Monday - Feb. 12, 2024 - The international battle for health care workers

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– Tyler

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Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

NEWS

The international battle for health care workers, as seen from Tasmania

If you’re a nurse who lives in, say, England and dreams of not living in, say, England, a British Columbia recruiter wants to talk to you. 

They want you because they need you—to fill job vacancies in big cities, small hospitals, and long-term-care facilities of every size. And they want to convince you that if you love mountain biking, beautiful views, outdoor recreation and kayaking, you should start packing.

But so too does Todd Babiak. And he wants you to head east to an island called Tasmania.

• Today, Tyler writes about the world of international health care recruiting, and talks to a Canadian trying to convince nurses that a small Australian island is a better place to work and live.

Related

Need to Know

⛳ Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor won another PGA tournament in another playoff [Sportsnet] / Fellow Abbotsford golfer Adam Hadwin won the same shirt as last time Taylor won; this time, Hadwin didn’t get tackled [Bob Weeks]

🚜 Police have been cleared of wrongdoing in the crash that concluded a chase involving a tractor driven by a Chilliwack anti-SOGI protestor [Global News]

👉 A driver who fled from Abbotsford Police and rammed several cop cars in Surrey will serve another year in prison [Abbotsford News]

🐲 Chilliwack hosted its first-ever Lunar New Year celebrations [Chilliwack Progress]

➡️ A Langley MLA announced a group that will develop a provincial network of non-profits [Langley Advance Times]

👉️ A suspect has been arrested and charged in a downtown Chilliwack shooting [CTV]

🌳 Trans Mountain has been cited for environmental non-compliance in Abbotsford [CBC]

👉 Langley’s Chamber of Commerce has mixed feelings about potential improvements to the Aldergrove border crossing [Aldergrove Star]

🚧 A new apartment and townhouse project in central Abbotsford will be required to have dozens of below-market units [Abbotsford News]

🌲 A pair of students are building duck homes in Langley [Langley Advance Times]

⚖ An Abbotsford man will serve probation for threatening workers at a Wendy’s/Tim Hortons [Abbotsford News]

🦌 A herd of elk in Harrison Mills has wowed locals [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

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The Agenda

Langley RCMP wants a $4 million dollar gym

Langley’s Mounties are asking Langley Township council for a fitness centre that could cost up to $4 million dollars.

Plans for a new fitness centre for the Langley RCMP detachment outline a 1,900-square-foot space. The current gym is about a quarter of that size, has no windows, and doesn’t meet proper ventilation requirements.

The detachment building was originally constructed in 1991, and the current gym was originally a storage area. Currently, city staff said, there is no existing interior space that can be turned into a fitness centre large enough for Langley’s cops. 

“Therefore, the creation of additional space is required if providing a new fitness centre at the detachment is required,” staff wrote in a report that will be presented to council on Monday afternoon.

The creation of more space isn’t the only reason for the high price of the fitness centre. RCMP construction projects, particularly when they’re in existing buildings, are more complicated than others. The buildings need to stay open, security clearances need to be attained, and construction workers’ access to the rest of the building needs to be limited. Council will decide later today if it wants to pre-approve the $4 million that staff identified for the project in 2025. If the fitness centre goes forward, design and construction would take about a year.

The Langley RCMP detachment currently houses police forces for both Langley City and Langley Township. Last year, Langley Township announced its intention to split with Langley City and separate the police forces. The current detachment is in the Township; Langley City is looking into options for constructing its own detachment. 

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🗓 Things to do

🩰 Green Gables Ballet: Ballet Jorgen presents an Anne of Green Gables ballet at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre on Wednesday, Feb. 14. Find tickets online.

😆 Comedy: Brookswood Brewing in Langley will host two nights of professional comedy on Feb. 14 and 15. Details online.

🎞️ Movie: Reel on the River in Mission presents The Eternal Memory, a Spanish documentary about dementia, at the Silvercity Cineplex Theatre on Monday, Feb. 12. Details online.

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Catch up

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