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Residents of Williams Lake, B.C., get front-row view of battle to save their town

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WILLIAMS LAKE, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA – Residents of Williams Lake, B.C., got a front-row look at the wildfire fight to save their community, with water bombers swooping low and dropping red fire retardant, crews spraying structure fires from ladders and RCMP evacuating residents.

The BC Wildfire Service said fire crews were “mopping up” Monday after Sunday’s dramatic battle to save the B.C. Interior community.

The River Valley fire reached the western edge of the town, destroying some structures in an industrial area and prompting evacuations as the city declared a local state of emergency.

Resident Spencer Stratton said “well over 100 people” had gathered about a block away from the fire front to watch crews battle the flames.

“Everybody was panicked, (which was) understandable because the fire was less than a road across from us,” he said.

“It was one set of buildings away from us — that’s how close the fire was.”

The River Valley fire, which the BC Wildfire Service said had grown to 40 hectares in size by Monday, is one of more than 330 blazes burning in B.C., with clusters along B.C.’s boundary with Alberta as well as in the central Interior.

Fire activity has been surging across B.C. The Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness said there are about 440 properties on evacuation order and 3,000 under alert, calling the situation “dynamic and everchanging.”

Stratton said he watched as the River Valley fire crept into the outskirts of the town by around 6 p.m. Sunday, spreading to buildings and vehicles at local businesses.

Videos shared on social media showed smoke billowing from behind businesses on MacKenzie Avenue as fire spread behind a school bus depot. Stratton said the buses were unscathed.

WL Forestry Supplies said in a Facebook post that the MacKenzie Avenue store had been saved thanks to the efforts of fire crews.

“We got lucky. Lost some equipment out back, but nothing serious,” the post said, adding that power was out and the store was closed.

Cariboo-Chilcotin legislator Lorne Doerkson said in social media posts that the fire “burned into our community last night very quickly,” prompting an “incredible response” from the BC Wildfire Service as a well as the Williams Lake Fire Department and other first responders.

Doerkson, who said there had been “explosions” during the firefight Sunday on the outskirts of town, said the efforts of the fire crews “had a massive impact.”

“There are some small spot fires, but I will say that there are very many groundcrews and equipment fighting what is left of this fire,” he said in a Facebook post around midnight Sunday.

In another post Monday he said fire crews from as far as Barrière more than 200 kilometres away had been involved.

Stratton said he remained calm and slept “peacefully” Sunday night at his home about eight kilometres from the fire, knowing crews were working to contain the blaze.

He said he went to MacKenzie Avenue Monday and the fire “looked contained,” although firefighting continued.

The wildfire service said firefighting aircraft would be working Monday to “cool down hot spots.”

“I believe they have it under control,” Stratton said.

But other residents weren’t so certain. Stephanie Symons said Monday that she had been getting messages and calls from friends “wondering what to do and if it’s time to pack up and go.”

“The fire is still very much active and flaring back up so I can’t tell you much other than we are all stressed and it’s not over,” Symons said in a message. “We just got a severe thunderstorm warning on top of all this so we are nowhere near in the clear yet.”

Environment Canada issued the warning just before 11 a.m. Monday. The BC Wildfire Service noted in its situation report Monday that the province had seen more than 20,000 lightning strikes on Sunday. It had previously said fires are showing up in areas that have seen dry lightning strikes in recent days.

Rob Warnock, the director of the Williams Lake emergency operations centre, said residents had been told they can go home after the tactical evacuations conducted by Mounties on Sunday.

Warnocksaid in a video posted to the city’s website last night that those homes remain subject to an evacuation alert, meaning residents must be ready to leave again quickly.

The alert spans properties along Mackenzie Avenue, Country Club Boulevard, Fairview Drive, Woodland Drive, Westridge Drive and Tolko’s Lakeview Mill.

Warnock said the blaze was sparked when a tree fell on power lines in the river valley on the city’s west side at about 5:45 p.m. Sunday, though the BC Wildfire Service website said Monday that the official cause is still under investigation.

With the winds at the time, Warnock said the fire “made a big run” down the valley on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, the city had asked residents to conserve as much water as possible for fire crews taking on the blaze.

B.C. Premier David Eby said Monday the government was bringing in all the resources it can to help people threatened by wildfires in the province.

“It’s an incredibly stressful time for a lot of British Columbians. We’ve got hundreds of people on evacuation order. We’ve got thousands on notice that they may need to evacuate their homes. And this is unfortunately, the beginning of the fire season that we were concerned about,” Eby said during an unrelated news conference.

The number of B.C. “wildfires of note,” that pose a risk to people or property or are highly visible, increased from one to four as fire activity spiked over the weekend.

A couple hundred kilometres northeast of Williams Lake, the Cariboo Regional District declared a local state of emergency due to the Antler Creek fire, issuing evacuation orders for the District of Wells and the historic mining tourist town of Barkerville over the weekend.

The evacuation was expanded Monday to include the popular tourist destination of Bowron Lake Provincial Park. Not all of the park is under evacuation order, but most of the lakes are included along with the Mount Tisdale Ecological Reserve, an area of alpine parkland.

In the southern Interior, the nearly 200-square-kilometre Shetland Creek wildfire prompted the Thompson-Nicola Regional District to expand an evacuation order along the Thompson River between Ashcroft to the north and Spences bridge to the south.

The district said about nine properties have been added to the order that now covers a total of 97 addresses, while residents of another 213 properties have been told to be ready to leave on short notice.

The BC Wildfire Service said nearly 140 firefighters and 12 helicopters are currently assigned to the blaze. The regional district has confirmed that some structures in the Venables Valley area have been lost to the fire.

The other fires of note are the Aylwin Creek and nearby Komonko Creek fires, both in the province’s southeast.

The Regional District of Central Kootenay has ordered multiple evacuation orders for both fires.

The intense fire activity across B.C. has been associated with a hot spell that sent temperatures in the Interior past 40 C in recent days. Environment Canada has 28 heat alerts in place for Interior and eastern B.C., although alerts have been lifted in western regions.

Smoke from the wildfires has also resulted in special air quality statements being issued for almost the entire eastern side of B.C., from the Washington border to Fort Nelson in the province’s northeast corner.

The B.C. Ministry of Transportation’s DriveBC information system said that Highway 1 remained closed for 39 kilometres, north of Spence’s Bridge to Cache Creek, where the wildfire service said the Shetland Creek fire had been showing “highly vigorous” behaviour on its eastern flank Sunday.

— By Brieanna Charlebois in Vancouver. With files from Chuck Chiang and Darryl Greer.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 22, 2024.

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Netflix’s subscriber growth slows as gains from password-sharing crackdown subside

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Netflix on Thursday reported that its subscriber growth slowed dramatically during the summer, a sign the huge gains from the video-streaming service’s crackdown on freeloading viewers is tapering off.

The 5.1 million subscribers that Netflix added during the July-September period represented a 42% decline from the total gained during the same time last year. Even so, the company’s revenue and profit rose at a faster pace than analysts had projected, according to FactSet Research.

Netflix ended September with 282.7 million worldwide subscribers — far more than any other streaming service.

The Los Gatos, California, company earned $2.36 billion, or $5.40 per share, a 41% increase from the same time last year. Revenue climbed 15% from a year ago to $9.82 billion. Netflix management predicted the company’s revenue will rise at the same 15% year-over-year pace during the October-December period, slightly than better than analysts have been expecting.

The strong financial performance in the past quarter coupled with the upbeat forecast eclipsed any worries about slowing subscriber growth. Netflix’s stock price surged nearly 4% in extended trading after the numbers came out, building upon a more than 40% increase in the company’s shares so far this year.

The past quarter’s subscriber gains were the lowest posted in any three-month period since the beginning of last year. That drop-off indicates Netflix is shifting to a new phase after reaping the benefits from a ban on the once-rampant practice of sharing account passwords that enabled an estimated 100 million people watch its popular service without paying for it.

The crackdown, triggered by a rare loss of subscribers coming out of the pandemic in 2022, helped Netflix add 57 million subscribers from June 2022 through this June — an average of more than 7 million per quarter, while many of its industry rivals have been struggling as households curbed their discretionary spending.

Netflix’s gains also were propelled by a low-priced version of its service that included commercials for the first time in its history. The company still is only getting a small fraction of its revenue from the 2-year-old advertising push, but Netflix is intensifying its focus on that segment of its business to help boost its profits.

In a letter to shareholder, Netflix reiterated previous cautionary notes about its expansion into advertising, though the low-priced option including commercials has become its fastest growing segment.

“We have much more work to do improving our offering for advertisers, which will be a priority over the next few years,” Netflix management wrote in the letter.

As part of its evolution, Netflix has been increasingly supplementing its lineup of scripted TV series and movies with live programming, such as a Labor Day spectacle featuring renowned glutton Joey Chestnut setting a world record for gorging on hot dogs in a showdown with his longtime nemesis Takeru Kobayashi.

Netflix will be trying to attract more viewer during the current quarter with a Nov. 15 fight pitting former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson against Jake Paul, a YouTube sensation turned boxer, and two National Football League games on Christmas Day.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Promise tracker: What the Saskatchewan Party and NDP pledge to do if they win Oct. 28

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REGINA – Saskatchewan’s provincial election is on Oct. 28. Here’s a look at some of the campaign promises made by the two major parties:

Saskatchewan Party

— Continue withholding federal carbon levy payments to Ottawa on natural gas until the end of 2025.

— Reduce personal income tax rates over four years; a family of four would save $3,400.

— Double the Active Families Benefit to $300 per child per year and the benefit for children with disabilities to $400 a year.

— Direct all school divisions to ban “biological boys” from girls’ change rooms in schools.

— Increase the First-Time Homebuyers Tax Credit to $15,000 from $10,000.

— Reintroduce the Home Renovation Tax Credit, allowing homeowners to claim up to $4,000 in renovation costs on their income taxes; seniors could claim up to $5,000.

— Extend coverage for insulin pumps and diabetes supplies to seniors and young adults

— Provide a 50 per cent refundable tax credit — up to $10,000 — to help cover the cost of a first fertility treatment.

— Hire 100 new municipal officers and 70 more officers with the Saskatchewan Marshals Service.

— Amend legislation to provide police with more authority to address intoxication, vandalism and disturbances on public property.

— Platform cost of $1.2 billion, with deficits in the first three years and a small surplus in 2027.

NDP

— Pause the 15-cent-a-litre gas tax for six months, saving an average family about $350.

— Remove the provincial sales tax from children’s clothes and ready-to-eat grocery items like rotisserie chickens and granola bars.

— Pass legislation to limit how often and how much landlords can raise rent.

— Repeal the law that requires parental consent when children under 16 want to change their names or pronouns at school.

— Launch a provincewide school nutrition program.

— Build more schools and reduce classroom sizes.

— Hire 800 front-line health-care workers in areas most in need.

— Launch an accountability commission to investigate cost overruns for government projects.

— Scrap the marshals service.

— Hire 100 Mounties and expand detox services.

— Platform cost of $3.5 billion, with small deficits in the first three years and a small surplus in the fourth year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct .17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Bad weather forecast for B.C. election day as record numbers vote in advance polls

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VANCOUVER – More than a million British Columbians have already cast their provincial election ballots, smashing the advance voting record ahead of what weather forecasters say will be a rain-drenched election day in much of B.C., with snow also predicted for the north.

Elections BC said Thursday that 1,001,331 people had cast ballots in six days of advance voting, easily breaking a record set during the pandemic election four years ago.

More than 28 per cent of all registered electors have voted, potentially putting the province on track for a big final turnout on Saturday.

“It reflects what I believe, which is this election is critically important for the future of our province,” New Democrat Leader David Eby said Thursday at a news conference in Vancouver. “I understand why British Columbians are out in numbers. We haven’t seen questions like this on the ballot in a generation.”

He said voters are faced with the choice of supporting his party’s plans to improve affordability, public health care and education, while the B.C. Conservatives, led by John Rustad, are proposing to cut services and are fielding candidates who support conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic and espouse racist views.

Rustad held no public availabilities on Thursday.

Elections BC said the record advance vote tally includes about 223,000 people who voted on the final day of advance voting Wednesday, the last day of advance polls, shattering the one-day record set on Tuesday by more than 40,000 votes.

The previous record for advance voting in a B.C. election was set in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when about 670,000 people voted early, representing about 19 per cent of registered voters.

Some ridings have now seen turnout of more than 35 per cent, including in NDP Leader David Eby’s Vancouver-Point Grey riding where 36.5 per cent of all electors have voted.

There has also been big turnout in some Vancouver Island ridings, including Oak Bay-Gordon Head, where 39 per cent of electors have voted, and Victoria-Beacon Hill, where Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau is running, with 37.2 per cent.

Advance voter turnout in Rustad’s riding of Nechako Lakes was 30.5 per cent.

Total turnout in 2020 was 54 per cent, down from about 61 per cent in 2017.

Stewart Prest, a political science lecturer at the University of British Columbia, said many factors are at play in the advance voter turnout.

“If you have an early option, if you have an option where there are fewer crowds, fewer lineups that you have to deal with, then that’s going to be a much more desirable option,” said Prest.

“So, having the possibility of voting across multiple advanced voting days is something that more people are looking to as a way to avoid last-minute lineups or heavy weather.”

Voters along the south coast of British Columbia who have not cast their ballots yet will have to contend with heavy rain and high winds from an incoming atmospheric river weather system on election day.

Environment Canada said the weather system will bring prolonged heavy rain to Metro Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast, Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, Whistler and Vancouver Island starting Friday.

Eby said the forecast of an atmospheric weather storm on election day will become a “ballot question” for some voters who are concerned about the approaches the parties have towards addressing climate change.

But he said he is confident people will not let the storm deter them from voting.

“I know British Columbians are tough and they’re not going to let even an atmospheric river stop them from voting,” said Eby.

In northern B.C., heavy snow is in the forecast starting Friday and through to Saturday for areas along the Yukon boundary.

Elections BC said it will focus on ensuring it is prepared for bad weather, said Andrew Watson, senior director of communications.

“We’ve also been working with BC Hydro to make sure that they’re aware of all of our voting place locations so that they can respond quickly if there are any power outages,” he said.

Elections BC also has paper backups for all of its systems in case there is a power outage, forcing them to go through manual procedures, Watson said.

Prest said the dramatic downfall of the Official Opposition BC United Party just before the start of the campaign and voter frustration could also be contributing to the record size of the advance vote.

It’s too early to say if the province is experiencing a “renewed enthusiasm for voting,” he said.

“As a political scientist, I think it would be a good thing to see, but I’m not ready to conclude that’s what we are seeing just yet,” he said, adding, “this is one of the storylines to watch come Saturday.”

Overall turnout in B.C. elections has generally been dwindling compared with the 71.5 per cent turnout for the 1996 vote.

Adam Olsen, Green Party campaign chair, said the advance voting turnout indicates people are much more engaged in the campaign than they were in the weeks leading up to the start of the campaign in September.

“All we know so far is that people are excited to go out and vote early,” he said. “The real question will be does that voter turnout stay up throughout election night?”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version said more than 180,000 voters cast their votes on Wednesday.



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