Latest news with #DanielFontaine
Global News
08-07-2025
- Global News
After vandals cause $458K in damage, New West mulls plan to protect Pier Park
New Westminster council is set to vote on a pilot project to revitalize the city's premier waterfront park, after vandals did nearly half a million dollars of damage to it. A portion of Westminster Pier Park has been cut off from the continuous riverfront esplanade for more than three years due to an active development site. That's resulted in fewer visitors and encouraged an 'unsavoury' group of people to gather, drink and party in the park's more isolated portion, according to New Westminster Coun. Daniel Fontaine. 3:44 New Westminster's popular Pier Park reopens 'The public bathrooms were closed, there was discarded needles in the toilets, there was damage to the inside, significant amount of damage to public toilets at the park as well, and probably more importantly, the children's playground was off limits for a big chunk of it because of some damage that had taken place to the park itself,' he said. Story continues below advertisement 'We have very little green space, very little park space in the downtown area of New Westminster, so it's crucial that a park like Pier Park here on the waterfront remains open to families and to kids and unfortunately for many, many, many weeks if not months, it was off limits to parents.' Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy According to a staff report headed to council on Monday, the cost of damage to the bathrooms, playground and elevators totalled $458,000 in 2024-2025. Last month, the riverfront esplanade connecting the River Market to the west end of the park reopened, and the whole park is slated to be open to the public by the end of the summer. That's prompted the proposed $419,000 pilot project, which aims to revitalize the area by drawing more visitors, boosting maintenance and deploying more city staff to discourage problem behaviour. The lion's share of that money would go to hiring new park liaison officers, who would function similarly to bylaw officers in the park, along with private security. 1:06 Bizarre Donair theft at B.C. restaurant caught on camera 'We're going to have more foot patrols, more security kind of there will be some police additional police presence as I understand it, but we're also going to look at bringing down more security on site during the day and in the evening,' Fontaine said. Story continues below advertisement 'A lot of the damage was happening after dark. That's when there were these assuming these parties and these various activities that taking place. So there's going to be more of that 24-7 coverage.' The plan also includes $30,000 to increase maintenance service levels, including more frequent bathroom cleaning, and $71,000 to stage events and festivals to draw more people down to the park. 'It's a beautiful waterfront, it's the jewel of New Westminster right here. And there are people that do come from other parts of the Lower Mainland,' said New Westminster Coun. Paul Minhas. 'It's a great idea that we have opened it up, people are looking forward to it, I'm looking forward it, and just making sure that the people feel safe is one of key priorities for us in council right now.' Funding for the plan would come from reallocating dollars from existing city budgets.
CBC
29-05-2025
- General
- CBC
Why this B.C. city is removing the U.S. flag from its hockey arena
New Westminster councillors voted unanimously to remove the American flag from Queen's Park Arena earlier this week. Coun. Daniel Fontaine said it was a very quiet, low-cost and effective way of sending a "truly Canadian message" amid tensions with the U.S.
CTV News
28-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
New Westminster to remove U.S. flag from Queen's Park Arena
The U.S. flag will soon be removed from Queen's Park Arena in New Westminster. The American flag has hung inside New Westminster's Queen's Park Arena for decades. It is a permanent fixture that sits alongside historic championship banners from glory days past, and a vintage scoreboard that, this week, New Westminster city council has voted to take it down. The decision came after a councillor was put off by a moment during the anthems at a recent youth hockey tournament. 'It just struck me as almost inappropriate that the kids were having to look up [during the anthem] when their country is being told it's a 51st state,' city councillor Daniel Fontaine told CTV News on Tuesday outside the arena. 'It isn't even a real country and the kids are singing O Canada, and they're singing it to an American flag, and I just thought, the timing has come for us to remove a very old tradition.' The flag will be replaced by a City of New Westminster flag. Fontaine notes American teams rarely come to the civic arena these days, and a U.S. flag could be used on a temporary basis when needed. 'For me, it was more about our arena, our community, our civic facility, than it was necessarily about what other facilities are doing,' Fontaine said. 'If they choose to keep an American flag up, I'm not here to judge them.' As for when the flag is coming down, no exact date has been set as of yet. Staff will remove it quietly in the coming weeks in what Fontaine describes as a 'Canadian way,' with little fanfare.
CTV News
20-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Metro Vancouver area councillors urge more B.C. oversight of municipal spending
Richmond councillor and former B.C. MLA Kash Heed in a file photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck VICTORIA — Four Metro Vancouver area councillors have launched a petition asking the British Columbia government for closer oversight of municipal spending in the province, amid a police investigation into alleged misuse of a city hall gift card program. Richmond's Kash Heed, Daniel Fontaine and Paul Minhas from New Westminster and Burnaby's Richard Lee say in an open letter to Premier David Eby that the province needs to either reinstate a specific office to oversee municipal spending or expand the auditor general's mandate to cover it. The councillors cite media reports that hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on gift cards in Richmond, B.C., with little oversight, as well as multiple instances of 'questionable expenditures' at the Metro Vancouver Regional District. Richmond RCMP says its serious crime section has opened an investigation into the gift card case reported by Global News, which says Richmond spent more than $400,000 on the cards in three years. The premier's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter. The councillors have also launched an online petition on the issue, asking for public comment on what they would like to see from the province in terms of municipal spending oversight. 'Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident,' the letter says about the Richmond gift card case. 'Over the past year, Metro Vancouver has also faced public scrutiny over questionable expenditures, including lavish business-class travel, unnecessary sponsorships, and other spending that appears disconnected from the priorities of local taxpayers.' The letter also criticizes cost overruns and delays at the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant as another example of the need for provincial oversight of municipal spending. 'These examples reflect a broader systemic issue: the absence of consistent, independent financial oversight at the municipal and regional levels,' the letter says. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2025.
CBC
20-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Metro Vancouver area councillors urge more provincial oversight of municipal spending
Four city councillors in the Metro Vancouver area have launched a petition asking the B.C. government for closer oversight of municipal spending in the province, amid a police investigation into alleged misuse of a city hall gift card program. Richmond's Kash Heed, New Westminster's Daniel Fontaine and Paul Minhas, and Burnaby's Richard Lee say in an open letter to Premier David Eby that the province needs to either reinstate a specific office to oversee municipal spending or expand the auditor general's mandate to cover it. The councillors cite media reports that hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on gift cards in Richmond, B.C., with little oversight, as well as multiple instances of "questionable expenditures" at the Metro Vancouver Regional District. Richmond RCMP says its serious crimes section has opened an investigation into the gift card case reported by Global News, which says Richmond spent more than $400,000 on the cards in three years. The premier's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter. The councillors have also launched an online petition on the issue, asking for public comment on what they would like to see from the province in terms of municipal spending oversight. "Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident," the letter says about the Richmond gift card case. "Over the past year, Metro Vancouver has also faced public scrutiny over questionable expenditures, including lavish business-class travel, unnecessary sponsorships, and other spending that appears disconnected from the priorities of local taxpayers." The letter also criticizes cost overruns and delays at the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant as another example of the need for provincial oversight of municipal spending.
