Wednesday, July 22, 1992 m z . PAGE = < = Op Dave McCullough Publisher Scott David Harrison Editor Mickey Read Composing Room Foreman Warren Cheroff Accountant Heather Hadley Circulation Manager OurWiEWS AdrianRAESIDE Band-Aid solution he provincial government really has a way of showing Castlegar it cares. In the same year it axed the Robson ferry, cancelled’ the construction of the Castlegar-Robson bridge and toyed with the future of our forest industry, the government has found another way to make us regret the provincial election. _ A Transport Ministry plan that would see Cominco-bound traffic rerouted through our streets is the latest assault on our city. The plan comes in the wake of a near fatal accident on the Warfield hill which saw a tractor-trailer lose its brakes and slammed through a residential home. That accident prompted the government to explore alternatives which would see loaded truck traffic removed from the windy Warfield hill and rerouted through Castlegar. While no one can dispute Warfield has a problem, downshifting that problem to Castlegar is hardly the road to travel. The byways and highways in and around our city are already overrun with truck traffic. The prospect of even more congestion is not a remedy that will endear this government to an already jaded community. If the government is truly concerned about our traffic woes, it would recognize that Castlegar isn’t the route to go. Instead, it is the cheap solution for a government that is trying to nickel and dime its way out of a deficit. Street TALK Release report on principle _ Ever get the feeling that you’re not wanted? That no matter how much you try to get your hands on something, it will never see the light of day? Well, that’s the way I’ve been feeling lately and it has to do with a little $24,000 document that the city dipped into our pockets to pay for. For the past two weeks, News reporter Neil Rachynski and myself have Harrison Comparison risk of boring you more than a Lawrence Welk rerun, council use in camera sessions to discuss labor practices, land purchases and legal matters.) Technicalities aside, I want a peek at the Price Waterhouse report. For no other reason than it’s there and it cost the public $24,000. What amazes me about this whole affair is the been trying to get a hold of a Price Waterhouse report which critiques our fair city. The document, though, has been under wraps ever since it was completed two years ago thanks to an all-incompassing term know as ‘in camera.’ (For those who don’t know it, in camera sessions are private meetings held by and for councils. These closed door sessions allow municipal officials from Castlegar to Courtenay to discuss any matters deemed too sensitive for public consumption. At the way the city has managed to keep the report so quiet in the first place. Think about it, sometime between the time it was commissioned and the time it was presented, $24,000 was taken out of the public purse and no one but a select few knew it. Heck, had it not been for an off-the-cuff comment by a member of the Regional District of Central Kootenay, I would have never known the report existed. please see HARRISON page 7 Burt C Publisher Emeritus L.V. Campbell Aug. 7, 1947- Feb. 15, 1973 Eo > jecrcna Jove reo comes AD YUKON Conmaaty MEWERAPE RS ABBOCATION Member of the B.C Question: As a Japanese student in Canada for the first time, what do you think of our country? Rei Nozaki Chiba-Ken “I like Canada very much.” Miyuki Ogihara Ibaraki “It’s great.” Naoko Inomata Tokyo “It’s very big.” Hidetaka Oki “It’s much bigger than Japan.” Yuko Hike Kanagawa Tokyo “Canadians are nice.” — er ane wi Wednesday, July'23°°798>" 4The News OtherVIEW Please address all letters to: Letters to the Editor Castlegar News P.O. Box 3007 Castlegar, B.C: V1N 3H4 or deliver them to 197 Columbia Ave. Letters should be typewritten, 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 9am. and5 p.m. The writer's name and city or town of residence only will be published. Only in exceptional cases will letters be published anonymously. 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. Letters toWHE EDITOR Doctors dumped on by uniformed MLA Ed Conroy’s letter to The News in response to the B.C. Medical Association criticism of Bill 71 contains multiple inaccuracies and supports my view that he has little knowledge of either the issues or the chronology of events that have occurred. . The government has not negotiated in good faith and appears never to have intended to. Health Minister Elizabeth Cull has repeatedly left negotiating meetings early (June 12, and 14). At Whistler June 5, she put down an unrealistic deadline for negotiations to be completed by June 30 — nine days later on June 14 she adjourns a meeting without having resolved a single issue. She then announced she would introduce the legislation in the week of June 15-19 and would be unavailable to discuss it further. Cull states that the BCMA will have full participation in the management of the medical services budget (a tripartite government — public-physician committee). This is an excellent model but please note its recommendations are not binding to Treasury Board. What good is input on a committee if the Treasury Board has no obligation to accept the wishes of the public and physicians on the proposed committee. Cull stated a willingness to continue the previous government’s form of a pension plan but to make it cost shared. This form of a Registered Retirement Savings Plan is less items and remove Insurance Corporation of British Columbia expenses from the fixed, non- negotiated sum of $1.27 billion, in order to stay. within this figure. The NDP has refused this also. Why should the $40 million annual cost of injuries due to motor vehicle accidents come out of the MSP budget instead of the ICBC budget? You have failed to listen to the physicians in your district and feel the anger. — Dr. Jon Van Vliet tax advantageous but is still very acceptable as long as the government contribution remains the same, not half the amount as your party would wish. The $25 million sum was accepted by physicians in lieu of a fee increase in 1990. The BCMA, in retrospect, was unwise to trust politicians in this process — giving up a fee increase for a pension program that could be legislated away by this party. i Our association wanted the ability to de-insure certain The government has refused to discuss binding arbitration over future fee disputes — now in place in seven provinces. On June 28, before breaking off negotiations, Cull refused the use of a mediator to assist the parties in bridging the gap. Cull has not yet carried through with her program of public education, informing the people of B.C. that unrealistic expectations and demands increase the costs of this tax paid system. This one program could solve a lot of the monetary problems; however governments don’t like to ask the public to decrease use of the system as this doesn’t get them votes. Conroy, your letter appears to be part of a prepared criticism written by the party and distributed to NDP MLAs. You have failed to listen to the physicians in your district and feel the anger. The current government has destroyed basic principles I felt were the hallmark of the NDP —- open communication, honesty, arbitration, mediation and fairness. Bill 71 has been passed and we now have 5,000 medical doctors unwilling to trust this party and its direction or principles. I don’t think in the long term you will find this bill worth the consequences. A large number of physicians are waiting to opt out because they are that frustrated with the process taken by you and your party. We will see frequent office closures in order to ration care before the money runs out, then were will be no physician services. Jon Van Vliet BA, MD Castlegar GST-ed off by Progressive Conservatives It would appear that hardcore Tories are indoctrinated into believing that it is the average Canadians fault that we have a deficit and that the odious G.S.T. is one way of making amends - 15-20% still condone the policy of raping the incomes of those least able to afford it. I ask them. What has a four-year-old in ‘Ronnies’ got to do with billions of dollars deficit? How much did the 10-year-old paper boy contribute to the deficit? What has the millionaire tycoon got that he has preferecne over these two young ‘Canadian subjects and can enjoy a multitude of tax perks and breaks. The average Canadian knows full well that had the tycoon paid fair taxes in his boom years there would be no deficit, in fact a handsome surplus. The four-year-old would be still enjoying a hamburger un- GSTed — the paper boy his baseball card un-GSTed, and, above all our dear old folk and vertans would be enjoying a coffee and doughnut without having to look across the road and see the tycoon gorging on lobster, tax deductable. What a well deserved birthday gift the Justices could have’ given the discriminated “Outers” who have been shafted with an abominable tax on a penalty — they could have requested the removal of the atrocity on freight (can it be legal to penalize a penalty twice?) Yes, children will reduce the deficit for you — please do not bother the tycoon. This tax is fair, equal, just, legal as were the exploits of Jack the Ripper. Can you feel the “Aura” in the air? The foretaken of the good things to come? Like the reclaimation of government-soon. Hallelujah! Harold Ealden Nanoose Bay, B.C. Harrison continued from page 6 The city has had an interesting response to all of our prodding. Towing the bureaucratic line, our elected officials have been reluctant to discuss the Price-Waterhouse report, claiming it delves far too much into personalities. Why, one well-meaning councillor was so disturbed by the line of questioning that Councillor X put down the phone and sought instructions from a senior s member. “What the hell do I tell this guy,” the councillor asked the staffer. Needless to say, the councillor’s reply was a tad unnerving, repeating verbatim the words coming out of the staffer’s mouth. So much for free thinking. Call me a trouble maker — it wouldn't be the first time — but I think the city should live up to its claim of honest and open government and release the Price-Waterhouse report. After : all, if it saw fit to break its code of in camera silence by going public with the $100,000 it paid in settlements to former employees, why wouldn’t it air this? Hiding behind the veil of “too Many personalities were discussed to release this report” is an amateurish cop out on behalf of Castlegar. The report isn’t about personalities, it’s about’ the fundamental management of our city. As citizens, we have the right to know how well our city is being run. And that information is detailed in the Price- Waterhouse report. For all I care, the city can censor the document, taking out those items which are deemed personal. I am about as interested in city hall gossip as I am the Toronto Blue Jays. To me, it’s about principles. And based on that — and that alone — the public has the right to know it got the most out of its $24,000. Castlegar must come clean. And until it does, I have to question what other Castlegar secrets remain hidden.