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Press Pass: Tributes to ‘Walter Wonderful’ and a couple of football feats

WALTER WONDERFUL — NDP MLA Nicholas Simons paid tribute in the house to the “longtime unforgiving and unofficial mayor” of Roberts Creek, Walter Sturdy , who died at 73 in January after years running the Roberts Creek general store.
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Members of the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds with MLA Selina Robinson, Minister of Sport Peter Fassbender and the Vanier Cup in the legislature.

WALTER WONDERFUL — NDP MLA Nicholas Simons paid tribute in the house to the “longtime unforgiving and unofficial mayor” of Roberts Creek, Walter Sturdy, who died at 73 in January after years running the Roberts Creek general store.

“He enjoyed beer, food and women — apparently in that order — and lived well … He’ll be remembered for his outspoken manner and an intolerance of hippie potheads … He was also a generous and considerate man.”

Simons said he was also known as Walter Wonderful or Double Standard Sturdy.

“He had these conditions of purchase if you wanted to buy things in his store. He had a whole list of people who were banned, many of my friends included. If you arrived at 10 o’clock when the store closed and you needed diapers or you needed something on an urgent basis, he would open the door. But if you needed booze or smokes, you had to wait till tomorrow.”

SIMONS SAYS — Speaking of the ever-witty Simons, he recently underwent ear surgery for a second time.

“The last time they implanted a titanium bone,” he said. “This time, they were taking bone out. It takes a while for the healing to occur. For a while, I couldn’t hear well and my balance was off. I felt like a B.C. Liberal.”

Ba-dump-bah!

YOU NEVER CALL — NDP MLA Lana Popham had just one question for Advanced Education Minister Andrew Wilkinson during his spending estimates. “My question is quite brief. In February, the Trades Education and Innovation Complex was opened [at Camosun’s Interurban campus]. I would just like to know why I wasn’t invited to that ribbon-cutting ceremony? Was it a political decision? Or are MLAs who represent the area usually left out of those ceremonies?”

Wilkinson said the invitation list wasn’t something he gets involved in.

IT’S COMPLICATED — Wilkinson spent four consecutive hours answering questions about his ministry and his answers had one theme. “This is a rather complicated answer … This again is somewhat complicated … This again is a rather complicated answer … Once again, it’s a rather complicated answer … This is a rather complicated topic … This is a rather complicated question … These are more complicated stories than they first appear.”

Eventually, he convinced NDP MLA Kathy Corrigan. At one point she said: “It’s a complicated and important issue.”

PIGSKIN WEEK — An assortment of sports highlights were noted in the legislature, and two football feats got special mention.

The UBC Thunderbirds presented their Vanier Cup to the house, and Victoria’s famed contribution to the NFL — kicker Eddie Murray — was introduced. He accompanied Spectrum Community School’s football team in an appearance, as a graduate of the school.

Education Minister Mike Bernier said they were noting the NFL’s recognition of Murray’s contribution to the Dallas Cowboys’ 1994 Super Bowl win.

NDP Leader John Horgan, a Reynolds grad, also recalled Murray’s high school career at Spectrum.

“Eddie played soccer before he played football. … He decided on football because he couldn’t hit the net. He kept kicking the ball over the crossbars.”

That knack took him to Tulane University and on to the NFL for a 20-year career.

GO FISH — The NDP’s Adrian Dix got into a sparring match with Energy Minister Bill Bennett over plans to permanently truck bull trout around the Site C dam at a cost of $25 million.

“Given the general approach to the Liberal Party transportation plans, I suspect, in a referendum, the trout would vote for referring this matter to the B.C. Utilities Commission,” Dix quipped.

Bennett disagreed.

“I completely refute the notion that a Peace River trout would vote NDP,” he said. “I don’t think that would ever happen, given what I know about the Peace Region.

“The member should get out more. … I’ve fished all my life. I’ve caught lots of bull trout. I’ve let lots of bull trout go. I’ve eaten a few. The member should let me take him fishing in a few places around the province.”

No word on whether Dix accepted, but Bennett made sure to add this proviso to his invitation: “We need to both come back from that.”

— With files from Lindsay Kines and Les Leyne