The 10-lane highway is expected to be completed in 2013, but will open 8 of the 10 finish lanes to traffic in 2012, for a whole year. The Minister of Transportation said “there will be four lanes instead of the existing two lanes, so people will start seeing the benefits right away and they’ll start paying the tolls right away.”

The cost of the bridge will be:

• $5.15 per crossing for cars
• $2.85 per crossing for cars with transponders
• $3.75 per crossing for motorcycles
• $1.45 per crossing for motorcycles with transponders
• $8.00 per crossing for small trucks
• $5.70 per crossing for small trucks with transponders
• $10.85 per crossing for large trucks
• $8.55 per crossing for large trucks with transponders.

In substitution to the transponder discount, an individual can also prepay or pay by the deadline of midnight the following day.

Starting 2013, Pattullo Bridge will be the only bridge that is toll-free when travelling between North Fraser (New Westminster, Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows) and Surrey.

No related posts.

Polak initially ran in the 2004 Surrey-Panorama Ridge by-election, but lost to Jagrup Brar. She ran again in the 2005 provincial election in Langley, and won by 52%. She ran again in 2009 with a 2009 with a 4 point increase, beating her opponent by 20 points.

In June 04, Polak got involved with the BC Liberal Party. Polak ran for Member of the Legislative Assembly because “people deserve a government that will allow them to pursue their goals and stay out of their way.” She believes that politicians, such as her, are “privileged to serve.”

Her Life Motto: There are two types of people in the world, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group – there’s less competition.

MLA Fact Sheet:

• Favourite Part of BC: Haida Gwaii, lived there for three years.
• People who she admires: Margaret Thatcher, her mother
• Most Grateful for: Her Daughter, best thing that ever happened to her
• Last Book She Read: Shantaram — Gregory David Roberts
• Favourite Movie: Breakfast at Tiffany’s
• Greatest Fear: Growing old alone
• Biggest Regret: Did not spend enough time with her mom before she died.
• Favourite Food: German Noodles with Butter
• If she could travel to anywhere in the world, it would be Africa.

Interesting Information

• Her greatest achievement is raising an amazing daughter who is happy and successful
• Her mother was a paraplegic.
• The most pivotal movement in her life is the death of her mother.

Email:
mary.polak.mla@leg.bc.ca

Constituency Office:
#102 — 20611 Fraser Hwy
Langley, BC
V3A 4G4 

Phone Numbers:
(604) 514‑8206
(250) 387‑3504

Related posts:

1. MLA Profile: Harry Bloy, BC Liberal
2. MLA Profile: Mike Farnworth, BCNDP

Source: Unknown

No related posts.

Within the last ten days, the Conservation Service officials have killed four bears who were seeking easily accessible garbage in residential areas in Coquitlam. In the past, the bears were found on Westwood Plateau. The four bears that were found recently were found on the Burke Mountain area, the area that includes Minnekhada and the focus of the development for the future of Coquitlam.

If a bear was found in your garbage when the bear is shot, you will currently be issued a $500 fine. Mayor Richard Stewart is proposing a $5,000 to $10,000 fine.

The current bylaws state that disposable contents for pickup may only be placed on the curb between 530am and 730pm near “Identified Bear Activity Area.”

If you find a bear roaming the streets, please contact the Report All Proachers and Polluters hotline at 1–877-952‑7277.

Photo Credit: emples on Flickr

Related posts:

1. Rabbit Sales in Coquitlam

Education (Known)

• Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (Toronto) — Marketing Diploma

Work History (Known)

• Country retail chain, District Manager
• local telecommunications company, President

Volunteering (Known)

• Burnaby Optimist Club
• Regional Council of Scouts Canada — Burnaby
• Burquitlam Community Association
• Burnaby Mountain Mantas Summer Swim Club
• Burnaby Arts Council
• Burnaby Minor Lacrosse
• District Parent Advisory Council
• Parent Advisory Council
• Healthy Heart Fun Run and Walk
• Mothers March of Dimes
• BC Summer Games

Past Government Committees (Known)

• Government Caucus Committee for Education
• Various Legislative Select Standing Committees
• Privacy and Freedom of Information Act Review Committee

Deliveries between August 2009 to July 2010

• 3/26 — $39.4 million towards Advanced Education and Labour Development — construction of Burnaby Campus Gateway Project.
• 10/14 — $14.1 million towards housing — Burnaby Social Housing through a cost-shared Housing Renovation Partnership [read]
• 10/01 — $50.6 million towards education — a new Burnaby Central Secondary School [read]
• 09/16 — Groundbreaking at the new Youth Centre at Moody Park [read]
• 09/16 — $13,000 from BC Housing Education Awards to 16 Burnaby residents living in subsidized housing. [read]
• 09/09 — $1,400,000 from provincial government towards public safety initiates in Burnaby. [read]
• 08/28 — $13,000 to support Local Torch Relay Events via the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay Community Grants Program. [read]

Email:
Harry.Bloy.MLA@leg.bc.ca

Constituency Office:
220 — 3355 North Road
Burnaby, BC  
V3J 7T9

Phone Numbers:
604–664-0847
250–387-2765 

Related posts:

1. MLA Profile: Mary Polak, BC Liberal
2. MLA Profile: Mike Farnworth, BCNDP
3. Metro Vancouver Torch Relay

Mike Farnworth is a BC MLA. He currently serves the riding of Port Coquitlam, where his primary constituents are the residents of Port Coquitlam.

Mike has been elected in 1991, 1996, 2005, and 2009. He was not elected in 2001 due to the NDPs failure and the BC Liberal’s success. Prior to being elected in 1991, he served three terms on Port Coquitlam City Council.

He currently serves as the Opposition House Leader. Due to his high awareness for public safety, he has been appointed by the party as the Opposition Critic for Public Safety and Solicitor General. In the past, he has served as the Minister of Health and Minister of Social Development and Economic Security.

According to VoteSmartBC: As Minister of Employment and Investment, Farnworth oversaw a decline in both employment and investment. GDP growth under successive NDP governments was a full 25% less than the national average.

People have felt that Carole James is not a leader who can lead the NDP to victory. Some people have came forward and said that Mike Farnworth should be the interim leader for the BCNDP. There are also people who are against the fact, as he is “remarkably right-wing for a New Democrat”.

You may contact his office at:
mike.farnworth.mla@leg.bc.ca

His constituency address is:
107A-2748 Lougheed Highway
Port Coquitlam, BC
V3B 6P2

His office numbers are:
Constituency — 604–927-2088
Victoria — 250–387-3655

Related posts:

1. MLA Profile: Mary Polak, BC Liberal
2. MLA Profile: Harry Bloy, BC Liberal

If you have a known Twitter or website, I will link your name with the appropriate web address. If you have been published in the newspaper before, I will write your whole name. If I miss someones website, please feel free to bring it up.

If I missed anyone, I apologize. Feel free to message me and I will post you up.

On the Phone (Call/Text):

• Ms. J. Tye
• Mr. Z. Khung
• Ms. S. Hanley
• Mr. F. Leung
• Ms. M. Massullo
• Mr. J. Lee

On Twitter:

• @SiriusTay - hope you had a great birthday
• @JJMacLean - happy birthday Andy!
• @MLACadieux - Happy Birthday

A special shoutout to those who wished Happy Birthday to me on Twitter and through phone. They knew it was my birthday even though it was not posted — and I hope they did not look on Facebook

On Facebook:

• Mr. R Yang
• Ms. K. Robles
• Mr. M. Jen
• Ms. C. Hsi
• Ms. K. Strohhacker
• Mr. A. Gonzales
• Ms. D. Bos
• Ms. B. Firouzian
• Ms. N. Fineing
• Ms. R. Kahwaji
• Mr. D. Watson
• Mr. John Rustad, MLA
• Ms. J. Sarai
• Ms. H. Morneau
• Mr. A. Bednar
• Mr. A. Hameed
• Ms. K. Clarke
• Ms. I. Hayer
• Mr. J. Ng
• Mr. N. Hiller
• Ms. F. Maxwell
• Mr. T. Herrington
• Mr. D. Chang
• Ms. N. Sznajder
• Ms. E. Wilson
• Ms. J. Ferreira
• Mr. A. Lai
• Ms. K. Feliciano
• Ms. A. Pasin
• Mr. F. Leung
• Ms. J. Wegnowski
• Ms. A. Nagle
• Ms. Ceci
• Ms. G. Briggs
• Ms. Z. Le Grange
• Ms. H. Steele
• Ms. A. Kirby
• Ms. K. Norris
• Ms. M. Ing
• Ms. M. Szamborski
• Mr. J. Griese
• Ms. A. MacGrotty
• Ms. B. Castillo
• Ms. M. Samson
• Ms. N. Chow
• Mr. B. Mazurkiewwich
• Mr. R. De Mesa
• Mr. G. Qiu
• Ms. S. Marrington
• Mr. J. Comparelli
• Ms. D. Karamanlis
• Mr. Jim Van Rassel
• Ms. S. Olesiak
• Ms. J. Chung
• Ms. K. Zellweger
• Mr. E. Anderson
• Ms. E. Qu
• Ms. J. Iwanski
• Ms. L. Chan
• Mr. J Fernandes
• Ms. E. Taheri
• Ms. A. Dy
• Mr. W. Feng
• Ms. S. Johal
• Mrs. A. Strocel
• Ms. N. Nayyar
• Mr. J. Leung
• Ms. A. Sundberg
• Ms. N. Tschenscher
• Ms. C. Martinez
• Ms. Shirley Bond, MLA
• Mr. JJ MacLean
• Ms. M. Kessler
• Mr. S. Law
• Mr. R. Kuipers
• Ms. A. Modica-Amore
• Ms. L. Eastwood
• Mr. A. DiNicolo
• Ms. C. Clarissa
• Ms. H. Yoshime
• Ms. C. Beveridge
• Mr. A. Zhu
• Mr. P. Browning

No related posts.

I do have air conditioning in my house — but it is barely used. Air conditioning makes the whole house cool, and having a big house makes it very inefficient. I have a fan in my room — but I rarely turn it on. I have 2 porch doors, a door to the hallway, and a window in my study room. I use them to my advantage.

Electronics - First of all, make sure your electronics are off when not in use. Electronics will generate heat. Some computers will heat up quickly if the machine itself is too dusty. If you are using a laptop, make sure it is sitting on a wood-like or glass-like surface where it will not accumulate the heat. Do not put your laptop on your bed as it will keep your computer warm — something you do not want it to do.

Lights — Incandescent light bulb may light up right away when you flick them on — but they do create a lot of heat as you have them on. If possible, try to switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs.

Air Circulation — The only reason why fans make you feel cooler is not because it cools down the air. It blows the air at you at a fast pace — creating air circulation. It will work the same if you open up your window or door. If you are doing this, make sure it is cooler outside before doing so.

Shielding from the Sun — You feel warm sometimes because you feel the sun shining at you. Close your blinds and curtains during the day to block off the sun. If possible, use aluminum blinds so that the light bounces off your window.

Go Underground — If you have a basement, go to the basement. Basements are the coolest place in your basement. I can put Coke cans in the basement, open it a week later, and I can get a cool Coke.

Water is your friend — Cold water is free in British Columbia. Use it as a temporary measure to cool yourself down.

Hungry? — Eat spicy food! Ever wonder why Indians eat spicy food? It is because the spiciness of the food increases perspiration. Perspiration cools down your body as it evaporates!

Those are some of the methods that I have used to cool myself down. If you are still hot from the weather, take the bus down to your local shopping centre and enjoy the air conditioning! Regardless of whether you are there, it is still going to be on 

No related posts.

As of July 9 of yesterday, Translink has issued Requests for Proposals to three companies to submit their designs. After they submit their designs, the company will have to install, operate and maintain the Faregate System as well as the Smartcard System.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Smartcard System, it is already in use in most well-known transit stations around the world — including the Clipper in the San Francisco Bay area (formerly named the Translink Card), the Octopus Card in Hong Kong, and the Oyster Card in England.

The Smartcard technology is in use already in almost ten cities in Canada. More transportation, such as Translink, are seeing the benefits of the system and the impact that it can have in improving the current transportation system.

In the Greater Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa area, they have the Presto system. The Presto system is similar to a debit/gift card. It uses RFID technology and it is shared by ten transit providers. You can only store $320 on your Presto card and it will automatically deduct from your balance everytime you scan your card. Scanning your card is easy. All you have to do is wave it at the receiver. Upon waiving at the receiver, it will show you your balance. Unfortunately there are no paper trail — making it hard to trace if there was a glitch in the system.

In the Greater Montreal region, they have the OPUS Card. The OPUS Card has a chip built inside the card, similar to the Chip and PIN VISA cards that you see on the streets. You can refill your balance at the station, on the computer or at an authorized retail store. When you get to the station, you put your card into the turnstile machine and it will come out the other side while you walk through the turnstile. When you put in your card, the machine will also tell you your balance.

The three companies that Translink sent the Request for Proposals are Thales/Octopus — the developer of the Hong Kong Octopus Card, Secro/Parkeon — the developer for Australia Perth, and Cubic/IBM — the developer of the Oyster Card in England, UK. Translink will make the final decision on who will be in charge of the system at the end of the year, after it has seen all the proposals.

Translink plans to have it up and running in Spring 2013 and making the company maintain it for ten years. This means that Evergreen Stations will come with the turnstiles.

So far, there has been an allocation of $170 million for this proposed system. Translink is putting $100 million (59% of total), the provincial government is putting $40 million and the federal government is putting $30 million.

Implementing this system will benefit Translink. Translink will be able to ensure that there are no fare evaders at the Skytrain stations. Users will no longer have to purchase a Fare Transfers. They will be able to use their reusable card to use the transportation system. Translink will be able to track where you, the rider, are travelling to/from. Translink will no longer require their Skytrain attendants to tally the riders and use the tally electronically to find how many riders are there in the system. There are thousands of benefits of this system.

Related posts:

1. Evergreen Line and the Tri-Cities
2. UPASS for BC Colleges/Universities

No related posts.