Local idiot burns up road By Garth McLennan, Acting Staff Reporter n unidentified motorist has created what A= to be one of the longest skid marks in New Westminster history, burning up the road for a full two and a half blocks. The incident occurred sometime between 4:00 and 4:30 A.M. on Monday, September 14", but the skid marks still remain, stretching from the beginning of the 200 block of Queens Avenue right through to a crashing end at 3 Street and Liverpool Drive. “T heard this awful screeching noise; it was so loud that it woke me up. The dogs were going crazy over it,” said local resident Carol Schmidt. The skid marks begin with a wild turn coming up 2™ Street off of Royal Avenue. A large grass divider separates 2™ Street’s two lanes. From the burnt black markings on the road, the driver was clearly going up the wrong side of the street. In order to make such a clearly defined and continuous streak, the driver must have been moving at a tremendous speed without braking at all. For the vast majority of the way, the marks only appear to have been made by one side of the vehicle. However, the tire tracks are doubled, indicating that the vehicle was a large truck with doubled rear tires. Judging from the position of the marks, the driver was extremely lucky not to have hit any parked vehicles on Queens Ave. “T was amazed that he didn’t hit our truck,” Schmidt said. “When you look at the skid marks, it was pretty close.” The marks continue down through the 300 block of Queens in an increasingly weaving fashion. When the truck reached the corner of Queens and 3™ however, it clearly took the turn onto 3™ too fast, mounting the curb and creating marks on the sidewalk as it went, narrowly missing a street sign. As the driver attempted to swerve from 3" Street onto Liverpool Drive, 20 feet further, they drove straight onto a grass boulevard and directly into a second street sign, which has since been replaced. The driver apparently wasn’t finished, but was evidently stuck since the tire holes dug into the boulevard on 3" Street, are at least half a foot deep, and still remain. News Shorts By Kristina Mameli Health Canada apologizes for body bags Health Canada apologized Thursday for sending more than two dozen body bags to the Wasagamack First Nation in Manitoba as part of a care package that also included masks and hand sanitizer to help prepare for a possible HIN1 outbreak. The bags caused shock and panic amongst First Nations, according to the CBC. 200 of the bags were sent to isolated northern reserves. Jim Wolfe, director of First Nations and Inuit Health for Manitoba also apologized and took the blame, though some aboriginal leaders are still calling for his resignation. PM meets with President to discuss “Buy American” Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Washington Thursday where he met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader John Boehner, several U.S. senators and President Barack Obama. They met for only an hour though, to discuss the possible exemption of Canada from the “Buy American” provision of the US. stimulus package. “Buy American” gives American-made products like iron and steel priority in projects funded by American taxpayer’s money —a move that could hurt Canadian businesses. Thus far, the trip has remained fruitless for Canada, though both countries leaders are addressing the issue which, as of yet, will not affect trade. Retire Your Ride becomes more lucrative for Canadians Trading in your gas-guzzling ride for a new fuel-efficient one just got a little more lucrative, thanks to General Motors Canada, who joins the ranks of Chrysler and Hyundai. GM is offering up to $3,000 towards a new GM vehicle on top of federal incentives already in place simply for trading in your clunker. Since Ottawa’s Retire Your Ride program began in the summer of 2008, it has seen between 30,000 and 40,000 vehicles traded in for a mere $300. Vehicles must meet several requirements in order to qualify. The vehicle in question must still run, be a 1995 model or older and have been registered and insured for at least a year in B.C. or six months in the rest of the country. Liberals offer to speed Tory El legislation Some speculate the move is simply to remove NDP rationale for Tory support By Kristina Mameli, Acting News Editor hen Canadian politics get ugly, they W = get ugly. In order to remove the NDP’s rationale for supporting the Tories, the Liberals, who intend to introduce a motion of non- confidence in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s minority Conservative government, have offered to speed up the passage of the Tories’ Employment Insurance legislation. The bill would extend EI benefits for 190,000 workers by as much as $1 billion. But some critics are sceptical that all of the aforementioned workers would receive the same benefits. The move comes after NDP Leader Jack Layton said his party would support the Conservatives until the EI reform is passed at least. The NDP wants time to thoroughly review the bill at committee. Though the Liberals don’t believe the bill constitutes EI reform, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is still pushing for the bill’s quick passage, noting that only then can the Liberals get to their motion of non-confidence. The Bloc Quebecois are also behind speeding up the bill’s passage, but not as quickly as the Liberals. They have merely suggested that preliminary debate be forgone by a Commons committee. Harper attends a G20 summit in Pittsburgh this week, during which time Parliament will not sit, leaving only a week for the bill to pass the Commons and Senate. The bill is not expected to pass before the looming motion of non- confidence in Harper’s Tories. Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff