south of the border. Transport Canada has indicated that it may take some time to make those changes, but I will be pressing them to do so as quickly as possible.

I met with Air Canada officials again recently, thanking them for their decision on Penticton and pressing them on the issue of service to Castlegar. They said they were actually meeting to discuss the Castlegar situation within the next few days.

Hopefully we’ll see positive movement on this important issue in the coming months. Reliable air service is essential to the economy of the southern Interior of B.C., both for the tourism industry and for the many workers who choose to live here for the life style but must travel regularly for work.

Richard Cannings is the MP for South Okanagan-West Kootenay