Wednesday, November 30, 1994

Letters to the Editor

~e iiieeemiie Bes . Where’s the conflict of interest? XM STOP THE 7 ES an ng er cat

Serco to 10.000 eoonleo ho Castagse Ar, pte pubied every n bylaw leads me to wonder if governments are Satu, 8. Vin ton Te Costape Sun sumiealy taney ime, of fear of conflict bra re a acing Nn Saran, Canadian Commu- What flict of i is in city ‘Assocation, and the B.C. Press Council, Established November 28, — lors debating and voting on a proposed development Mail q

The Castlegar Sun

OPINION

bruster live in the affected neighborhood. No other ion is offered. We know neither the question that the lawyer was asked, nor the full answer. Didn't your reporter ask for details?

In a sense, because this is a small town, we all live in the affected neighborhood. It follows that all city councillors must participate in making decision, or all of them have a conflict of interest and there- fore no right to participate. and Consider the difficulty if all city councillors and

conflict of interest. The former is the politician’s|age-old dilemma: which comes first, the interest of the constituency or _will judge whether or not there is a conflict. of the whole community? What is happening with respect to the It is a politician's responsibility to resolve that Dy could happen else- dilemma, not run away from it. There is a conflict of where in the city, and probably will. interest when someone may improperly gain or lose hemalbe Digable diedheed re Matern at the expense of the community. Only then should ducki jilities while the the politician involved stand aside from the debate debate takes place Secale city council and affected and abstain from voting. citizens, and not within council itself. would benefit in some way that their 1 neighbors the mayor presently lived in the Dumont subdivi- A legal opinion is only an opinion, not a deci- The issue is sensitive. One can appreciate that would not? If that were so, being people of integrity, sion. That is always possible when they are elected sion. What you get in a legal opinion dep on A and Binnie do not want to they would no doubt declare the conflict and volun. at large. On the basis of recent p all — what question you ask, how you ask it, and under —_ attract the hostility of their neighbors, but that, I sug- tarily abstain from voting. would abstain from the Riverbend vote because of what circumstances. gest, is the risk you taken when you get into politics, With respect to the Riverbend Proposal, The _ conflict of interest. Then who would make the deci- Given more information and time to think, Robert Jackson, Castlegar

one piece of information to consider in making a decision. In the long run, the voters, not the lawyers,

Castlegar Sun reports that there “may” be a conflict sions? The developer? lawyers may change their minds. Nobody should run

of imterest because councillors Binnie and Arm- Too often we confuse conflicting interest with for cover on the basis of a single opinion. It is but

Castlegar Volunteer Royal Canadian

More letters Legion Branch 170

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editorial comment

Out in left field

In its zeal to create a lean, mean, health care machine, the Ministry of Health has overlooked sound and basic business essentials—and the end result could mean the collapse of our health system as we know it.

Chief executive officers of successful mega-cor- Porations know that radical change requires plan- ning, vision and foresight. They study other

who ded in their end and they map a careful plan. They talk to those who know the business. They ask for other's opinions.

But not so with the Mini y of Health. R through New Directi has ted in the creation

We don't pay too many taxes

than anything else. Cull and the rest of the NDP government have

advertised on go the New Directions. Can anyone tell us ying & for change if need be, but the New Direc- tons soul hare a pilot projects in place to Getermine if these new programs would be cost effective. I would like to see our government dis- ‘close the costs to date to set up this No Directions.

What are Rossland-Trail MLA Ed Conroy’s views on this very serious matter? I believe that ‘we will soon be finding out.

Look for petitions that will soon be appearing around our community, and please sign them so that we can send this government a strong mes- Sage. Out of respect for those who depend on us, we ee pe up the fight for those who can no Jonger nd themselves.

Do we pay too many taxes?

That's like asking if we pay too much for our cars? Or our houses? Or our clothes? Of course we do, right?

Not necessarily. I know I won't be popular, but I don't think we pay too many taxes. And that puts me in the same company as Mickey Kinakin and Katrine Conroy.

Now that doesn't mean I think we should pay . more taxes, but more on that in a moment. For The view those of you who didn't see the story on the front page of last week's Sun—and judging from the let- from here ters and phone calls, there's only about three of you left in Castlegar—Kinakin and Conroy told Finance Ron Minister Elizabeth Cull that they thought British Columbians don't pay too many taxes. Norman

Kinakin, who was there representing PPWC Local 26 (Selkirk College support staff), and Conroy, who was repre- senting child care, were two of some 20 community leaders who met

But for me, the problem isn't taxation levels. We are an enormously Se en ed ee ee in ing. Just take a look omer ps pro gspnliod sriapes algal dasha sects for economic activity.

The same people who say they are paying too many taxes are the same people heading to Califor- nia for Christmas holidays, or Florida for Spring Break. Compared to anyone else in the world, we

Yet we complain about taxes. But it was always thus. Take a look at the literature from Rome and Greece and they are full of tales about taxes.

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of layer upon Jayer of bureaucracy. At whose cost?

premise of New Directions was that health tare spending would be cut. Where’s the savings in creating yet more bureaucratic levels?

Volunteers on any of the numerous health boards all say the same thing—they have no idea what they’re doing and they’ Te receiving no straight direction from the mi . When ministry officials are asked particulars they all have different answers. No one—ceither ministry or health boards— seems to know what direction to go. And even worse, health boards have even less confi- dence in the ministry knowing what they’re doing. Hence the derisive term for New Directions, now known by many as “No Directions”.

Hospital administrators are left high and dry while struggling to balance progressively anorexic budgets. Hospital beds are being cut, but there’s no solid provision in place to care for those who are supposed to now be cared for “Closer to Home”.

To say the whole medical system is in an uproar would be an gross understatement.

Funds are lacking, or even worse, there aren't any. Yet the ministry has “goals” which it wants each board to meet. And don’t forget that these board members are unpaid volunteers who spend countless hours attending health board meetings.

It’s frightening to contemplate how it might all end. Despite all the work of volunteers, will we end up with an American-style type of health care?

Closer to home? I think not. The umpire has gone home and left us, the public, scratching our heads as we sit out in left field watching the lights go out in the stadium.

Karen Kerkhoff

Don't miss forum

The Pass Creek Park Advisory Board deserves kudos for its role in the proposed redevelopment of Pass Creek Regional Park. The plans for the park are ambitious and exciting: a soccer field, riding ren and BMX/skateboard area, to just mention a

Now it's up to the public to have a say. The board is holding the second of its public forums at 7 p.m. tonight at the Complex. It's a chance for us to have a say. Don't miss out on it

Ron Norman

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with Cull to discuss the forthcoming provincial budget. Cull told the group that she wanted their views on three things: tax¢s, the provin- cial debt, and government spending.

Not everyone at the table agreed with Kinakin and Conroy. Jerry Paul, a director with the Trail Regional Hospital board, said he feels he personally pays too many taxes.

But Paul qualified his remarks. He said he wouldn't mind more taxes if they were targetted to ensure they were spent on what they were intended.

He gave the GST as an example. The federal government intro- duced the tax as a way to pay down the federal debt, but then never used the money for that purpose

Cull herself was unequivocal on the tax issue: "We have a tax freeze. Period.” Tax incr eases in the 1995 provincial budget are not an option. In fact, she asked the community leaders for suggestions on where she could cut taxes.

I believe the whole tax freeze thing is a political decision more

My guess is that we could cut taxes in half and double incomes and we'd still hear the same’

I think that; ‘s what Mickey Rinaktn was sayitiy ° a

But the bigger issue for me—what I believe is the real reason Castlegar resi to d t: the of efficient use of tax dollars,

Before we spend any more on taxes, we need to be assured that the money will go to help the truly underprivileged families and not able-bodied single men who just don't feel like working; that it will Teen ey ny ne rorinee cde ad at 0 ey oe cabinet ministers’ limos.

It's the idea of a millionaire who gets an Old Age Pension and a family making $100,000 a year getting subsidized daycare that makes taxpayers close up their wallets and say, “No more!”

We aren't overtaxed. Not really. We are, in fact, very rich.

But we want to see governments make more efficient use of the dollars they already have before we will sign over any more.

NOAH

Jan Neumann, health care worker, Castlegar

tinh tine ns

Why animal testing?

Everyone uses products such as lipstick, shampoo, perfumes, deodorant, detergents, and house- hold cleaners. Did it ever occur to you how those type of prod- ucts were tested?

For product testing, they use white albino rabbits. They are the most popular victims because their eyes are so much more sen- sitive than the human eye. Also their tear ducts are not very well developed so the rabbits cannot wash out invading substances.

To prepare for this test 6-18 rabbits are placed in socks with only their heads protruding so that they cannot rub at their eyes. The rabbits lower eyelid is pulled out to form a cup or sliced off. The substance is placed in the eye and left for 7 days.

These animals are given no anaesthesia or pain relievers so as not to interfere with the results. For 7 days the rabbits suffer extreme burning, swelling, haem-

ing and massive laceration of the iris. Some rabbits have been known to scream or break their necks while struggling against the pain and agony.

About 50% die before the test is done. The other 50% are killed after the testing has provided the required results.

Some of the rabbits get their side fur shaved off so that they can be used to test sun lotion The bare skin of the rabbit is smeared with lotion and then are placed under a U.V. light until the rabbit either gets cancer or burns to death

To prevent this from happen- ing to these little animals, as well as dogs, cats, and farm animals,

Foresters dragged into 20th Century

rudely from its ivory tower in recent years than that of the professional forester. Sometimes kicking and . the prof forester has been dragged into

lumber the forest will yield, but how he can help preserve not

Hubert Beyer

ignored, and Politicians took remedial

purchase cruelty-free p such as Avon, Globalux Rainfor- est, Jergens, Joico, L’Oreal, Nexxus or Nivea, Body Shop or Bonnie Bell, and Cover Girl.

The main products that do ani- mal testing are: Alberto, Amour- Dial, Camay, Cheesebrough-Ponds, Clarion, Clearasil, Dove, Gilette, Ivory, Johnson and Johnson, Jovan Inc., Lever Brothers, Maybelline, Noxema, Oil of Olay, Pantene, Ponds, Vaseline, Vidal Sasson, Helene Curtis, and Clairol

Before purchasing a product, check who the distributor is so that we can finally put a stop to the cruel testing that is being per- formed on animals

You and I know that you would never want that to happen to you.

Monique Porter is a Grade 10 student at Stanley Humphries Secondary School.

alforesters have always been aware of the importance of our forests as living organisms. No forester worth his salt has been solely concemed with fibre pro- duction.

But in British Columbia, in the past, the forester was under intense pressure to ‘Play the game of the p

gave British Columbia's protected areas to 12 per cent from six Pa oes. And he appointed the

who, in turn, were often pawns in the hands of the large forest companies. It was a Social Credit government that devised the term “sympathetic adminis- tration,” where monetary inter- ests were allowed to override environmental, social and eco- logical considerations.

Things began to change, albeit slowly, during the final years of Social Credit. The environmental movement had become too strong to be

on R, and Sora (CORE) to come up with land use plans for the Province and end what he called the “valley-by-valley battles” between the forest industry and the public. And while some foresters have voiced reservations about the arbitrary figure of 12 per cent of the province's land base that is to be set aside for parks. and some aspects of the new Forest Practices Code, they have, by and large. responded positively.

Kudos to council Dear Editor: I wish to start this letter with sincere congratulations on the

for phases one, two and three. Castlegar’ 's business centre is

1219 1st St. and that is a very good location. There is a great view of the new bridge which I enjoy immensely.

On this dead end street that I live on there is a steep hill with a curve and in winter it is a very dangerous hill. I don’t know what can be done before there is a very serious accident, or even a loss of life.

The hill is so steep that I have, on a number of occasions, slid right out into the traffic on

Ave. Others have too. As well, if attempting to go up r and

I know that a bridge at the end of our street connecting with Ist

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