The budget unveiled. It's big on promises but it fails to deliver. There's a new
carbon tax and more. We'll tell you how it will affect you. There's a lot of
stories that I hear and they are simply untrue. Are you being taken for a ride?
CTV's investigation into Vancouver's taxis asks where are the cabs? And she
kicked off the budget with these flu vogs. Meet the designer behind the shoes.
CTV news at 1130. Your home, your news. Here is Dag Sharman. Good evening it's
budget day in BC and we have a brand new tax. Not something likely that you'll be
celebrating but this is a carbon tax and it's supposed to help fight climate
change. But as a famous green frog says, it ain't easy being green it's going to
cost us. CTV's Chris Olson tells us what the carbon tax is all about and how it
will affect you. Parents are lining up to pick up their kids from kindergarten.
When it comes to paying more for the environment. A little bit more just to
improve the environment wouldn't matter to me at all. These parents will pay
2.4 cents a liter more for gasoline July the 1st and it's going to keep going up
by over a penny every year. We hope that by giving a pricing signal on carbon
that it gives people time to adjust and time to make changes. You'll also pay
more for natural gas, furnace oil or propane. But while carbon taxes go up,
your income tax is going down. We believe from all of our modeling, all of our
measurements that that more than compensates for any cost that they would
experience with a carbon tax. The average BC family has a total income of
$60,000 a year. With one vehicle driving 20,000 kilometers a year they'll say
$118 in income taxes. Carbon taxes on gasoline total $60 a year. Carbon tax on
natural gas for heating and hot water $53. Net benefit just $5 per year.
Add a second car or drive further and your tax bill will be going up not down.
With that in mind the government's giving people a one-time dividend of a
hundred dollars per person. $400 for the family of four. The check is coming in
June. There are other changes too that are a benefit. Buy an Energy Star
qualified refrigerator, washer or freezer and you'll pay no provincial sales tax
starting tomorrow. And if you trade in your minivan for a more fuel-efficient
vehicle, the provincial government's expanding rebates beyond hybrids to
include vehicles like the smart car, Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris. And any step
is probably a step in the right direction. Chris Olson, CTV News. The carbon
tax and green initiatives are the big news coming out of the budget but what
else was in there? Well the government will spend an additional three billion
dollars on health care over the next three years. A lot of money yes but some
who work in health care say it's not enough to cure the ailing system. There's
going to be pressure on the health authorities to put patients through
faster and faster and faster and given the staffing levels we have, the
shortages we have, the system can't withstand that pressure. The budget also
includes five billion dollars over three years to upgrade roads and
government buildings mainly schools and hospitals. Also corporate and small
business taxes will drop by 1%. Then there's what's not in the budget and at
the top of the list for many parents, help for special needs students. Tonight
parents in Langley are holding a candlelight vigil protesting a lack of
funding and support for their children. CTV's Dave Pinton reports.
Connor Funk is 11 and every day he comes in for mission to go to school in
Langley. He's hearing impaired but with the help of an interpreter he attends
school in regular classes. This year is his first year of real integration so
he's able to sit in class he's made a ton of friends he's done really well.
What they want to do is bring him up into high school so next year he'll be
the only grade 7 student in a high school that starts a grade 8. The reason?
Funding cuts to the provincial program supplying Connor with the help he needs.
Without that help he'll be alone and not with other kids studying his favorite
subject. He likes to work on math. What about P? Jim? Yeah. Connor and his mom Bev are not
alone. Each one of these 3,000 candles represents a special needs child in
Langley. Parents and teachers are hoping the school board here will listen to
their recommendations. We're asking the board to read this inquiry which was
produced by panelists here in Langley and we want them to meet with us. We'd
like the courtesy of a meeting to discuss the 16 recommendations and
findings put forward by the panelists. They won't meet with you? No they won't. They want the
board to consider smaller classroom sizes for special needs kids. One teacher
in Langley has 60 children in his class and they want more resources to help
children learn and integrate. The Teachers Federation says today's
provincial budget isn't helping. There's nothing in it for the class size, there's
nothing in it for students with special needs, there's nothing in it to help
boards fulfill the obligations that are being offloaded continually. For Connor
it's not about budgets or money. For him it's very simple. You want to go to
middle school with your friends? Yeah. That's what you would like? Yeah.
Daypinton, CTV News, Langley. Other news, it was a terrible accident in downtown
Vancouver. A Porsche slammed into three pedestrians and then took off. Well,
police eventually tracked down the alleged driver and today, more than two
years later, the case made it to court and the only survivor had to relive the
horror. On Remembrance Day 2005, three men were hit by the Porsche Cayenne while
crossing Hastings. Two died. Today the trial began for Paul Antunes, the man
accused of being behind the wheel. Stanley Wong was killed instantly. John
Larkin died later in hospital. Today Ron Chan, the only survivor, told court he was
thrown into the air when he was hit by the Porsche. It's a story he told CTV News
shortly after the accident. After that I didn't feel anything. Everything just went
silent. I knew I was airborne and everything just went blank. When he came
to, Chan says he discovered his friends had been thrown more than a hundred feet
down the road. Antunes has pleaded not guilty to all six charges related to
that fatal crash. Well, we're getting a clearer picture of what it was like for
Graham McMinn. Well, he was held hostage back in 2006. McMinn was eventually
freed by police a week after his ordeal began. Well, today on day two of his
alleged kidnappers trial, he explained how he was stripped to his underwear,
handcuffed and stuffed in a closet. He was blindfolded and dragged to three
different houses and his captors asked him how much his father would pay for
his freedom. Five men are on trial and that trial could last four months. Well,
let's get to our CTV News investigation of taxis in Vancouver. Last night we
showed you that it seems to be harder to get a cab in Vancouver than in other
major Canadian cities. Well, tonight CTV's Lisa Rossington looks at how he got into
that situation. Why is there a taxi shortage and who dropped the ball? It's an
industry where the product is so in demand customers will hurl themselves
into the street just to buy it. The taxi industry in Vancouver has no shortage of
business. A CTV Cross Canada investigation found when the bars closed in Vancouver
it took 30 times longer to get a cab than in other Canadian cities. Just look
at the facts, a condominium boom in the downtown and in the past 10 years
there's been a 65% increase in passengers arriving at YVR and an almost
100% increase in visitors sailing in on cruise ships. That's a lot more people in
the city but no one thought to put more taxis on city streets. In 17 years 33
taxis have been added to the fleet. Do you think the public's being served by
the taxi industry today? No, I think the service out there right now is not
where it should be. Some people have suggested that the cab companies have
deliberately not applied for licenses to keep the taxi licenses low so
everybody's making money. No, that's not true at all. The regulated system means
four companies control the industry in Vancouver. Yellow, Blacktop, McClurs and
Vancouver taxi and getting one of the precious licenses is complicated and
very profitable. Here's how it works, a company gets a vehicle for hire license
at Vancouver City Hall then applies for provincial taxi license from the
passenger transportation board and that license costs just $150 and it lasts
forever meaning the taxi companies can resell them to anyone in the company
sometimes at a thousand times more than the original price. Do you ever wonder
why you're not getting license applications? You know it's really not in
our role to to pursue that. I mean do I personally wonder why? Sure. And no
explanation as to why for the past four years not a single individual driver has
gone to a hearing and applied for a taxi license.
Dennis Day acknowledges the big four companies are allowed to attend the
hearings and oppose any application. There are promises of change. The city
says it's pushing the companies to get 120 more cabs working the streets of
Vancouver by 2010 meaning the public will continue to be underserved for at
least another two years. Lisa Rossington, CTV News, Vancouver. Kathy made it here
on time no cab needed from the sports department? No I didn't need a cab. I don't know if anybody's
gonna need a lot of hints though for tonight's journey a question. Oh really?
Yeah well it's all about the Canucks again of course the dads are on their
road trip having a lot of fun. Yeah it is very sweet. I think they are having a good
time. 19 family members in total but one player opted not to invite his dad but
to invite his brother along so we are wondering which player's brother is
along for the ride. Just name us the player and apparently yes he is having a
great time. They went to the Mall of America today is what they did in
Minnesota. Call us 604-280-CTV9-280-2889 and we have a great prize
package coming up in sports. So who walked around the mall with his
brother? Yeah pretty much. That's the one. See you in just a bit. Coming up after the break.
Express to the mayor my belief that we need more cabs in the road. Ah those
taxi troubles it seems everyone has an opinion we'll hear some in just a minute.
As if the slogan is if you can read that serve and be served. And later shoes
shoes shoes meet John Fluvog, famed designer and the man behind the finance
minister's shoes today. A bit of a change coming as more cloud and showers overnight
into tomorrow and the rest of the week well not as nice as it has been.
We'll have a full forecast coming up in just a few minutes. You're watching the CTV
News. Your home, your news. This portion of the news is brought to you by the
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From day one all the way to 2010. Let the games begin. Complete Olympic coverage
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Home of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Well it's been quite a day.
Budget day and another installment in our taxi series. Our online host Heron
Hanuman joins us. Heron a lot of strong opinions out there I bet. There sure has
been dag. The comments from viewers on our taxi stories are pouring in online.
Shaquille and Suri wrote in to say cab services here are almost third world. On
a recent holiday to Tunisia we were warned to haggle with the taxi drivers
but we were never overcharged. Back home we were quoted $60 from the airport to
Suri but when the cabbie demanded 80. Ripped off in our own country. And lots
of feedback on Vancouver's taxi shortage. Throughout the day on our online poll we
asked you think Vancouver has enough taxis. Well it's not a scientific poll
but a whopping 88% of you said no. Only 12% said yes. Now to our top story online
at this moment. Budget day in BC. It's the greenest budget yet but with the
cost of filling up set to rise are you willing to pay the price? Tonight's
online poll asked you support a carbon tax. Hundreds have voted already. You can
vote right now at ctvbc.ca. I'll have the results on tomorrow's newscast. Dag.
Thank you Aaron and you can also see some of those stories you've seen
tonight in their full version online.
Mark joins us now with weather and Mark is one of those days when you just feel
lucky to live in Vancouver. Absolutely yeah and and you know what we didn't
think it would stretch this long. We thought no Sunday and then it was over
so and we got a couple of extra days. Little bonus. Yeah bonus is over though
I'm afraid. Yeah it looks like things are gonna change. Yeah exactly we'll get
back to our winter weather too pretty soon here. A little more clouds sneaking
in here the current conditions right now. Good chance of maybe a couple of
sprinkles overnight and into tomorrow morning. Thanks pretty much to this trough
line which is over the coast right now. So it's keeping things a little bit
unsettled. This next system just down to the south may track a little further to
the south but we'll start to see that build in probably towards the end of the
week where we'll see a little more in the way of cloud and some rain. Massad
your shower should end fairly quickly in the morning so you may get a few sunny
periods in behind that. Prince Rupert is mostly cloudy with a few showers.
Bella Coola some sunny periods maybe and then some showers later. Mix of some wet
flurries and showers for terrace with Dees Lake. You've got a nice day
tomorrow with lots of sun and three degrees. Lots of sun for Fort Nelson and
Fort St. John. Bit of fog to start to fog through the central interior then a
mix of sun and cloud everywhere else and then in Revelstoke some fog patches in
the morning turning mostly sunny by the afternoon. Same thing for the
southeast and then mostly a valley cloud and fog again for most of the southern
interior but clearing away rather quickly with the highs of about six in
Kamloops tomorrow and also six in Kelowna. If you take a look at our CTV
TrueView there's a lot of cloud around the mainland and most of the island.
Some clearing in behind that so it's tough to say whether we will see a few
clear clear periods probably by the evening but we will see a little more in
the way of clouds and showers by the afternoon in Port Hardy. Elsewhere
around the island most of the showers coming in the morning. Winds picking up
too in the afternoon around the island for Port Albany Nanaimo and Victoria all
staying fairly cloudy with a good chance of showers especially in the early part
of the day with highs of nine. When you move on to the mainland the same thing
too some of those showers mix with wet flurries at times for Whistler Village
Squamish it's cloudy with showers off and on through the day mostly in the
morning and here for Metro Vancouver in the Fraser Valley good chance of showers
in the morning tapering off to just a slight chance of showers by the afternoon
but it'll stay fairly cloudy and also it's going to stay mild overnight too.
We've got that blanket of cloud over us so that's acting as things are a little
bit warmer than they have been for the past couple of nights. Tomorrow morning
it's a chance of showers as well and then by the afternoon still staying
fairly unsettled with cloud and a slight chance of showers by then. The next three
days after that well we're still going to be fairly unsettled with a good
chance of showers on Thursday. Friday look for periods of light rain and
showers as that next system rolls in and take a look in the weekend Dag. Yeah it
looks pretty good but at this point the weekend could go either way so it could
be even more cloudier than that so don't hold me to this by the time Friday rolls
around but at this point it looks pretty good. We understand thank you Mark. Well
the Canucks kicked off what may be their most crucial road game of the season
tonight and it would be a wild one in Minnesota that needed overtime. Kathy is back with all your sports next.
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Winnipeg Ballet's Sleeping Beauty at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre February 28th to
March 1st. Well Kathy's back and no big trade yet? No big trades but they're
talking it and we've in the meantime have lots of hockey real hockey to show
you got lots of papers here. Yes thank you Doug. Well the general managers are
meeting in Florida and the trade winds are a-blowing. Plus there's been a bunch
of lip flap about pad flaps. Roberto Luongo cut his off today but would the
Canucks be able to cut into the Minnesota Wilds divisional lead? Yes the
fathers we've been talking about have their game faces on. You think they'd be
having a great old time but they look actually nervous up there tonight. Yes
they're all business. So too are the Canucks in Minnesota. That is Marion Gavrik with his
33rd of the season and then Matt Cook does something that he hasn't done in like
23 games as he scores a goal that makes it 1-1 Vancouver. Canucks out shot them
24-8 after two periods third period and again it is the Wilds power play that
pays big dividends. Eric Belonging with the go-ahead goal. The Wilds aren't an easy
team to tame when they have the upper hand but the Canucks power play finds a
way to get the job done. Daniel to Nazlin for the captain's 22nd of the campaign.
But the true test was just beginning for Luongo after Trevor Linden was called
for hooking. The ensuing display of saves would end up looking and sounding like this.
And to Bouchard he faked the shot again Foster takes the shot.
Fedorik's kick on the ice there's the pass.
Senorin pass.
Raston shoots.
Great save by Luongo.
Wow he's like worth $6 million or something when he does that. The show continues right down to the wire and it went into overtime with a
point already under their belts. Look what the Canucks do. Yes they finish the job in OT.
That would be Daniel Sedin's 26th of the season. The Canucks pull off a 3-2 win and
that has huge implications for them and the overall standings in the West and
we're gonna break it all down for you in just a bit. But first it is very
interesting as the race in the West is so tight the Canucks, Calgary and the
Coyotes all began the night with 66 points apiece. The pressure must be
getting to some of these guys. This is the Flames in Phoenix and just minutes in
Coyotes captain Shane Doane takes it upon himself to fight Deon Faneuf.
The Flames then proceed to hurt them where it counts most. Jerome McGinla on the
power play and that is 36 goals and counting for Jerome. The Coyotes bite back
when Shane Don't assists on Derrick Morris's power play goal. But Doane's
sparring partner would also find a score sheet. McGinla denied by Ilya Brizgalov
but the bouncing puck gets to Faneuf for his first of two on the night. Calgary wins 4-1.
Then the Edmonton Oilers spent most of the night playing
catch-up in Nashville but Marty Reasoner gives Edmonton its first lead of the
game in the second. But it didn't last very long just over a minute later former
Oilers Jason Arnett beats Matthew Garonne. That would stay 4-4 until the
final two minutes of regulation and that is when JP Dumont strikes and that
really hits the Oilers hard and may actually be the final blow to their
playoff hopes. And then there's the Blackhawks and the Blues they went at it
right off the hop. Craig Adams and Dan Hynotes probably be a little black and
blue after this one. Now after St. Louis spotted the Hawks a goal well look at this fight.
It was time for the Blues to get down to business.
Sparratt Jackman with the man advantage went through the first. Paul Freer and Andy
McDonald then drew assists on Brad Boyes' 32nd goal of the season and that
would be the game winner as Lee Stepniakie. Both chipped in with power play goals.
Blues win 5-1. So as we keep talking about the Wild Wild West we should
mention the Columbus Blue Jackets lost 3-1 to the Leafs tonight and after all
that here is the look at the conference standings tonight and it is a race
indeed Detroit of course still on top Dallas trailing. Minnesota Anaheim
Nashville right in the hunt with 73 points 71 for the Predators. San Jose
Idol tonight Vancouver moves all the way up into seventh spot and stays there.
Calgary of course right there as well so needless to say it is going to be tight
right through there there's Edmonton with the 59 points 61 games played.
And in the east how about those Montreal Canadians boy were they on the wrong
side of an old-fashioned shootout tonight against the Rangers they were
down 5-0 but yeah they have battled back rallying from the five-goal deficit.
Alexey Kovalev would score the tying marker and then Sako Koybu does that in
the actual shootout. The Habs win 6-5 it also marks the first time in
Canadians history ever that a club has come back from being down by five.
Senators keep pace with a 3-2 shootout over the Flyers. Penguins score three
unanswered goals to beat the Panthers while yet another shootout saw the Bruins
beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2. In the dub Oscar Moeller scored the game
winning goal. Chilliwack Bruins rallying back from a 2-0 deficit they beat the
Oil Kings 3-2 and just the opposite happened to the Kelowna Rockets who
scored first before the Spokane Chiefs replied for two goals for the win.
Well in curling Kelly Scott's Kelowna Club has found new life. The reigning
world champ has bounced back at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts coming up
with a pair of wins today to sit at three and four overall and hey the same
Fortune 14 BC they're also at three and four as Alison McInnes and her Kamloops
team edged PEI 6-5 tonight as you can see Alberta and Ontario sharing the lead
a Saskatchewan keeping pace and yeah tomorrow could be make or break for the
rest of these teams depending on how the next few days play out so it's quite an
amazing story the Saskatchewan skip her father passed away the night before the
tournament began she was at his funeral tonight and she's still playing and
doing very well so yeah yeah during a difficult time absolutely nice to see on
a lighter note Roberto the one go playing so well I know like I say pay the
guys worth the six million dollars I think there's that break with his wife
coming up in just a minute ah shoes glorious shoes we'll meet up with John
flu bar the CTV weather report is brought to you by 1% realty same MLS service
less money today's super rich lesson the downside of wealth
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finish off with a DQ choco cherry love lizard now there's more in Vancouver's
morning more local news more local weather and more traffic updates to get
you where you're going watch Canada AMBC for more in your morning in touch with
Tamara Taggart enjoy the Oscars like a star on February 24th join CTV's Carrie
Adams at the Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Hotel for the evening with the Stars
Gala walk the red carpet for a glamorous night all in support of Kip's help phone
on March 8th musicians of all genres come together to take on the music of
Motown over 30 artists backed by a smoking hot 12-piece fan turn up the
heat at Motown meltdown in touch brought to you by the CTV store so the finance
minister in keeping with tradition on Budget Day wore new shoes and you know
even a guy with no taste could appreciate these funky green shoes not
only were they green obviously a political statement they were designed
in Vancouver they are flu fogs a creation of John flu fog he's a very
successful local designer he caters to a variety of tastes and he knows the right
shoe for the right client one of the fun things about this shoe actually for a
politician in particular is that the slogan is if you can read that serve and
be served that is ideal it's almost as though you we made a sign of this with
her and well I think we did there you go and the finance minister just so you
know paid full price for the pumps two hundred and twenty nine dollars plus
tax and I had to double check to make sure they really were officially
those are pumps those are big chippers no I'm not really a big shoe person I'm
only size six no anyway time for the answer
tonight connects family trivia now a family that plays together stays together
we were asking which connect brought their brother along on the trip and not
the father was Sammy's Salo so congratulations to Chris trunk one of
the nine oh Chris you get a pair of tickets to see spirit of the West that's
coming up March 14th at the Commodore thanks thank you for joining us
CTV news your home your news
trust CTV news for the most accurate we should see some sunshine this weekend
the days are getting longer springtime and grill time aren't far away for your
chance to win a deluxe power cube barbecue from Coast Spa and Billiards
watch CTV news weeknights at 6 and note the official time of sunset during
Tamara's weather we have a pretty decent weekend heading our way and head down to
the BC home and garden show you'll find advice solutions and inspiration for
your home and fill out a contest entry get grilling with CTV news channel 9
your home your news