Penticton

Penticton is a city in the Okanagan Valley of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, situated between Okanagan and Skaha Lakes. In 2006, its population was 31,909, while its census agglomeration population was 43,313.

Name origin

The name Penticton is derived from a word in the Okanagan language. It is conventionally translated as "a place to stay forever" but is actually a reference to the year-round flow of Okanagan Lake through Penticton where it enters Skaha Lake. Differing accounts of the meaning are given in the British Columbia Geographical Names Information System entry for the city:

"Place where water passes beyond." (information from Isaac Harris, published in Vernon News, July 18, 1918); compare with: "Derived from the Okanagan dialect of the Salish tribe, the word Pen-tak-tin meaning 'a place of permanent abode where waters pass by'." (50th Anniversary booklet of Penticton, 1958)

History

The site of the city was first settled by the Okanagan people, of the Interior Salish language group, who initially named the community Phthauntac, meaning the "ideal meeting place", followed by Penticton, meaning a "place to stay forever", or officially "a place where people live year-round" in the Okanagan language. They settled around the city's two lakes: Skaha Lake and Okanagan Lake; the former was originally known as Dog Lake. Their descendants are based at the Penticton Indian Band, a First Nations government part of the Okanagan Nation Alliance situated near Penticton.

British Columbia

British Columbia, also commonly referred to by its initials BC, is a province located on the west coast of Canada. British Columbia is also a component of the Pacific Northwest and the Cascadia bioregion, along with the US states of Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska The province's name was chosen in 1858 by members of the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada. Its Latin motto is Splendor sine occasu ("Splendour without Diminishment").

The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the fifteenth-largest metropolitan region in Canada, named for the Queen who created the Colony of British Columbia. The largest city is Vancouver, the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada, the largest in Western Canada, and the second-largest in the Pacific Northwest. In October 2013, British Columbia had an estimated population of 4,606,371 (about 2.5 million of whom were in Greater Vancouver). The province is currently governed by the BC Liberal Party, led by Premier Christy Clark, who became leader as a result of a leadership convention vote on February 26, 2011, and who led her party to an election victory on May 14, 2013.

British Columbia wine

British Columbia wine is Canadian wine produced in the province of British Columbia. Wines made from 100 percent British Columbia grapes can qualify for classification under one of British Columbia's two classification systems, depending on the varietal, the wine-making techniques employed, and various other restrictions.

Originally, the British Columbia Wine Institute handled regulation and marketing of the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA), which is also an appellation system. More recently, the British Columbia Wine Authority was formed by the provincial government to regulate part of the industry. It created a second classification, "Wines of Distinction", to be also from 100 percent British Columbia grapes, but with less stringent quality control. In practice, it has strengthened the VQA classification.

British Columbia is gaining recognition for its world-class premium VQA wines. Wines which are neither labelled VQA or Wine of Distinction, and from certain producers (given special rights under the 1988 Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement), can use foreign bulk wine to produce a third category of wine which is labelled as Cellared in Canada. Significant parts of the wine industry, and respected wine writers in Canada and abroad, are quite concerned about this practice.

British Columbia (Superintendent of Motor Vehicles) v British Columbia (Council of Human Rights)

British Columbia (Superintendent of Motor Vehicles) v British Columbia (Council of Human Rights), [1999] 3 S.C.R. 868, known as the Grismer Estate case, is a leading Supreme Court of Canada decision on human rights law. The Court held that the British Columbia Superintendent of Motor Vehicles was in violation of the provincial Human Rights Code for cancelling the driver's licence of Terry Grismer because he had a visual disability.

Background

Terry Grismer was a mining truck driver who, after suffering from a stroke in 1984, suffered from homonymous hemianopia (H.H.), a visual disability that reduces the scope of peripheral vision. After the stroke the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles cancelled his driver's licence on the grounds that his condition made him incapable of meeting the minimum standard for peripheral vision required when driving. This rule applied to all people who suffered from H.H.

Penticton (crater)

Penticton Crater is an impact crater in the Hellas quadrangle of Mars, located at 38.35° south latitude and 263.35° west longitude. It is 8 km in diameter and was named after a Town in British Columbia, Canada, nearby the little town of Okanagan Falls where is located the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory. Images with HiRISE show gullies which were once thought to be caused by flowing water.

Penticton is famous with Mars geologists because evidence for recent flowing liquid was found there. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter discovered changes on the wall of Penticton Crater between 1999 and 2004. One interpretation of the changes was that they were caused by water flowing on the surface. A further analysis, published about a year later, revealed that the deposit could have been caused by gravity moving material downslope. The slope where the deposit was sighted was close to the stability limits of dry, unconsolidated materials.

Penticton (provincial electoral district)

Penticton is a provincial electoral district in British Columbia, Canada established by the Electoral Districts Act, 2008. It was contested for the first time in the 2008 election.

Members of the Legislative Assembly

Electoral history