PAGE InNtOoNn S Feb. 15, 1973 Wednesday, November 20, 1991 @ OurViEWS Inactivity annoying One can’t help but wait for the first bit of activity from our newly elected government. It’s been over a month since the New Democrats were rescued from the political wilderness for the high life as the province’s privileged party and they’ve done little to prove their worth. Sure, it’s only a month, but what have they done in that month? With the exception of opening every book ever written and rewritten in the Victoria legislature, the New Democrats have done nothing to make us proud. In fact, as a politically wise public, we must ask why the New Democrats even bothered to open the books? The answer is threefold. First, it gives New Democrats a chance to twist that knife even further into the still-smarting backs of the Social Credit Party. Second, it grants New Democrats what every incoming government needs — time. By. playing show-and-tell with government records, New Democrats can paint a worst case scenario and milk it for every political end. Third, it gives New Democrats an opportunity to play turtle in a province that thinks rabbit. We may be expecting action from our new government but we're not going to get it. The honeymoon has clearly begun for the New Democrats. While a province full of optimistic voters awaits the opening of our legislature, our newly-chosen government is nowhere to be found. Instead, leader Mike Harcourt is off in Japan securing businesses for tomorrow when he should be taking care of today. If the province is in the mess the New Democrats claim it is, maybe the government should start cleaning it up. Junkets to Japan anda legislature under lock and key until January is hardly what the British Columbia electorate expected from its new leaders. As voters, we elected the New _| Democrats for a new tomorrow. And with each tomorrow we wait for a glimmer of earnest activity. It’s been nearly two years Commission takes brave stand in the making, but the report by the British Columbia Roy- al Commission on Health Care and Costs was worth waiting for. The six-member commis- sion, headed by Mr. Justice Peter Seaton, visited 51 com- munities and travelled more than 16,000 kilometres. It re- ceived more than 1,500 sub- missions, talked to hundreds of people and, in the end, came up with a 359 recom- Hubert BEYER Victoria duction of federal transfer payments,” the report warns. Many of the recommenda- tions could be implemented immediately, the report says. “Immunizing children before they enter day care or school, guaranteeing that drinking water is not contaminated, or reducing the number of drinking drivers by lowering the allowable blood alcohol level will reduce hi care costs and, in the long run, im- Report from mendations of how to improve British Columbia's health-care system. The report makes one thing clear: The $5 billion now spent on the province's health care resources is sufficient. The problem, according to the report, is how it’s spent. “Internal factors, including the inefficient use of hospital beds, iated settl t which exceed the i ial average, prove the health of British Columbians.” Other such as all ng terminally-ill people to die with dignity by giv- ing them the option to refuse medical treat- ment, will probably be subject to a lot of debate. proving efficiency in hospitals, which con- sumes half of every health-care dollar, would release large amounts of money that could be better used in the delivery of home-care and a. too many physicians and the construction of unneeded facilities, are more of a threat to medicare than external factors, such as the re- multi-level residential facilities for the chron- ically ill, according to the report. please see BEYER page A7 Some people are just too famous. Madonna won't tour in the United States because there aren’t stadiums big enough. Michael Jackson has television specials to display his latest $20 million music videos. Tickets to Van Halen concerts are impossible to find. But none of these megastars hold a candle to the talent of someone like George Elliot Clarke. No, Clarke can’t sing like Michael. Jackson, he can’t master a guitar lick like Eddie Van Halen and he sure can't fill a bustiere like Mad fa The Doors of Perception I was lucky enough to attend a reading by George Clarke at Selkirk College last week. The place was packed when Clarke began speaking. He flipped from poem to poem, reading with vigor, joy and pride. The words flowed through the crowd like a gentle wind, tussling our hair and tickling our faces. It was an experience. By the time Clarke was finished, the crowd had disappeared. Those who ined weren't sure whether emit an emotion Madonna could never muster without a yardful ized drum It’s his words. No artist in the top 40 can manipulate the English language like Clarke can. Through a few el t of synth beats and half-naked dancers. But Clarke’s not the only one. Poets of the world are rapidly , a simple rhythm and a art full of soul, Clarke can P of p by a medium they actually helped create: music. it was acceptable to clap, so Clarke’s mastery was greeted with silence. Now, if Paula Abdul would have showed up to read the words to “Cold Hearted Snake,” people would have come from miles around to hear the . inspiring words of who George Clarke lets his word do the talking currently speaks for younger generation. And George Clarke, who would never resort to cheap rhymes, bouncing lyrics or primal grunts to express his vision, would still struggle to get anyone to listen. But maybe that’s what it comes down to. Maybe today’s pop stars judge their success by the number of albums they sell and the number of fans who think they’re gods, while George Clarke is content in the fact that he has expressed his feelings with pride and sensitivity. So 1 wonder which is better: Selling a million copies of coe that you don’t car about or being able to look a yourself in the mirror? Geor os een knows. our 20, 1991 Letters toWHE EDITOR Ferry still a hot topic Recently, I was in a public building in Trail A woman who works there recognized me and said, “I'm so glad it looks like Robsonyig going to get the ferry back.” f (Ba. She then told me about an incident / / where her face was severely cut when she. was living in Robson. The doctors told/her that the only reason she was not in a life h ing situation (bleeding to death). was because she had reached the hospital 80 quickly. She was able to get to the hospital so quickly because at that time the Robson ferry was running. I then told her about a friend’s son who Il a ight pin which b lodged in his throat and about the horrifying 20-minute trip to reach the hospital. At this point a seemingly intelligent and well dressed man walked into the room. With no introduction he simply interrupted * and assumed we were talking about the Robson ferry. He simply said, “We don’t want the Robson ferry back.” T’m not sure who he was referring to as ‘we.’ I thought his comment were inappropriate to say the least. I found it a bot rang ) th after assumed that we had left this mentality behind. The Robson-Raspberry Ferry Users Ad Hoc C detas has Sie’ neahiahaesl he will shower us with abuse. My son was reproduced government figures that show the Arrow Park Ferry (formerly the Robson Ferry) costs the B.C. taxpayer more money and carries not even five per cent of the .. traffic it carried at. Robson. Reinstating the Robson ferry would help solve the traffic congestion problem on Columbia A in Castl not to tion the obvious impr in general ic safety by removing 1,200 vehicles daily from an already overused intersection. Closing the Robson ferry was one of Bill Vander Zalm’s bad lecisionss bas he is no longer part of government. ve & suggestion for the local politicians who still seem to cringe when they hear Vander Zalm’s name. Get out your pens and write Victoria (yes, again!) explaining the magnitude of the problem created by closing the Robson ferry and actively lobby for it’s return. We have been patient and persistent for three and one half years. It is time to work with our new government representatives to resolve this very long outstanding issue. Les Schultz Robson Just say ‘No’ to spraying rT Roulth +, ra 's re! on pesticide use in the West Kootenay: If the man can’t shower us with poisons, d that his words were printed. I gather if someone finds a family of martens on the banks of the road, we have a chance of turning off the machine for 10 metres. We have come to the point where we won't spray wild creatures directly in their faces. What about most of the birds who pick up gravel where it is easiest to find, along the road? The point is this, people have realized the real and persistent danger of - introducing inogenic toxins into surface water supplies. We cannot purify that sort of stuff out of the water. We just drink it and hope for the best. Back East where the ground water is truly in jeopardy and clean-up virtually impossible, those who can afford it buy their bottled water. Is this what we want? The Ministry of Environment wants a 25 per cent reduction of pesticide use by 2001. Is there any good reason why our growing children should drink from contaminated water supplies for 10 more years? Is short grass along the highway more important? Some of us are beginning to ask questions and take control of our lives. We want our children to care enough about their health to say “no” to drugs. Roadside spraying is one of the first places to say “no.” Barbara Murdoch Castlegar Plenty of cash to burn with Progressive Conservatives Did you know that the head of Canadian National Railways re- ceives $396,000 a year, plus a bonus? How about that the head of Canada Post has received in- creases totalling $105,000, bring- ing his salary to $300,000 per year, and a bonus on top of that? Probably not. The Conservative government of Brian Mulroney has not been anxious to reveal its vision of “fair” wage treatment for employ- ees. But this hidden unfairness is what public service workers in Canada face as they return to work with a legislated zero-in- crease contract. It is difficult to find any logic in the level of salaries, increases and bonuses given senior staff of government and Crown corpora- tions. Usually, performance stan- dards are applied. But even when performance is abysmal, the big- time money flows to the top. Take the case of CN Rail, pay- ing its head $396,000 annually to run a company recently found by its own accounting department to be one of the least efficient in North America. In fact, CN’s overall revenues and profits have fallen year by year since the mid-1980s regard- less of an di from Ottawa Lyle KRISTIANSEN And the rail division lost $111 million in 1990 alone. Is that the performance for which its man- agement is rewarded? C t ment salaries to ‘the 35,000 unionized public servants who earn less than $27,000 annually and, of course, receive no bonus- $19,100 and $21,000 annually. We can imagine their bitterness as they see managers receive in- creases and bonuses larger than their entire salaries. In light of these realities, the recent public service strike be- comes understandable. Successive Liberal and Conser- vative ts have reward- ed their friends in the upper crust, while holding the line for working men and women and ig- noring the issue of pay equity. Fairness is the issue. New Democrats do not believe in a double standard. Fair pay is warranted for fair work and equal pay is warranted for work of equal value. Bonuses as incentives are non- sense for upper-management people already earning $300,000 annually. ached 9 a.m. andS p.m. The writer's name and city or town of Beyer continued from AG To achieve greater efficiency, the report says, there must be a reduction in “appropriate hospital admissi and lengths of stay.” The report recommends the immediate establishment of a permanent, independent Health Council to oversee the health- care system. The ministry must be ized, the report says, to allow for regional rather are a first step wens the the health- care system, the _ report recommends that regional general managers be hired to help build a system that responds to local needs. The report urges that five principles of medicare be doctors, too, by urging “an absolute annual global cap on payments to physicians and hospitals.” That. cap, it adds, should be adjusted only for changes in enshrined in | ey comprehensiveness, portability, are universality, accessibility and public imini r It also says premiums should be abolished and the shortfall — $640 million in the 1989-90 fiscal year — be raised by an increase in the provincial income tax rate. The report takes aim at the * The report had some disturbing things to say about the health of British Columbia's Natives, many of whom, it says, have been relegated to “third- world” existence. Some of the steps, recommended by the commission to improve the health status of natives, aren't directly linked to the delivery of health-care. They include an appeal to the government to ensure that more Native children complete high school, support for job-training programs developed by native iti and Itati to develop an information system to measure the health determinants and health status of native people. The NDP has said for years that there is enough money for health care; it just needed to be spent more wisely. The report backs up that claim. There's no excuse now.