Nanaimo Daily News from Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada • 6

AS DAILY NEWS TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2009 Firm lets you beat medical wait list for a price specialists right now." Baker said he has told the provincial government of his plan, which he said does not break any provincial or federal laws because he is providing an uninsured service, not actual medical care. "All we will be providing is research." B.C. Health Minister George Abbott said in an interview he had not yet read Baker's letter to him and did not know if the service violates any laws. "But that will soon be a moot point anyway, because the (provincial) government is going to introduce some pilot projects for a specialist referral service by the end of the year to help doctors and their patients link to specialists who may have shorter wait times," Abbott said. are using through a subsidiary called North American Surgery Inc.

Baker said most family doctors refer patients to specialists with whom they have a long-standing relationship based on knowledge of their skills. "Older specialists may have the longest wait lists while the younger, newer ones, can have much shorter wait lists," he said. "Patients who pay us the fee will get a list of three other specialists who will see them more quickly and if the wait is not shorter, we will refund the money," Baker said, adding that the fee will not be shared with any doctors. Patients will then have to ask their family doctors for another referral. Dr.

Bill Mackie, president of the B.C. Medical Association, said the government and the Medical Services Commission will have to consider whether Baker's business is allowed, since the patient-visit fee family doctors receive includes payment for any referral that must be made. Family doctors such as Mackie have booking clerks who make appointments with specialists, and patients are sometimes given the option of seeing doctors who may not be the first choice but have reduced waiting times. "I've been in practice 30 years, so I know the warts and benefits of many specialists, but I refer to those whom I know and whose skills I respect," Mackie said. "That might mean waiting longer for some.

There are really long waits for psychiatrists and gastrointestinal ri ri POMODM ODD ft fcTf AA -mi nil I in i ii 1 3 Enviroment Minister Barry Penner showed off a new Prius plug-in Hybrid electric car at the Legislature last spring when the province announced it was investing $400,000 to support plug-in electric vehicles. B.C. Hydro is now taking steps toward an electric car grip for the province, icanwest news service) VANCOUVER Law firms targeted in new letter lottery scam B.C. lawyers have been warned about a lottery scam that has targeted three law firms. In a bulletin to members, the Law Society of B.C.

says any attempts to scam lawyers with the "B.C. 649" fraud should be reported to police. Barbara Buchanan, the society's practice adviser, said U.S. residents had received a letter written on fake letterhead of B.C. law firms telling them they had won a B.C.

lottery jackpot. The name of the firm on the letterhead was real but the contact information was not. The letter came with a cheque, in U.S. funds, which was said to be an advance payment. VANCOUVER New law to add cancer hazard for firefighters B.C.

Labour Minister Iain Black introduced legislation Monday that would add lung cancer to the list of cancers recognized as an occupational disease for firefighters. "This change helps firefighters and their families by streamlining eligibility for workers' compensation benefits, and delivers on last year's promise to add lung cancer for non-smokers as the ninth cancer recognized as an occupational disease for B.C. Firefighters," Black said. B.C. began recognizing some cancers in 2005 as occupational diseases linked to firefighting.

Prior to this legislation, the province recognized a variety of other cancers. If passed, this bill would add primary site lung cancer for non-smokers retroactive to May 27, 2008. VANCOUVER Great Canadian casino firm posts S1.7M loss B.C. casino operator Great Canadian Gaming Corp. has reported a fourth-quarter loss of $1.7 million, compared with a $l3-million profit a year ago.

The company blamed weak consumer spending, heavy snowfalls and increased competition for the loss that dragged 2008 profits to $13.5 million a 62 drop from 2007 profits. Great Canadian said revenues rose by 2 last year to $403.7 million but declined 4 to $96.7 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008. Chief financial officer Milton Woensdregt blamed heavy December snowfalls in B.C., the opening of a new competitive casino in Bur-naby in November and declining consumer confidence. VICTORIA Chilly weather ices B.C.'s daffodil harvest Cooler than usual conditions and a freak snowstorm continued Monday to delay Canada's largest daffodil harvest.

The crop is thick and the pickers are ready, but Vantreight Farms in Central Saanich says it will take a few days of temperatures above 8 before the yellow flowers are ready to cut, box and ship. Vantreight usually stalls shipping "tens of millions" of the flowers at this time every year to the Canadian and American cancer agencies which use the daffodil as a symbol to promote Cancer awareness every April. VANCOUVER Teen murder trial full of errors, says lawyer A lawyer for a woman convicted of murdering a teen at a Surrey SkyTrain station claimed Monday that the trial was a "perfect storm for a wrongful conviction" as he called for an acquittal. Katherine Quinn was found guilty of second-degree murder in the July 2005 killing of Matthew Martins. 16.

Robert Forslund, Quinn's co-accused and boyfriend, was also convicted of second-degree murder after he threw the teen into a Plexiglass wall, kicked him. stomped on his head and cut his throat with a beer bottle. The attack, which happened after Quinn tried to steal Martins's necklace, was captured by a SkyTrain surveillance video camera. Played during the five-week trial, it showed Forslund slamming Martins into a Plexiglass wall six times and kicking him 10 times. Quinn was convicted after the Crown argued that she'd aided and abetted the murder by providing the broken bottle to Forslund and then urging him to kill the teen.

NEWS SERVICES reducing greenhouse gas emissions by one-third by 2020, electric vehicles will be part of the solution," B.C. Energy Minister Blair Lekstrom said in the release. "This will allow B.C.Hydro to anticipate the potential introduction of clean electric vehicles throughout B.C.," Hydro president and CEO Bob Elton said in the release. PAMELA FAYERMAN CANWEST NEWS SERVICE VANCOUVER A North Vancouver company is offering to find B.C. specialists who can see patients more quickly than the ones their family doctors have referred them to for a $95 fee.

The new service expands on Timely Medical Alternatives' existing business, acting as a broker for expedited surgery or other treatment, often in private clinics or hospitals in the U.S. "The waiting time between the family doctor and the specialist can be some of the longest and most frustrating," said Rick Baker, who has turned Timely Medical into a successful business even Americans B.C. Hydro moves to create a provincial grid for vehicles SCOn SIMPSON CANWEST NEWS SERVICE VANCOUVER B.C. Hydro took the first step Monday toward creation of an electric car grid in British Columbia. The Crown corporation announced it has commissioned a study for development of electric car infrastructure specifically, the wires and plugs needed to allow drivers to charge up their vehicles at home, work, the mall or anywhere else that would lend itself to plug-in charging.

The contractor doing the study is eTec, a subsidiary of ECOtality, Hydro said in a news release. Technical challenges to be addressed will likely include building code changes and training for electrical contractors. It's the first time B.C. Hydro has ventured beyond the delivery of power to a household meter, into the realm of transportation infrastructure support. "As British Columbia moves towards Former police chief denies allegations LORI CULBERT CANWEST NEWS SERVICE WEST VANCOUVER Former West Vancouver police chief Kash Heed said Monday he has done nothing wrong, and denies a complaint that he allegedly interfered with a police investigation.

He stepped down Feb. 23 as head of the West Vancouver police department. Bruce Brown, Deputy Police Complaint Commissioner, confirmed a Police Act complaint was filed against Heed two weeks ago, shortly after he resigned. Brown said the complaint alleges Heed, while chief, interfered with a criminal investigation by members of his department. "I'm aware of the nature of the complaint, and I'm satisfied that I have done nothing wrong," Heed said Monday.

"I have served the public as a police officer over 30 years and my record and reputation is absolutely unblemished." Heed, a longtime Vancouver police officer before taking the top job in West Vancouver in 2007, would not discuss details of the allegations against him. Initially, there was speculation Heed resigned to run with the B.C. Liberals in the next provincial election. Heed refused to confirm that rumour Monday, saying only that he has "a few opportunities" to consider in his future. The case that Heed is alleged to have interfered with involves that of a man, 68, arrested Feb.

11 by West Vancouver police and the RCMP's Integrated Child Exploitation unit in connection with the distribution and possession of child pornography. The suspect's West Vancouver house was searched and police seized numerous images of child sexual abuse. Police are refusing to release the man's name until his first court appearance in April. Inspectors find cocaine in tombstone bound for U.K. What do you think? We want to hear from you.

Send your comments on this story to lettersnanaimodailynews.com. Letters must include your first and last names, your hometown and a daytime phone number. an e-mail. "It is important that this initiative be closely linked to B.C. Hydro's plans for a Smart Grid, so that vehicle-to-grid electrical storage and exchanges can take place.

"A million electrical vehicles could create a 10,000 megawatt storage capacity. "We hope that B.C. Hydro and ECOt-tality will develop a close dialogue with developments in Europe and China, to ensure that the emerging new wave of electric vehicles has compatible standards, and that B.C.'s standards will be flexible enough to accommodate changes in what is a very fast-moving market. "We believe that B.C. should plan for 100 per cent of the province's cars and light trucks to be electric or plug-in hybrid eElectric by 2030 and this move by B.C.

Hydro is a critically important step in the right direction." A gravestone seized by the Canadian Border Agency in 2008. The tombstone contained cocaine and was bound for Scotland, file photo a scheme to purchase guns for the Sanghera crime group. An acquaintance agreed to be a police agent and brought in an undercover officer who met several times with Taylor, Mitchell-Banks said. She said Taylor paid $2,000 for the guns, which were handed to him in a sack by the undercover officer on Feb. 23.

Taylor was then arrested in a takedown in which he was injured. His left arm was in a sling Monday She argued that both men should be held in custody until their trial. Outside court, Goldberg said the police strategy of holding news conferences on minor charges is "copaganda." Fake gravemarker picked up in routine airport inspection KENT SPENCER CANWEST NEWS SERVICE VANCOUVER Canadian border inspectors have uncovered a grave plot to move cocaine to Scotland from B.C. after almost nine kilograms of the drug was found in a fake tombstone during a routine inspection at Vancouver International Airport. The discovery was made last June by the Canada Border Services Agency but kept secret until recently while Scottish police arrested a suspect and brought him to trial.

Last week, Ramandeep Johal of Renfrewshire, Scotland, pleaded guilty in a Glasgow court to receiving the illicit drug. Johal, 31. will be sentenced next month and faces many years in prison. Sustainable Energy Association president Guy Dauncey applauded the initiative. "There is a huge pent-up demand for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in B.C., and it is essential that we prepare our electrical infrastructure in advance, as they are doing in California and other jurisdictions," Dauncey explained in The cocaine connection centred on the scheme to use a memorial marker to fool Canadian customs agents in Vancouver.

The heavy box was made of wood but painted to resemble a real 60-centimetre-high gravemarker. It was inscribed with the name Albert Thomas, ostensibly a deceased Scottish pensioner. "Criminals use anything that appears to be normal. It's a key ingredient in finding the means to go undetected," said RCMP Supt. Brian Cantera.

After its illicit contents were discovered, they were turned over to the RCMP, which worked with Scottish police. The stone was bound for Johal's warehouse in Hillington, Renfrewshire. A Scottish undercover officer posing as a truck driver delivered a look-a like parcel. Johal received and signed for it on June 20. According to Scotland's Sunday Mail newspaper, Johal told Scottish investigators that a cousin in Canada forced him to accept the package.

gangland slayings. "He was set up by police," Goldberg said of Taylor, "they look for scapegoats from other groups that are easily identifiable." The ban was granted for evidence, submissions and comments made about Taylor's co-accused Udham Singh Sanghera, who police say is the leader of the Sanghera crime group. Both men are facing several counts related to possession of illegal firearms and ammunition. Both were arrested on Feb. 23 as part of a special Vancouver police investigation called Project Rebellion.

Crown prosecutor Teresa Mitchell-Banks said Taylor was part of Accused charges police with 'copaganda' KIM BOLAN CANWEST NEWS SERVICE VANCOUVER A lawyer for a man facing several gun charges said the police have "dirtied" his client's reputation and falsely linked him to a gang. Sheldon Goldberg refused the normal publication ban on behalf of Gordon Taylor at a bail hearing Monday. Goldberg said Vancouver police Chief Jim Chu misstated evidence at a news conference last week announcing the arrest of Taylor and others. He said police are looking for "scapegoats" because of their failure to arrest people in a series of.