Conservative MLA Rosalyn Bird says the blaze that burned CrossRoads Brewing & Distillery to the ground on Friday was more than just a fire.
“It was the loss of a community hub, dozens of jobs and years of investment,” the MLA said through a media release issued by the BC Conservatives today.
Bird is one of three Conservative MLAs who represent Prince George, where CrossRoads has been a key business in the community since opening its doors in 2017.
“CrossRoads was exactly the kind of business BC needs more of – building community, creating jobs and drawing people downtown,” Bird explained.
The destructive blaze broke out around 3 am Friday and took firefighters several hours to get a handle on.
The fire was deemed suspicious and Cpl. Jennifer Cooper says investigators worked “diligently” over the weekend to process evidence that led to an arrest.
Richard Titchener, 57, was charged with arson causing damage to property and has been held in custody as he awaits another court appearance at 1:30 pm today.
BC court documents show that Titchener, prior to Friday’s fire at CrossRoads, had made at least 18 court appearances over the past five years.
He was also convicted of assault, obstruction of justice and two counts of breach of probation in Victoria in 2010.
Surrey-Cloverdale MLA Elenore Sturko, the BC Conservative critic for public safety, calls this yet another example highlighting the danger of repeat offenders.
“This is what happens when prolific offenders are cycled in and out of the system with no real consequences,” Sturko said through the party’s media release issued this morning.
“British Columbians see it every day, the same names, the same crimes and the same revolving door under this NDP government.”
There have been ongoing calls for bail reform in recent years, but the issue has been thrust even further into the spotlight over the past few months.
Kelowna MP Stephen Fuhr promised bail reform legislation would be coming this fall after the murder of Bailey McCourt in Kelowna on July 4.
McCourt was allegedly killed by her ex-partner James Plover in a brutal daytime attack that happened just hours after he was convicted of a separate assault on McCourt.
Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas recently sent a letter to Central Nova MP Sean Fraser, Canada's minister of justice, urging the federal government to act fast on bail reform.
In an interview with NowMedia video host Jim Csek, Vancouver-Yaletown MLA Terry Yung, who was a veteran of the Vancouver Police Department for 30 years before shifting to politics last fall, said he personally supports Dyas' plea to the feds.
According to Bird, small businesses are telling her they’re ready to “shut down and leave Prince George” over out-of-control crime.
“That is a tragedy for families, workers and our economy,” she noted.
Bird and her local colleagues, Prince George MLAs Kiel Giddens and Sheldon Clare, hosted a town hall last Thursday that gave businesses a chance to sound off on the issues they’re facing.
Public safety and crime were top of mind, but they also heard directly from Prince George’s craft brewers and distillers about how rising taxes are making it harder to hire and keep staff.
“Less than 24 hours later, CrossRoads burned to the ground,” Bird said. “Instead of supporting entrepreneurs, the NDP’s soft-on-crime policies are driving them out.”
While this is an obvious blow to CrossRoads and the Prince George community, this won’t be the end of the brewery’s story.
In a social media post made early Friday afternoon, owners Daryl Leiski and Cindy Zurowski said they were “devastated” by the fire and “overwhelmed” by the immediate support.
“CrossRoads has been a passion of ours for the last 8 years. It has been more than just a business to us – it is part of our connection to the Prince George community,” they wrote.
“Downtown Prince George is where we flourished and grew, and we plan on continuing to do so. We hope to resume production as soon as possible with the assistance of our fellow breweries.”
According to a recent survey by Business Improvement Areas of BC, nearly one-fifth of BC businesses may not be financially viable beyond next year if issues around street disorder don’t improve.
