+») Saturday, April 4, 1992 OurWiEWS AdrianRAESIDE NDP takes ‘right’ turn race yourself British BRoeienis our summer of discontent is only beginning. Friday, Castlegar got its first taste of what could be a season of turmoil as the local chapter of the Hospital Employees’ Union hit the bricks. Without a contract for a year, the HEU says the Hospital Labor Relations Association is not negotiating in good faith. Those words are certain to be repeated during the summer of 1992. Consider the HEU’s strike action as British Columbia’s trial balloon. The province’s other trade unionists are, no doubt, sitting in the wings, awaiting the government's reply. The actions of the Mike Harcourt- led forces will be watched very closely this summer. Whether it be nurses, doctors, teachers or government employees, everyone wants a bigger piece of the economic pie. Unions are in for a mammoth surprise, though. Despite their undaunting support of New Democrats, the government isn’t about to play favorites. It’s strange how the.reins of power can change the leftist of left-wing ~ party’s into pin-striped right wingers. IN 3 ia] abandoning their supporters as they embrace a tight-fisted approach to government. ‘ In the end, that tight-fisted tactic will be just what the Liberals need as they form British Columbia’s next government. -) Investment Co-operative. McGauley scores Alma McGauley is one amounts to a loss of tough lady. i i The 70-year-old retired Castlegar teacher took on the system — and won. Or at least came away with a TKO. For those who don’t know - McGauley, she led the six- year fight for more than 3,400 members of the Teachers’ Housing and And when it was all over she emerged with one of the — “ Comments from the Crossroads almost $14,000. So why did she and the other co-op members settle out of court? Why not after six years of fighting, finish the job? “This has taken longe than the Second World War,” McGauley explains; | “I couldn’t give it any more |. of my life.” A court challenge would) ’ have dragged the case out ’ another two years. me “We are too old to go | me largest settlements in B.C. legal history. on,” she says, adding that Co-op members received a $32-million out-of-court settlement in their case against the B.C. government, the directors of the co-op, a well-known Vancouver accounting firm and a large law firm. Even so, co-op members still lost 15 to 20 cents of every dollar they had invested in the defunct institution. For McGauley — who with husband Bill had $70,000 tied up in the co-op when it collapsed — that that 163 of the 3,400 co-op members 2 involved in the McGauley suit have already = died. : McGauley won against incredible odds. | For two years after the co-op’s collapse in November, 1985 she fought a political campaign to have the ; é government hold a judicial inquiry, as provided for in the co-op act. “’ please see NORMAN page 7 | Aug. 7, 1947- Feb. 15, 1973 Streef TALK provincial | 4 @ Saturday, ‘April'4, 1992 ’ OtherVIEWS | Please address all letters to: Letters to the Editor Castlegar News P.O. Box 3007 fb B.C. oe 7s Detters tolliM _ EDITOR Lights, camera, action _ T.V. commercials that aren’t on the tube yet but you know are on the way department.: A smiling Corky Evans suddenly appears on your TV set, very late at night: “Hi folks. “There’s one other locally made product I’ve" got to flog before I run out of your money that they gave me to do something else with. “That’s right... locally produced politics. Organically grown right here in the communities it serves. And if we don’t buy it, local political producers like these family farmers right here.. .” (Background shot: Mike Harcourt, Environment Minister John Cashore, and Forests Minister Dan Miller, shoveling it higher, spreading it far and wide, and working it in.) “. . . will be driven out of business. Then we'll all have to buy the line from Kelowna, Ottawa or south of the border.” (Camera cuts to the Shovelers Three in the background chanting in unison: “There is an Environment and Jobs Accord... which is why there is peace in the woods... so we can clearcut until we get every log around... ”) Back to Corky: “Now I know what you’re thinking. None of the politics The Shovelers are singing about actually were produced right here in the Kootenays, and (ahem) they are indeed singing about logging your favorite park proposal. But if you don’t keep on buying into our product line of non- locally-produced local politics, things will get worse.” Picture fades out before Corky makes any sense. David Lewis Crescent Valley Protect our post office _It_has come-to-my attention that Canada— Post is already meeting with local businesses to find potential retail outlets in Castlegar. _ If a Canada Post representative comes to call he will paint for you a rosy picture of the advantages of taking on a postal franchise. Before making a decision please consider both the negative side of operating a franchise and the broader implications for our community. i Here are some documented examples of problems encountered by postal franchise operators across the country: 1, Long hours spent processing mail for which there’s little pay. 2. Many time consuming services such as insuring parcels, changes of address, hold mail, for which there is no pay. 3. Commission on products such as money orders is low. 4. Canada Post’s training of franchise staff is minimal, causing frustration for clerks dealing with complex transactions. 5. Lots of extra paper work (GST, etc.) for which there is no pay. - 6. Taking complaints about the mail service, for which you're not responsible (ie: goods damaged in transit) 7. Late payment of commissions to franchise operators. If the above doesn’t make you think twice consider the negative implications for our community: 1. Closure of the federal post office in Castlegar. 2. Removal of experienced postal workers capable of handling complex transactions. 3. Loss of decent-paying, full-time jobs and these incomes spent locally. Within this community you_are the ones with the power to stop Canada Post from dismantling the postal system. By refusing Canada Post’s sales pitch you between the B.C. government and the province’s 6,000 doctors. The NDP has done an artful job of cloaking the real issue by focusing attention on the capping of the incomes of so-called high earning physicians. By doing this, this honest and open government has tried to hide its real agenda. ; Quietly introduced last week, Bill 13 imposes a five per cent rollback of doctors’ fees and does away with fee bargaining rights of the BC Medical Association, not just for this year, but forever. These rights have been essential to the partnership that has been in place since medicare was introduced in BC, and the public has been well served by a healthcare system described by many as the best in North America. All of this has been done without one word of prior negotiation or even consultation. : That the NDP government would be uncomfortable disclosing these positions to the public in an open, forthright manner is understandable. They are actions which are repugnant to its rank and file supporters, and to the public in general. Just how repugnant it is was reflected in the BC Federation of Labor’s reaction to the government’s high-handed action. When the true extent of this government’s plans are known, I expect that the reaction will be even stronger. I urge all British Columbians to become familiar with the real issues of this dispute. Doctors will not stand idly by while their rights are trampled on. With an understanding of the issue, I hope that our patients will appreciate what will have to be done in the weeks ahead. Gur S Singh, MD President, Question: Do you think hospital employees should have the right to strike? Michelle Boisvert Castlegar Roxy Riley Brilliant Castlager “If they’re underpaid, they should be able to.” “That’s a very hard “No.” question.” Mark Scantland Castlegar “Sure. I think they are underpaid right now.” “= & Kate Laktin -Thrums “Yes.” ‘9 a.m. and 5 V1iN3H4 | or deliver them to 197 Columbia Ave. Letters should be_ typewritten, S double-spaced ¢ and not longer than 300 words. Letters MUST be signed and include the writer's first and last names, address and a telephone number at which the writer can be reached between p.m. The writer's name and city or 7 town of residence only will be published. Only in exceptional cases will letters be published anonymously. An open letter to all businesses in Castlegar. +. By now most people. know of Canada Post’s plan to privatize all wicket Service by 1996. However, this can not be achieved without the co-operation of the business community. will be putting the community first. Sandra L. Groepler B.C. Rural Dignity of Canada Robson Public being misled It is not surprising that a great many people have been misled about the dispute B.C. Medical Association Just a joke Relax Castlegar, Zuckerburg Island isn’t changing hands. Wednesday’s front-page story was nothing more than an April Fool’s prank compliments of The News. Did we get you? Norman continued from page 7 But then-consumer and “Our action had demonstrated that a group of little people who sition. tion about the co-op’s financial po- McGauley says the co-op strayed from residential mort- corporate affairs minister Elwood Veitch turned her down. Eventually Veitch agreed to ap- point Allan Mulholland, then-B.C. superintendent of financial insti- tutions, to conduct an inquiry and make recommendations for leg- islative changes. But that wasn’t enough for Mc- Gauley. She wrote to more than 10,000 co-op members across Even in those cases, the name, address and phone number of the writer MUST be disclosed to the editor. The News reserves the right to edit letters for brevity, clarity, legality, grammar and taste. Western Canada to raise money to launch a lawsuit. Some 3,400 members respond- ed and contributed $400 each (which they were returned as part of the settlement). Shortly after the trustees for the co-op, Martin Linsley of Coop- ers &Lybrand, followed Mc- Gauley’s lead and sued on behalf of all 32,000 co-op members. feel they are victims of a great in- justice can do something about it, even though our B.C, class action -laws are so narrow as to be un- workable,” McGauley says. - And all this from someone who wasn’t even a co-op member. When McGauley started to in- vest in a registered retirement savings plan advertised in the Even if she had, McGauley says there was no way for members ta know the co-op was in trouble. The co-op was established in 1951 to provide residential mort- gages to teachers. “Teachers helping teachers,” McGauley says. It sounded like a good idea — B.C. Teacher magazine there was anda sound business investmen no mention of the Teachers’ Hous- ing and Investment Co-operative. And for the first three weeks af- ter the co-op went into voluntary bankruptcy, McGauley never knew she was affected. She thought her money was.in- vested in a different institution. Because she wasn’t a member, she never received any informa- In 34 years of operation, the co- op had only one mortgage default which resulted in a loss of only $58,000. “To all appearances the co-op was magnificently successful,” says McGauley. Then overnight the co-op went. from a modest $33,000 surplus to a crushing $64-million deficit. How did it happen? gages and branched out into riski- er ventures, such as flipping com- mercial raw land in B.C. and Al- berta. The co-op members alleged there was “human error and less than vigilant care by the profes- sionals who managed, directed, advised and regulated the co-op.” That’s why McGauley bristles a ne sugrpes on ne Lo ernmen shouldn't “bail out” co-op members who should have known better. “From 1978 it was on the slip- pery slope (yet) for our own good they kept the truth from us... there was no way we could have found that out.” But all that is behind her. Now McGauley will begin get- ting her life back to normal, her fight finally over.