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Letters to the Editor for the week of March 5th

Thank you to our local healthcare professionals After returning from a trip to Japan, I developed symptoms that raised some concern, as Hokkaido (my destination) had since declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19.…

Lack of tourism focus in B.C. budget a ‘red flag’

Industry needs stable funding, stakeholders say

While the provincial government will be sorting through budget estimates for each of its ministries over the next several weeks, deliberation over Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture spending is already wrapped—leaving Sea to Sky MLA Jordan Sturdy with some unanswered questions. During budget deliberations in Victoria on Thursday, Feb. 27, Sturdy asked a number of questions related to the tourism industry, including specifics on labour shortages and the impact of moving Family Day (a decision widely panned by local officials at the time).…

FE&A committee unveils 2020 program lineup

Ironman, Tough Mudder, Wanderlust out, giving new events a chance to shine

With some big events not returning to Whistler in 2020, the resort’s Festivals, Events and Animation (FE&A) programming is taking on a new look. Big summer tentpoles like Ironman Canada, Wanderlust and Tough Mudder will be absent from this year’s schedule, while a pair of new events—The Back Forty and the Whistler Vegan Fest—will get Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) funding for the first time.…

Free will astrology for the week of March 5th

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Progress rarely unfolds in a glorious, ever-rising upward arc. The more usual pattern is gradual and uneven. Each modest ascent is followed by a phase of retrenchment and integration.…

Squamish SAR locates two overdue skiers

Overnight search on March 3 finds two people

More than 12 hours after the search began, Squamish Search and Rescue volunteers found two overdue skiers. Around 6 p.m. on March 3, RCMP contacted SAR about the two skiers who were skiing in the Red Heather area, SAR manager BJ Chute told The Chief.…

Coronavirus spread could result in a million fewer travellers in 2020 at YVR

Vancouver International Airport braces for a signifcant decline in travellers as the global aviation industry navigates challenges resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak.

Vancouver International Airport braces for a signifcant decline in travellers as the global aviation industry navigates challenges resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak. YVR has seen a decrease in flights from China by a staggering 50 per cent due to a reduction or suspesion of flights in and out of the country.…

Bank of Canada slashes overnight rate by 0.5% in response to coronavirus

Economic uncertainty prompts first 50-point cut since 2008 recession; could result in increased buying power pushing up real estate prices

Responding to global economic uncertainty in the face of the spreading coronavirus, the Bank of Canada has cut its overnight interest rate by 50 basis points this morning (March 4) to 1.25 per cent. This is the first time that the Bank of Canada has cut its overnight target rate by 50 points in a single move since the 2008 economic recession.…

A rare disease and an uncommon resilience

She was a patient without a diagnosis.…

North Van landlord barred from serving eviction while tenant in jail

A North Vancouver landlord says he can’t understand why B.C.’s Residential Tenancy Office refused to let him formally evict his tenant after the man trashed his basement suite during a standoff with police last month and ended up in jail. Jason Rivero says the decision makes even less sense now that his tenant, Alexander Dinu Tanasescu, 37, is banned by conditions of his bail from contacting Rivero or setting foot on the block where he lives.…

WSSF announces sports lineup

Banked slalom a new addition while Saudan race, big air return

The World Ski and Snowboard Festival revealed its sports schedule for 2020 in a release on March 4. The competitive portion of the festival will kick off on Friday, April 17 with the Saudan Couloir Race Extreme on Blackcomb Mountain from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., while the Big Air finals will take place on Saturday, April 18 in Skier’s Plaza from 6 to 7:30 p.m.…

Pelchat takes back-to-back silvers

Snowboarder applying lessons from Youth Olympics as NorAm season continues

With a 19th-place finish at the Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland in January, slopestyle snowboarder Juliette Pelchat may not have achieved the results she was looking for, but she came back with a good amount of confidence intact. The 15-year-old kept her head up and hit back-to-back podiums at the NorAm Cup event at Mount St-Louis Moonstone, Ont. on Feb. 24 and 25, taking second to American Ty Schnorrbusch on both days.…

Coronavirus risk remains low, Vancouver Coastal Health says

Resort Municipality of Whistler monitoring situation closely

With many eyes watching the spread of coronavirus—and 12 positive cases in B.C. as of March 3—Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) is reassuring the public that the risk to Canadians is low, and there is no identified spread of the virus in the region. Four of B.C.’s 12 positive cases occurred in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, and all four individuals have now fully recovered, according to VCH.…

Shed handshakes for smiles and foot taps to avoid COVID-19 risk: doctor

VANCOUVER — “Wash your hands” has been the usual advice during flu season but “hands off” may well be the new mantra to reduce the risk of spreading the novel coronavirus as social norms like shaking hands are shunned for nods, smiles and tapping of feet. Some churches in Canada have replaced handshakes with other gestures as COVID-19 spreads around the world.…

Coronavirus latest: 9th case revealed in B.C.

Dr. Bonnie Henry is warning parents about travelling abroad during spring break

A ninth case of coronavirus has been announced in B.C. on Tuesday morning. Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s top medical health officer, said the new case is a man in his 50s, who recently came home to the Fraser Health Region from Iran.…

Are small, windowless rooms acceptable as bedrooms?

‘Inboard’ also known as ‘borrowed-light’ bedrooms, allowed under the City of Vancouver’s Moderate Income Rental Housing Pilot Program

At 6’3″ tall, Green Party Coun. Michael Wiebe admitted, at a recent public hearing, he was “struggling” with the design of some of the three-bedroom apartments planned for a rental building on the last block of East Hastings near Boundary Road.…