Green Party candidate passionate about housing and the environment Kristina Mameli news editor ew Westminster-Coquitlam Green Party New Rebecca Helps has lived in Port Moody for 30 years, where she has been a very active resident, from helping implement the first classroom recycling program at Port Moody Junior High to leading Girl Guides. Helps graduated from SFU in 2001 with a bachelor’s in Business Administration. Soon after graduation she started working for Yellow Pages, a job that would take her to Montreal, offering her a brand new perspective of Canada outside of B.C. Helps is passionate about housing and the environment. She strongly believes that everyone deserves the right to have a safe and secure home—a sentiment sure to have come from her work with BC Housing. While there, she had the opportunity to work with the homeless and with provincially funded outreach programs and emergency shelters. She has also worked with a number of non-profit agencies working to solve homelessness. Helps is a strong supporter of BC-STV, believing that the current voting system does not properly represent the voters. She hopes that BC-STV will bring proportionality and accountability to B.C. eo Rebecca Helps Fact sheet: H1N1 Vaccine By Jacob Serebrin, CUP Quebec Bureau Chief ealth Canada approved the HIN1 vaccine H=« this month, and its administration is slowly getting underway. Because the shots are being administered by the provincial health authorities, how quickly members of the public can get the vaccine varies from province to province. While Health Canada has said the vaccine is safe, a large number of Canadians say they’re wary of getting the shot. According to a Strategic Counsel survey, released last week, 51 per cent of Canadians said they’re not planning to get the vaccine. The Canadian University Press talked with officials from Health Canada and the vaccine maker, GlaxoSmithKline to get some answers for some common questions about the new vaccine. What kind of testing has been done? GlaxoSmithKline says that they’re going to be testing the vaccine on a little fewer than 9,000 people worldwide; 2,000 of those people will be Canadians. The Canadian tests began two weeks ago and it could take up to a year for the results. This means that Health Canada’s going to be reviewing early European tests done on a small number of individuals. How are vaccines approved in Canada? It’s mostly a review process. Health Canada looks at the results of clinical trials, where the vaccine is actually given to people; those tests are conducted by pharmaceutical companies. Health Canada also inspects their manufacturing plants and tests a small amount of the vaccine, but as a quality control measure, the government doesn’t do any clinical trials. How is the vaccine made? The vaccine is produced in a similar way to the seasonal flu vaccine. Pharmaceutical companies get an inactive form of the virus from the World Health Organization. They then grow the virus in eggs. How did they make the vaccine so fast? The seasonal flu tends to mutate from year to year; scientists call this mutation “drifting.” Because of this, a new seasonal flu vaccine is required each year. While it may seem like the new vaccine was developed very quickly, it’s not much faster than the response to a new strain of seasonal flu. So what’s in this vaccine? It contains an inactive form of the virus. The type of vaccine that will be more available in Canada also contains an “adjuvant,” which is designed to stimulate the immune system; it contains fish oil, vitamin E and water. The vaccine also contains a small amount of mercury as a preservative, but Health Canada says there’s less mercury in a dose of the vaccine than in a can of tuna. Why is the HIN1 strain more serious than other types of flu? Because the changes in the virus caused by the mutations aren’t that significant most people tend to have some level of natural immunity. But because humans have never had the HIN] strain before, most of us won’t have any of these antibodies. wT News Shorts By Kristina Mameli_ Olympic torch diverted in Victoria Over 400 anti-Olympic protestors dressed as zombies diverted the torch relay in Victoria Friday in protest to the 2010 Games. The demonstrators unpredictably marched through the streets, diverting rush hour traffic, keeping security busy and diverting the torch’s path. The diversion disappointed many who had turned out to watch the relay and blocked Victoria streets for hours. Heading towards the Legislature and the ceremony, the flame and its entourage were forced to instead take waiting vehicles to avoid demonstrators. Another foot washes up on B.C. shores A seventh severed foot washed up in a Nike running shoe Tuesday on a beach at No. 6 and Tangle Road in Richmond. The foot, found in a red and white sneaker has been confirmed to have belonged to a human. The gender of the foot’s owner has not yet been released. Three of the other six feet found have also yet to be identified. Man, 112, weds 17-year old girl in Somalia A Somali man who claims to be 112 years old and a 17-year-old girl wed Thursday in Guriceel, Galguduud. Ahmed Muhamed _ Dore already has 13 children from five wives, but hopes to have _ more with his new wife Safia Abdulleh. ____ The marriage, while allowed under Islamic law, has garnered mixed reactions, and, according to Somali historians, is the first of its kind in the region in at least a century. Dore told the BBC that he was born in Dhusamareeb in central Somalia in 1897 and that he has a traditional birth _ certificate, written on goat skin by his father. In 1941, he joined _ the British colonial forces, serving as an officer for 10 years, later becoming a police officer when Solmalia won independence in 1960. He and Addulleh, who is young enough to be his great-great- granddaughter, are from the same village. He watched her grow and waited until she was old enough to propose. Dore has a total of 114 children and grandchildren—his oldest son is 80. Three of his previous wives have died. S Dilworth draws on variety of experiences Conservative candidate a city councillor, small business owner and more Diana Dilworth By Kristina Mameli, News Editor riding, Diana Dilworth, has lived, worked and volunteered in the riding for the past 18 years. Dilworth got her start in politics working for the federal government before being elected as a Port Moody City Councillor in 1999. Taking her knowhow and strong work ethic, she went on to open her own small business consulting for private companies and local government. This greatly helped her to understand some of the issues that face the community. From chairing her local school district’s Parent Advisory Council and raising her two children as a single parent, Dilworth understands the challenges that many single parents face. She also currently sits as President of Crossroads Hospice Society, where she has volunteered for Over Six years. Dilworth has worked as the Manager, Council Operations for the Fraser Basin Council, for the last seven years. It is non-profit ~ organization that aims to advance sustainability in B.C. Te Conservative candidate for the New Westminster-Coquitlam