Back in the early 2000s, Omaha’s 311 was on a real roll, selling lots of records, playing plenty of gigs, and making their share of big-budget music videos.

In 2001, they managed to get Shaquille O’Neal for a cameo in the video for their song You Wouldn’t Believe. At the time, O’Neal was playing for the LA Lakers and the team was in the middle of a playoff run. The team stipulated that O’Neal was not to play any basketball outside of official games and practices for fear that he might get hurt.

But 311 convinced him to play a little hoops in this video, completely in contravention of orders from the Lakers. There was an added complication.

For some reason, O’Neal showed up with two left shoes. Where was anyone going to get a pair of size 22 basketball shoes at short notice? Nowhere. Shaq still agreed to appear in the video—but if anyone filmed his feet, he promised that he’d sue.

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Being on tour as Nirvana must have been a pretty intense thing. There were all those nights where Kurt (and sometimes the rest of the band) smashed all their gear onstage. The label had granted the band a $750 equipment allowance when the band went on tour, but given the amount of gear that was trashed, that didn’t go very far.

Hotel rooms and dressing rooms also suffered, often using fire extinguishers in ways they were not intended.

Then there was the time one of their tour vans almost went up in flames. Kurt, who was often keen on using destruction to alleviate his boredom, was giving an interview with a journalist and apparently got bored. So he set the van’s curtains on fire.

The flames were put out before there was some real damage, but the label was not impressed.

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The Bank of Canada’s interest rate pause is set for its toughest challenge yet on Wednesday as policymakers weigh whether another hike is needed to quell a resilient economy and push inflation down further.

While money markets and some economists say that another hike is in the cards for this week’s interest rate decision, those who spoke to Global News argue the central bank is better off waiting to move off the sidelines and signalling a possible increase later this summer.

The Bank of Canada’s rate hike campaign has been on a “conditional pause” since March, following eight consecutive increases that raised the central bank’s policy rate to 4.5 per cent, up from the lows of 0.25 per cent seen through much of the pandemic.

The central bank said it could remain on pause as long as data continued to show the economy was cooling enough to bring inflation back down to its two per cent target, which has been forecast to reach in 2024.

The rate increases to date have raised the cost of borrowing for Canadians and their banks in an effort to cool the economy and take some of the steam out of inflation, which reached 40-plus-year highs in 2022.

Inflation has declined significantly, though Statistics Canada’s headline reading ticked back up slightly to 4.4 per cent in the latest consumer price index report for April from March’s 4.3 per cent.

The economy, meanwhile, has proved hotter than the Bank of Canada’s estimates: gross domestic product (GDP) was higher than forecast in the first quarter of the year, and expectations of a pronounced slowdown haven’t yet materialized.

Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at CIBC Capital Markets, tells Global News that the economy can only run unchecked for so long before a flurry of spending drives prices higher again.

“That’s why the Bank of Canada is now the traffic cop, thinking about giving us a ticket to slow us down,” he tells Global News.

Money markets see a nearly 40 per cent for a 25-basis-point hike on Wednesday, a more than 80 per cent chance for one by July, according to Reuters. They fully price one in by September.

Yet, about two-thirds of economists polled by Reuters last week expect the Bank to keep rates on hold for the rest of this year. Four said they see a hike on Wednesday and three-quarters said there is a risk of at least one increase in June or July.

Here’s why some economists and market analysts see Wednesday’s decision as a toss-up, and what could push the Bank of Canada to hike or to hold.

Randall Bartlett, director of Canadian economics at Desjardins, said that at the beginning of May, it was looking more and more like the Bank of Canada was in the clear to remain on hold.

Economists were “pretty confident” that the economy was showing signs of slowing and inflation was declining rapidly, by extension.

“All the stars were aligning for the Bank of Canada to stay on pause for a prolonged period of time,” he tells Global News.

Bartlett says that through the month of May, data was starting to show economic winds shift and blow against the central bank’s efforts.

After nearly a year-long correction, buyers returned to housing markets in many Canadian cities with bidding wars emerging over a limited supply of properties. And the Bank of Canada’s closely watched core inflation metrics remained “very, very sticky,” Bartlett says.

And then the GDP figures came in last week, which showed many Canadian consumers continue to spend freely despite pressures placed on them from higher interest rates.

The “clincher,” as Bartlett puts it, was Statistics Canada’s flash estimate for April showed modest growth from the economy; most observers had called for a decline amid an ice storm in central Canada and the public service strike in the month.

Despite these drags on growth, Canada’s economy and consumers have shown they won’t be reined in, he says.

“Underlying momentum in the Canadian economy remains very, very strong.”

Shenfeld says the Bank of Canada is also in a tough spot because of what the data hasn’t shown: any weakness in the labour market.

Canada’s unemployment rate has held steady at a low 5.0 per cent through all of 2023 so far, meaning most Canadians have been able to keep hold of their jobs and avoid any loss to income.

An uptick in the unemployment rate means more people lose their jobs, but it can also moderate wage inflation, which Shenfeld says is something the Bank will be looking to keep in check as it attempts to get price pressures all the way back down to two per cent.

“Simply put, that’s not been showing up in the data since they stopped raising interest rates,” he says. “And they might be starting to wonder whether interest rates are high enough to put the brakes on the economy in that way.”

The traditional wisdom in economics is that interest rate increases work on a lag — it’s only 12-18 months after a rate hike has been delivered that its impact has fully been absorbed into the economy.

These are among the reasons that, despite the economy showing little sign of weakness to date, Shenfeld believes Canada’s monetary policy “traffic cop” ought to let the economy off with a warning, rather than issue a ticket in the form of another hike.

Between Wednesday’s meeting and the Bank’s next decision on July 12, the Bank of Canada will get a few more data prints to see how the economy is faring under the weight of the rate hikes to date.

Two more Labour Force Survey releases will be released, giving a fresh look at how wages and employment is faring; the formal release for April’s GDP figures could show whether the flash estimate was as strong as first expected or perhaps a bit weaker; and inflation numbers will show if there’s been any progress on the “sticky” core inflation figures.

“My personal view is that the Bank of Canada should be a bit more patient,” Shenfeld says.

While markets have fully priced in another interest rate hike before the fall, Shenfeld says the Bank of Canada may also decide its policy rate is restrictive enough to bring inflation down, but that it will leave the higher rate in place for longer.

Leaving the benchmark interest rate on hold but giving a “stern warning” about more rate increases coming can actually act to stifle economic growth in and of itself, he adds, as Canadians plan for higher rates by spending less and fixed mortgage rates rise to anticipate the move.

“It almost acts like a brake on the economy even without raising the (policy rate),” Shenfeld says.

Bartlett, too, believes the Bank of Canada will strongly signal possible additional hikes on Wednesday, but not increase its policy rate just yet.

He notes that policymakers at the central bank are no strangers to surprises during this rate hike cycle. The Bank has left rates unchanged when oddsmakers bet on a hike, and increased by greater magnitudes than the consensus had expected as well.

But he also believes the Bank of Canada will have to do more to signal its intentions before moving off its pause. He expects the press release announcing the rate decision will be “hawkish” — leaning towards additional rate increases — and setting up a move in July if data released in June doesn’t align more closely to the Bank’s forecasts.

Bartlett says he expects the Bank of Canada will leave rates unchanged on Wednesday and hike by a quarter percentage point in July. If the economy remains persistent, another 25-basis-point step later in the year also is not off the table, he adds.

“If we continue to see strength in the labour market, the economy, elevated inflation, I think all of those are going to contribute to the Bank of Canada needing to put its foot back on the brake again.”

Statistics Canada will publish the next Labour Force Survey for May on Friday.

— with files from Reuters

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The Ford government is offering Ontario’s public elementary teachers a five-per cent pay increase over the next four years, Global News has learned, as contract talks between educators and the government continue.

Key details of confidential contract offers, leaked to Global News, shows a significant gap between the province’s position and that of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) on compensation, class sizes and remote learning.

While neither ETFO nor the Ford government was willing to discuss the details of the contract, citing a desire to keep the sensitive negotiations at the bargaining table, Global News has verified the authenticity of the ETFO document which lays out bargaining positions.

Here are the proposals from the union and government:

• ETFO, salary: Cost of living, plus a 1-per cent increase per year, over 4 years.
• ETFO, benefits: Funding increased to maintain benefits at current level.
• Government, salary: 1.25-per cent increase per year over 4 years.
• Government, benefits: No increase in funding.

The document states that ETFO negotiators want yearly salary increases to keep up with the rate of inflation over the next four years, while adding another one per cent on top of cost-of-living increase for its 83,000 members.

The union document doesn’t quantify the cost of living. The Consumer Price Index measure of inflation, however, rose between four and eight per cent over the course of the current contract negotiation — potentially leading to a huge pay hike if the government were to agree.

While the union didn’t comment on the details of the contract offers, ETFO President Karen Brown told Global News the request won’t be “exorbitant.”

“You start off with the cost of living currently, what that’s going to be. You look at projections over the next two or three years and you put forth a balanced number.” Brown said. “We’re not going to put something exorbitant.”

By contrast, the Ford government is offering a yearly 1.25-per cent increase for full-time and occasional teachers for a period of four years.

The internal ETFO document notes that the government’s offer is “less that what was offered to and accepted by CUPE in November,” alluding to the 3.59-per cent wage increase given to Ontario’s education support workers after a bruising battle with the Ford government.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce, whose office declined an interview request with Global News, defended the government’s spending on education in a statement.

“Ontario’s government is funding education at historic levels, including $693 million more this year alone. Since forming government, we have also hired more than 7500 additional teachers and education staff, who are among the highest paid in Canada,” the minister said in a statement.

The NDP, however, called the government’s offer “insulting” after years of wage suppression under Bill 124.

“We depend on teachers in classrooms everyday to provide kids with the supports that they need,” said NDP education critic Chandra Pasma. “I would like to see the government negotiate in good faith with teachers.”

The document also indicates that the two sides are still nowhere close to finalizing a deal. ETFO lists 17 issues in its document, saying the government has only responded to eight issues and has not yet addressed the remaining nine.

One of the key points of contention surrounds elementary class sizes which the union document indicates aren’t being adequately controlled.

“After its reporting date in September, a board can increase class sizes beyond the primary cap,” the document states, adding that the union wants class size limits “maintained” throughout the school year.

The document lays out ETFO’s demands for different year groups:

• For Kindergarten, the union is proposing lowering the class size cap down to 26 students per teacher by the 2025 school year, with a designated early childhood educator “assigned to all kindergarten classrooms regardless of size.” The current kindergarten class cap is 29 students per teacher.
• For primary grades, the union is proposing 90 per cent of classes should have 20 or fewer students with no class exceeding 23 students.
• The union is also asking the government to place limits on the number of split classes in Grades 3 and 4, with limits of between 24 to 27 students per class.

The government has yet to present a counterproposal on class sizes, the document said.

The union is also looking to limit the use of remote and hybrid learning that the Ford government leaned on heavily during the pandemic during repeated provincial lockdown.

ETFO is proposing using remote learning in “exceptional emergency situations” and clarified that snow days and temporary school closures should not count as an emergency situation.

While the timeline for a negotiation is unclear, Lecce said the province wants to avoid a strike in the fall.

“Our focus is on ensuring students can be back in class this fall without disruption, which is why we have offered private mediation to some unions to help us move this negotiation along and get it done,” Lecce said.

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The City of Coquitlam says around 25 young trees across the city were vandalized over the weekend

Many were seen snapped in half at five locations throughout the city.

Over the weekend, more than 20 young trees were vandalized at five different sites throughout Coquitlam: Leigh Park, Town Centre Park, Princeton Park, Parkway Boulevard and Panorama Drive. pic.twitter.com/MoBHczpC5b

— City of Coquitlam (@cityofcoquitlam) June 5, 2023

The vandalism took place at Leigh Park, Town Centre Park, Princeton Park, Parkway Boulevard and Panorama Drive, according to Erin Gorby, the City of Coquitlam’s Urban Forestry and Parks Services Manager.

“I can’t wrap my head around why or what somebody would be thinking in doing this kind of damage to these young trees. They were trees that were planted for the most part in the last year, so really young trees just getting a start,” Gorby said.

She assures the public the trees will be replanted in the fall, a more suitable time for saplings to grow.

“I don’t anticipate problems covering the cost. We have some grant funding and some reserve funding that we can draw on, but it certainly is a waste.”

Gorby estimates the senseless act will cost the city around $13,000 to replace the trees.

“I’m having such a hard time even wrapping my head around who might do this and I am really struggling to even find words other than ‘why?'”

Anyone who witnessed the vandalism or has video footage of it is asked to call Coquitlam RCMP.

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Actors represented by the Hollywood union SAG-AFTRA voted Monday evening to authorize a strike if they don’t agree on a new contract with major studios, streamers and production companies by June 30.

The strike authorization was approved by an overwhelming margin — nearly 98% of the 65,000 members who cast votes.

The guild, which represents over 160,000 screen actors, broadcast journalists, announcers, hosts and stunt performers, begins its negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Wednesday, over a month after the Writers Guild of America began striking over its own dispute with AMPTP. If the actors union ultimately moves forward with the strike, it would be limited to television and film productions; news and broadcast work would not be directly affected.

At stake is increased base compensation, which actors say has been undercut by inflation and the streaming ecosystem, the threat of unregulated use of artificial intelligence, benefit plans and the burden of “self-taped auditions” — the cost of which used to be the responsibility of casting and production.

“We are approaching these negotiations with the goal of achieving a new agreement that is beneficial to SAG-AFTRA members and the industry overall,” the AMPTP said in a statement Monday.

The strike authorization vote, a tool at the bargaining table, comes at a pivotal moment for the industry as 11,500 writers enter their sixth week of striking and the directors guild reviews a recently reached tentative agreement with studios on issues like wages, streaming residuals, and artificial intelligence. Should the actors strike, the industry already hobbled by the writers strike would come to a near-standstill, from production to promoting completed projects.

The WGA, DGA and SAG-AFTRA have shown solidarity with one another since the writers began walking the picket lines on May 2. Many in Hollywood worried about the very real possibility that all three guilds would strike at the same time, as both the directors and the actors contracts were soon due to expire as well.

That scenario changed Sunday night when the directors guild, which represents 19,000 film, television and commercial directors, announced that they had reached a “truly historic” tentative agreement with studios. The terms, which have not been disclosed in detail to the press or the other guilds, will be presented to the DGA board on Tuesday for approval and then to the membership for ratification.

Representatives for both the writers guild and the actors guild congratulated the directors group for reaching a tentative deal, though neither commented on specific points of the DGA terms. The WGA also said that its bargaining positions remain the same.

The DGA deal did not sit well with some individual WGA members, some of whom remembered when the directors negotiated their own contract while the writers were striking in 2007-2008. That deal 15 years ago, some felt, set precedent that forced the writers to fall in line with the terms agreed to by the DGA and end the strike.

“Zero surprise. The AMPTP continues to use their tired old playbook. And the DGA sadly continues to toe the line, knowing that they can draft off of the WGA’s resolve to strike for a truly historic deal. Disappointing, but not surprising,” veteran television writer Steven DeKnight, who also wrote and directed “Pacific Rim: Uprising,” tweeted.

Seemingly anticipating a repeat, the WGA negotiating committee last week released a letter cautioning that the studios would once again pursue a “divide and conquer” strategy, pitting the guilds against one another.

“Our position is clear: to resolve the strike, the companies will have to negotiate with the WGA on our full agenda,” the WGA letter had said. “We will continue to march until the companies negotiate fairly with us.”

While the unions have appeared more united this time, their aims are also different in many arenas. For the directors, securing international streaming residuals that account for subscriber growth was a key component, as were wages, safety (like banning live ammunition on set), diversity and inclusion and the addition of Juneteenth as a paid holiday.

The WGA agenda includes increased pay, better residuals and minimum staffing requirements. One key area of overlap between all is artificial intelligence. The DGA said they’d reached a “groundbreaking agreement confirming that AI is not a person and that generative AI cannot replace the duties performed by members.”

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the chief negotiator for SAG-AFTRA, maintains the needs of the guild’s actor members are unique. Hollywood actors haven’t gone on strike against AMPTP since 1980, which saw a 95-day strike over terms for paid television and VHS tapes.

“Our bargaining strategy has never relied upon nor been dependent on the outcome or status of any other union’s negotiations, nor do we subscribe to the philosophy that the terms of deals made with other unions bind us,” Crabtree-Ireland said Sunday.

On Monday, he added that the vote was a “clear statement that it’s time for an evolution in this contract.”

© 2023 The Canadian Press

New York City’s reliance on the tactic known as “stop and frisk” as part of a new initiative to combat gun violence is harming communities of color and running afoul of the law, a court-appointed federal monitor reported Monday.

Monitor Mylan Denerstein said the NYPD’s Neighborhood Safety Teams — special units deployed in the past 14 months to seize guns in high-crime areas — were engaging in “unconstitutional policing” by stopping and frisking too many people without justification.

In one police precinct, Denerstein said, only 41 percent of stops, 32 percent of frisks and 26 percent of searches were lawful.

The Neighborhood Safety Teams, a replacement for the anti-crime units that the NYPD disbanded in 2021, operate in 34 areas that account for 80% of the city’s violent crime — largely communities of color. Of the people the teams have stopped, Denerstein said, 97% are Black or Hispanic.

A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams said city officials “have serious concerns” with Denerstein’s methodology and that they only learned of her findings after news outlets reported on them.

The spokesperson, Fabien Levy, said shootings have fallen since the Neighborhood Safety Teams were created.

Officers assigned to the units “have enhanced training and oversight to ensure we are not only keeping New Yorkers safe, but protecting their civil liberties as well,” Levy said, adding that “any unconstitutional stop is unacceptable, and we will strive to do better for New Yorkers every day.”

Denerstein said she began her review after Adams announced in March 2022 that the NYPD was deploying Neighborhood Safety Teams in some precincts to combat gun violence. Team members, wearing modified uniforms and driving unmarked cars, conduct stops, frisks and searches in their assigned neighborhoods.

“Unfortunately, the results are disappointing,” Denerstein wrote.

Despite their training and experience, officers assigned to Neighborhood Safety Teams “overall appear to be stopping, frisking, and searching individuals at an unsatisfactory level of compliance. Too many people are stopped, frisked, and searched unlawfully.”

In 2013, a federal judge ruled that the NYPD had violated the civil rights of Black and Hispanic New Yorkers with stop and frisk, which was part of an effort to get guns and drugs off the street by frequently stopping and searching people on the street.

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled the stops were a form of indirect racial profiling. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, once a champion of the tactic, has since apologized for its use.

Since the ruling, the department claimed a sharp drop in stops, reporting an average of around 11,730 per year from 2016 to 2022, compared with a high of nearly 686,000 stops in 2011.

Black and Hispanic people continue to be the targets of the vast majority of stops, accounting for 89% of all stops in 2022, according to NYPD data compiled by the New York Civil Liberties Union.

The NYPD eliminated its plainclothes anti-crime units in 2021 police amid a nationwide reckoning over police brutality sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.

The disbanded NYPD units, responsible for a disproportionate number of shootings and complaints, were involved in the 2014 death of Eric Garner and have long been criticized for aggressive tactics.

Samah Sisay, a Center for Constitutional Rights lawyer who represented plaintiffs in the lawsuit that led to Scheindlin’s ruling, said the Neighborhood Safety Teams should also be eliminated.

“Anti-crime units rebranded as neighborhood safety teams are not a real solution to creating the safe communities that New Yorkers desire and should be disbanded,” Sisay said. “These units are almost exclusively deployed into Black and Latinx communities where they are conducting unlawful stops and engaged in the same racial profiling that New Yorkers have been organizing against for decades.”

© 2023 The Canadian Press

A house fire in North Vancouver on Friday has left one woman dead, RCMP has confirmed.

Firefighters were called to the home on Queensbury Avenue near 4th Avenue just before midnight, and were able to quickly knock it down, Mounties said in a media release Monday.

However emergency crews subsequently found one person, identified as a woman who lived in the home, dead inside.

“This was a tragic incident resulting in the loss of life,” North Vancouver RCMP Const. Mansoor Sahak said in the release.

“The RCMP are conducting a thorough investigation, and are working with partner agencies including (North Vancouver City Fire Department) to determine the cause. Any witnesses to this incident are encouraged to contact us at 604-985-1311.”

RCMP victim services and North Shore Emergency Management are working to help the family who lived in the home.

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

TORONTO – Alek Manoah’s season went from bad to worse on Monday night.

The Blue Jays right-hander gave up six earned runs and lasted just one-third of an inning as the Houston Astros dumped Toronto 11-4 at Rogers Centre.

“(I) understand this game is hard,” Manoah said. “It’s going to kick you in the butt. But that doesn’t change how we work. We’re not going to give up on that.

“We’re going to keep going at it and we’ll find a way to push through.”

Corey Julks delivered the big blow with his first career grand slam. Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker chipped in with RBI singles in the opening frame as the Astros had seven hits against the Toronto right-hander.

Manoah (1-7), who hasn’t won a decision in two months, had his earned-run average jump by nearly a run to 6.36. It was the shortest outing of his career.

“Manoah wasn’t himself,” said Astros manager Dusty Baker. “That helped us a lot.”

Manoah gave up a single to Mauricio Dubon on the first pitch of the game and things went downhill from there.

Two singles, a flyout, another single and a walk preceded the no-doubt Julks blast that landed just inside the left-field foul screen.

“I thought it was a really good sinker at the knees and he kind of just ambushed it and hit a home run,” Manoah said. “A lot of the things I’d been working on, (I) didn’t have a chance to really go out there and use (them).”

An American League Cy Young Award finalist last year, Manoah has struggled in most of his 13 starts this season.

He excelled in a one-hit, seven-inning victory over Kansas City on April 5 and pitched well in an April 22 no-decision in New York. But Manoah hasn’t made it past the sixth inning since.

The Blue Jays have lost nine of the last 10 games that he has started.

“You’ve got to continue to do whatever is best for him to help him get better,” said Toronto manager John Schneider. “That’s what we’re going to do, starting tonight and going forward.

“That’s been our focus the whole time so we’ll continue to do that.”

Schneider said before the game that the possibility of sending Manoah down to the minors wasn’t on the table. It will be interesting to see if this latest start changes that.

The 2022 all-star looks lost on the mound, sapped of the confidence and swagger that was a trademark over his first two big-league seasons.

“We’re talking about a really good pitcher,” Schneider said. “It’s been a tough go for him. He understands that. There’s no concern but I think the main focus is just do whatever we need to do to get him better.”

Alejandro Kirk put Toronto (33-28) on the board in the second inning with a solo shot off Houston starter Brandon Bielak (3-2).

Daulton Varsho added a solo shot in the eighth. Bo Bichette, Varsho and Kevin Kiermaier had two hits apiece for the Blue Jays.

Alvarez and Tucker hit solo homers in the fourth inning as Houston (36-24) ended Toronto’s four-game winning streak. Jake Meyers piled on with a two-run blast in the fifth.

Bielak allowed three earned runs and 10 hits over 6 2/3 innings. He had two strikeouts and issued one walk.

Yainer Diaz and Meyers both had four hits for Houston. The Astros have won eight of their last 11 games and 19 of 25.

Scattered boos were heard from the Rogers Centre crowd of 23,982 when Manoah loaded the bases and again after the grand slam. Schneider was cheered as he came out to make the pitching change.

Manoah, the team’s Opening Day starter and ace at the start of the season, walked slowly back to the dugout. He was sporting a despondent look as he took a seat on the bench as Jay Jackson relieved him on the mound.

“Anybody who’s struggling, you’ve got to try to find some positives,” Manoah said. “If you get caught in the negatives, you’ll never see the positives.”

Houston outhit Toronto 19-12 in a game that took three hours one minute to play.

SULLIVAN REMEMBERED

A moment of silence was held before the game for longtime Blue Jays coach John Sullivan, who died Thursday at age 82.

Sullivan spent parts of five seasons in the big leagues as a catcher and was a coach for the Blue Jays for more than a decade. He retired after Toronto won a second straight World Series title in 1993.

COMING UP

Right-handers were scheduled to square off on Tuesday night as the four-game series continues.

Kevin Gausman (4-3, 2.76) was tabbed to start for the Blue Jays against Hunter Brown (5-2, 3.61).

—

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2023.

Follow @GregoryStrongCP on Twitter.

© 2023 The Canadian Press

A heavy police presence was spotted and traffic was diverted at the entrance to the Myra Forest Service Road on Sunday after a man was found dead in the wooded area just off the road.

Mounties were stationed on the corner of McCulloch Road and Myra Forest Service Road while diverting traffic and blocking off entry to those heading up the access road to Myra Canyon.

Police received a report around 8 a.m. that a deceased male had been found in the area.

“Several officers attended the rural location and secured the surrounding area to prevent additional foot or vehicle traffic while a protected and thorough investigation takes place,” said Cpl. Michael Gauthier of the Kelowna RCMP.

The scene was cleared by Monday afternoon, however, police tape was still set up in the wooded areas just off the service road.

Police say there is no concern for public safety in relation to the incident and police are unsure of many details surrounding the incident.

“Our investigators are still working with the BC Coroners Service to determine if there is criminality and the investigation will go from there,” Gauthier said.

The Kelowna RCMP is working alongside the coroners service to gather further information on the incident.

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.