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Star power,

datomVlalsvenie
and the economy

» A recap of week seven of the 2015 Canadia

Mercedes Deutscher
News Editor
Mi news@theotherpress.ca

Ces leading three
candidates continued their
campaigns in week seven of
the election, and tensions are
rising as the final month of
campaigning begins.

This past week of the
election drew some interest
from Canadian celebrities.
Donald Sutherland, who was
in attendance at the Toronto
International Film Festival, was
asked by CBC who he would vote
for in the coming election if he
were eligible to vote.

“Tom Mulcair. NDP,”

: Sutherland responded. “We

: should be making peace. We

: should be offering hope and help.
: We should be taking in refugees.
:; Change the government.”

The earlier days of this week

: were mainly utilized by the party
: leaders to discuss plans and

: initiatives that would involve

: the elderly, a population that

: are traditionally more likely to

: vote. The elderly population has

: become increasingly important

: to influence since it now includes
: five million baby boomers.

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau

: promised greater funding
: to the Canada Pension Plan.

deral Electio

: Meanwhile, NDP leader Thomas
: Mulcair spoke of devoting

: $400 million of funding to

: supplement the incomes of the

: over 600,000 impoverished

: seniors. Both parties wish to

: bring the minimum age of

: collecting the Old Age Security
: Benefit back down to 65 after

: the Conservative Party began

: planning to raise it to 67 back in
: 2012.

The Conservative strategy

: for the elderly population

: involves initiatives brought up

: with the pre-existing 2014-15

: budget. One of said initiatives

: will allow Canadians to

: contribute twice as much as they

 

: formerly were allowed into their
: tax-free saving accounts, as well
: as a $2,000 tax credit that will

: be available in 2017 for single

: pensioners.

On September 17, the Globe

: and Mail hosted the second
: debate for the election campaign. :
: The debate was focused on the

: economy and did not involve

: Green Party Leader Elizabeth

: May, although May provided

: commentary and responses on

: Twitter. Topics of concern in

: this debate involved housing

: inflation, greenhouse gases, and
: immigration policies.

Stephen Harper took a

: position that involved balanced

Image via www.pm.gc.ca

: budgets and low tax cuts, in

: addition to signing more free-

: trade agreements. Mulcair

: said that the NDP economic

: plan includes investing in

: manufacturing by reducing taxes
: for small- and medium-sized

businesses. Trudeau explained

: that the Liberal party would

: invest in transportation and

: water infrastructure, as well as

: increasing employment, through
: the use of a three year deficit.

It is yet to be seen which

party will emerge the most

> victorious out of the debate, due

: to conflicting choices over who

: won and little change to the polls
: from the previous week.

 

Water restrictions lightened as
drought comes to an end

» Vancouverites begin to reflect and recover from the dry summer

Davie Wong
Columnist

wners of dirty cars and

brown lawns can rejoice
as the strict water restrictions
that had been placed on Metro
Vancouver have been eased.

As of September 10, the
Greater Vancouver region
has downgraded their water
restrictions from Stage 3 to
Stage 2. This comes as a relief
to many Vancouverites, as the
sight of dust-covered vehicles
and fields of dead grass had
become a common sight over
the course of the restriction.
The list of restrictions on uses
for water have been revised,
including car washing; both the
private and commercial cleaning
of driveways, sidewalks, and
parkades; as well as lawn
sprinkling. The washing of
motored vehicles is allowed once
again, so long as car owners

: have a spring-loaded nozzle

: on their hose. However, water

: should only be used for health

: and safety reasons. Using water
: unreasonably or for aesthetic

: purposes is still restricted,

; meaning that powering public

: and commercial fountains is

: prohibited.

This is the first time the

restriction has been lowered

: since it was upgraded to Stage 3

: on July 21. Heavy rain in the past
: weeks, as well as more predicted
: rain, has prompted the city to

: lower the sanction on water

: usage. It marks the beginning

: of the end to a long summer

: of drought and forest fires

: along the interior of BC, with

: temperatures averaging in the

: high 20s for the Lower Mainland :
: throughout the months of July:
: and August.

: While the sun was a positive :
: experience for beachgoers

: and tourists, it had a negative

: impact upon businesses that

: rely heavily on water, such as
: window cleaning companies

: and landscapers. Whenasked
: by Global News some companies :
: who specialize in installing

: lawns reported as much as a 70
: per cent drop in workload.

Nicholas Brand, the

: founder of Men in Kilts Window :
: Cleaning, told CBC that “We've:
: had to lay off most of [our] staff.
: We've got two trucks running :
: ona daily basis, and they’re only :
: about half booked right now, :
: where normally we’d probably
: be running five trucks and

: pretty much the whole month
: would be booked in advance.”

These companies are hoping

: to recover their losses now that

the water restrictions have been

: eased. However, for some, the
: damage has already been done,

with many companies reporting

that they’ve had to lay off more
; than half of their staff.

: Beyond the city, the drought :
> caused insurmountable amounts :

: of damage to the interior of

: BC, as wildfires consumed

: thousands of hectares of trees
: and vegetation. The fires

: devastated small communities,

: and forced hundreds of

: civilians to leave their homes

  

Image via Thinkstock

and belongings behind as they
were evacuated to safer cities.

: Firefighters are hoping that the
: humid weather in the upcoming
: weeks will help put the wildfires
: toan end, so that families

: may begin returning to their

: communities and rebuilding.