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Kamloops Newsmakers 2014
Ajax public comment period opens next week
INFORMATION SESSIONS AT END OF MONTH KAMLOOPS - The round of public comment period promised by the provincial government on the proposed Ajax Mine will run for one month beginning Nov. 18. Council and residents fought for the chance to have another say on what should be included in the application requirements for the project...
Ajax to officially enter the election
PLANS TO REGISTER AS THIRD-PARTY SPONSOR KAMLOOPS - After saying they would not endorse specific city council candidates KGHM Ajax now says it is registering as a third-party sponsor this week. The decision comes just over a month after the company said it would not support anyone running in the civic election. A spokesman declined...
ELECTIONS 2014: Candidates take on Ajax
AN OVERVIEW OF WHERE THEY STAND KAMLOOPS - There is a lot of information to sort through as we head into elections, so we decided to make the candidates answer a series of five questions as directly as possible, and in as few characters as possible. Our first question is about the proposed Ajax Mine....
Information event on Ajax project
KAMLOOPS - A panel of locals who have been outspoken about the proposed Ajax Mine will speak at an information sessionTuesday night. Dr. Jill Calder, Robert Schemenauer, Peter Tsigaris and Tony Brumell will make up the four-member panel discussing the proposed mine at a public forum. Calder is one of the lead physicians behind Kamloops...
Voters want candidates to be clear over Ajax
KAMLOOPS - The votes are in and of the 200 people who responded to a Kamloops Voters Society survey, 72 per cent want city council candidates to take a clear stance on the proposed Ajax Mine. The Society has released the results of the online poll conducted earlier this month and on many questions there...
Information session to run same time as Ajax comment period
KAMLOOPS - City council fought for a public information session that would help people understand the environmental assessment process, as it applies to the proposed Ajax Mine, but this week it was announced we would have to wait a bit longer for that meeting. With the Environmental Assessment Office approving a new public comment period...
IN PHOTOS: A tour of the proposed Ajax Mine site
KAMLOOPS - KGHM Ajax Mining has been offering tours of the mine site on the outskirts of Kamloops for a few years already, but the tour changed slightly with the release of a new footprint earlier this year. The tour meets at the Inks Lake overpass and were the group takes a bus along the...
Kamloops to take a look at what kind of arts centre best suits the city
KAMLOOPS - Arts and culture has taken yet another leap forward thanks to approval of a study that will outline exactly what Kamloops needs in a performing arts centre. While the study into what a performing arts centre would need to look like in Kamloops was approved alongside the city budget earlier this year the...
City looks to repair storm damage
KAMLOOPS - It’s hard to forget the July 23 storm that hit Kamloops hard and fast, leaving a wake of flooded roads, vehicles and trails. Two and a half months later the city is looking to complete nearly $1 million in emergency repairs and is planning on how to address the remaining damage over the...
About that Ajax statement on election campaign funding
KAMLOOPS - The company behind the Ajax Mine proposal made a point of noting it won't contribute money to political candidates, but it’s not that simple. Even though the city has little say in whether the open pit gold and copper mine gets the go-ahead, the proposed mine is a major issue for candidates in...
Public to have another chance at comment on Ajax
KAMLOOPS – Following proposed changes to the Ajax mine, members of the public will get a second chance to comment this November. Members of the public and Kamloops city council have been requesting more information since a series of open houses held by KGHM Ajax last June. In addition to public comment forums, the Environmental...
$6 billion cost of Ajax is ‘intuitive’ study authors say
KAMLOOPS - A figure released earlier this week pegging the cost to taxpayers of the proposed Ajax Mine at $6 billion was a 'conservative estimate,' according the authors of a year-long study. The costs could reach as high as $20 billion, they say. Dr. Dennis Karpiak, an internal medicine and respiratory disease specialist, and Ken...
Doctors: Kamloops deserves same protection as Kitimat
KAMLOOPS - A local group of physicians say Kamloops has no more room for pollution and wants the province to provide more funding for air quality control in our city. Since the group formed in 2013, Kamloops Physicians for a Healthy Environment have been questioning the level of fine particulate matter already in the air...
Ajax could cost $40,000 per person?
KAMLOOPS - Economic impact from the proposed Ajax Mine could put the city in the red, to the tune of $6.28 billion, a report being released this week suggests. Dr. Dennis Karpiak, an internal medicine and respiratory disease specialist, and Ken Blawatt, a former university professor, looked at the ‘hidden costs’ of the mine, which...
Kamloops teachers, protesters welcome Clark and cabinet with loud rally
KAMLOOPS - The atmosphere was one of celebration as Premier Christy Clark and her cabinet sat in on a luncheon in Kamloops Wednesday, though outside teachers gathered to continue the rally for a better education system. “A lot of the issues around public education still remain,” David Komljenovic, president of the local teachers’ union and...
Mixed feelings over Cavers’ ‘incompetent’ comment
KAMLOOPS - Today is the first council meeting since Coun. Donovan Cavers was called out by his colleagues for a personal attack fuelled by the Ajax mine debate. Since then, Cavers has refused to back down while a vocal minority shared their opinions of his tactics. Cavers was upset with a response from the province's...
Cavers shoots the messenger before council takes away his gun
KAMLOOPS - Mayor and councillors may disagree with the lack of additional public input being provided for the proposed Ajax Mine but refused to endorse one councillor's personal attack over the issue. In a recent letter to council, Scott Bailey with the Environmental Assessment Office, agreed to host a public information session on the environmental...
Details on Ajax environmental plan process coming soon
KAMLOOPS - If you have questions about the environmental application process for the proposed Ajax mine, you might get answers as early as this October. Scott Bailey of the Environmental Assessment Office finally agreed to an earlier meeting after initially declining a May letter from Kamloops city council. He had said the office would meet to discuss...
TRU professor worries more Canadian youth will join middle-eastern conflict
KAMLOOPS – Since news that a former TRU student left for Syria to join former a terrorist group, one local professor is doing what he can to ensure others don't follow him. In his open forum Thursday afternoon at TRU, Derek Cook, a political science professor, encouraged open dialogue to learn more about Middle Eastern politics and the...
Mr. Open Pitbelly plans to make Ajax Mine proposal a Kamloops election issue
KAMLOOPS - The proposed Ajax Mine will definitely be an issue in the upcoming Kamloops municipal election campaign because Mr. Open Pitbelly has thrown her hat into the ring. Artist and master gardner Elaine Sedgmen will officially announce her intention to run for the mayor's chair on Monday. Sedgman will be running as the costumed character...
Former Kamloops student part of ultra-extremist terror group
KAMLOOPS - Current and former TRU students have expressed shock and confusion after learning an alumnus and former Wolfpack volleyball team member joined forces with an international terrorist organization. Brothers Collin and Gregory Gordon, originally from Calgary, disappeared in 2012 only to turn up in Syria after the pair were allegedly recruited by the Islamic...
‘Secret’ new bike trail system creating conflicts
KAMLOOPS - The Coal Hill area linking Aberdeen and Pineview Valley has been a popular place to hike and bike for a number of years. Now a group is quietly working to establish some official trails but not everyone is happy about it. The Kamloops Performance Cycling Center, the group that runs the Bike Ranch...
Property damaged by flood to be fixed following report submission
KAMLOOPS – Numbers are still being crunched as city officials and consultants prepare a damage report to seek a provincial government grant to help pay for repairs. The deadline to submit the report is October. “We have to take our time in order to get the proper funding,” Manager with the city Mike Firlotte says....
IN PHOTOS: Flood damage at Peterson Creek Park
KAMLOOPS - The rainfall from Tuesday night may have assisted in soaking surrounding wildfires, but didn’t help much with the flood damage at Peterson Creek Park. Staff with the Parks and Recreation department from the City is still assessing the damage caused by the July 23 flash flood. The black-diamond Billy Miner trail has been...