Gov’t job cuts here running -much deeper than planned THERE ARE fewer provincial government employees in Terrace now than was first plan- ned when large reductions were announced earlier this year. Initial projections were that 57 jobs would be cut this year as part of a three-year plan leading to the elimination of 89 positions. ~ But 66 jobs were cut by June, indicate fig- ures put together by Skeena Liberal MLA Roger Harris. ’ The majority of the job cuts came from two areas — 13 when the correctional centre closed and 37 when the transportation ministry scaled back engineering and other departments. While that sounds drastic, Harris noted, some of the positions cut were already vacant, people took advantage of early retirement and voluntary severance packages and employees moved away to fill other positions within the civil service. “What we always said is that we were . looking at ways for a more cost effective way of providing services,” said Harris. The teality is that far fewer people actually lost their jobs than was first forecast, Harris added. And he said the province may have set it- self up for harsh criticism by announcing plans in January to reduce the civil service by ap- proximately one-third over three years by eli- minating 11,700 of 35,000 positions. ‘Approximately one-third of the job elimina- the first year. people.” nued, sion, What has buffered layoff totals is more people than expected taking advantage of early retirement or voluntary severance pack- ages, Collins said. tion totals are to take place in “We did that to give people some lead time to plan their lives,” said Harris. “We thought il was a fair way of dealing with As il is, the province has changed its job reduction plans in some areas after re-examining some situations, (he MLA conii- As an example, plans for an outright closure of the Kispiox forest district office have been scaled back, Harris said, Although a detailed break- down of layoffs as opposed ta retirements and voluntary depar- tures isn't available for Terrace itself, province-wide figures point to perhaps 500 actual job losses so far, says Vince Collins who is in charge of the Public Service Employee Relations Commis- “Back at the start we had predicted 2,500 people would do that. That number has been exceeded by 350 people,” he said. Roger Harris Collins. Add up the voluntary departures and retirements with actual job losses and the number of people who have left the civil service amounted to 3,300 people by the end of June, Collins continued. That's in line with initial govern- ment projections for the first year of the three-year job reduction plan. The majority of actual job losses are people who were auxiliaries or who had worked for the civil service for less than three years, said Collins. And while the first round of job | cuts are being dealt with, mini- stries continue to work on plans for further reductions leading to the overall three-year goal of cut- ting 11,700 positions. “[ don’t think you’ll be seeing the big bang approach as was the case the first round,” said “They'll be selective reductions by mini- stries and won’t happen all at one time.” One major move to occur is transferring as many as 3,000 jobs out of the children and fa- mily development ministry to regional agen- cies. Those new agencies, their budgets and their responsibilities have yet to be announced. More gov't job loss to come FEWER PEOPLE may be losing their jobs than first predicted be- cause of government cuts but the big impact to Terrace is losing government positions, says a union official. “Their money’s gone. They've left town,” says B.C. and Govern- ment Service Employees’ Union official Shelley Anderson of people-who used to work for the provincial government in Terrace. Anderson was reacting to news that massive layoffs of people predicted earlier this year across the province have yet to take 1 place. Anderson says former civil ser- vants have left town to fill other vacancies or have left town to find other work, “I know only one person from the jail still in Terrace,” she said, “A number of people have left the community and have gone to Prince George.” Anderson says the provincial government job cuts are just one part of the reductions being brought in. A freeze in budgets resulted in Northwest Community College laying off staff across the region, closing the college’s day care centre here and suspending its early childhood education pro- gram. As well, teachers and support workers with the school district are losing their jabs, said Ander- son. And now Anderson said gov- emment cuts are working their way down to social service pro- grams. Recently local programs such as Mother’s Time Off in Terrace and a program in Prince Rupert that works with young pregnant women have been cut, All that makes for social and economic impacts which are wider spread than those just asso- ciated with direct provincial cuts, said Anderson. She notes that some people working for the new Northern Health Authority in Terrace have already been notified their jobs are lo disappear. Anderson says they'll be more to come when the province trans- fers its family and children work- ers to new regional authorities. wettcned A COLLEGE daycare pro- gram that closed at the end of:May to help solve a budget :deficit will be opening. its doors again in September - under the bannerof a non profit soc- iety, ry The program is now in the midst of being trans- ferred from Northwest Community College to the Terrace Campus Childcare Society, president Tony Walker said. The future of the day- care has been the subject of negotiations between college officials, the staff and parents for several months. “It was just a group of us who decided we wanted ta keep the program open,” he said. “The staff had mentioned they didn’t want to see this collapse.” Neither‘did the college, which could no longer af- ford to pay for an annual $100,000 operating subsi- dy, particularly once ‘it lost a $26,000 provincial grant for the program. The staff had even sug- gested taking it over them- selves, only to learn their contract — described in June as “a Cadillac” con- tract by union official Wes Law — would remain in ef- fect unless the facility was closed until 2004, That option would have left staff and parents in the lurch, The plan to create a non-profit society to take over the program gathered steam in June. At that lime, it ap- peared the toddler program for children three and under might have to have be scrapped once an operating society tcok it over. Plans now call for eight seats for the under-three program, with another 19 full time seats for children aged three to five years of age. The society wants to operate the program from September until June, bringing it in line with most other daycare pro- College daycare to'reopen this fall grams in Terrace. . Walker praised daycare staff and the college for cooperating on a solution that will keep the facility open. “I think it’s because everybody is giving,” he said. “Everybody saw the need.” The college has agreed to continue subsidizing the daycare facility by cover- ing things like snow remo- val and lighting costs, he said. Parents will be paying more to put their children in the program, too. Fees will be going up to help reflect the cost of operaling the program, but they’ll be comparable with rates al other local centres, Walker said. Three employees who are members of the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union have agreed to stay on under the new operating society. They will have to sign a new contract with the soc- iely to determine wages ae aoe MARY MCNEICE, shown left with Jeff Faith, will be back to help out when the college daycare re- opens its doors as a non-profit society. FILE PHOTO and benefits. Walker said he was hopeful the transition will be seamless for parents and children. Along with three former staff members, long time program coordinator Mary McNiece, who retired this spring, has also said she'll return to help run the pro- gram under the society. The society is now tak- ing preregistrations for September, Spaces are ex- pected to fill up quickly, Politicians plan to take on Victoria By JENNIFER LANG A PLAN to send a delegation of regional politicians to Victoria to ‘explain the impact provincial cuts are having in northwest B.C. is gaining momentum. ’ “Terrace city council has now agreed to take part in a regional delegation spearheaded by Kiti- mat council, = . The aim is to have a delega- tion speak with individual cabinet ministers to explain the impacts some of their decisions are having on norlhwest communities. The: government has cut a range. of services and programs to balance its budget over the next three years. . --“The sort of things that they are trying to doa are leading to hundreds: and thousands of impli- cations for tutal communities,”. cdundillor Val George said. ; “How ‘else will they know, if. they don't hear from ‘the people and communities who are directly Raid affected?” Cuts to tourists services and potential cuts to ferry service on northern routes are helping fuel fears in forestry-dependent north- west communities that are in- creasingly looking to tourism to keep their economies afloat. “It’s the only thing we can rely on,” councillor Rich McDaniel said, complaining about. provin- cial cuts to highways mainte- nance, health services, and now campgrounds. David Hull, meanwhile, dis- agreed that a delegation would help change the minds of cabinet ministers. “Isn’t that Roger Harris’s job?” he said, voting against, the motion. “Not necessarily,” someone shot back. Hull said it’s a waste of money to send a delegation. to Victoria because lt won’t change Premier Gordon Campbell's mind. «- “There’s not a hope in hell, to - be honest,” he added. Terrace council’s endorsement came just days after the Kitimat Stikine Re- gional District board of directors agreed to join the delegation, “We feel that this government is taking so much away from us,” Kitimat director Joanne Monaghan said, introducing the motion at the regio- | nal district meeting, She’s disappointed by provincial cuts that have seen Kiti- mat lose iis courthouse and Ter- race's jail closed. She’s worried a reduction. in ferry service along the north coast will be next, making it-harder to attract tourists. ok “Now they're taking away. our Val George this picture,. parks,” she said, in reference’ to.” said, BC Parks’ decision to close six provincial parks in our region un- less local governments or the private sector step in to help operate them. “These ministers — where the heck are they?” Village of Ha- zelton mayor Maitland said. “Shouldn’t they start knowing what’s hap- mM pening on the ground?” Thornhill director Les Watmough wondered why the ministry is keeping protected areas in remote wilderness areas open — even though they need to be fully subsidized -- but wants to close provincial parks visitors can drive (; ae -_ “[s'there something wrong with Alice | or what?” Watmough -. The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 24, 2002 - AS CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag Cuts make no sense An open letter to Skeena MLA Roger Harris Dear Sir: lam a longtime resident of Terrace, and have been a public health nurse here for many years. So [ suppose it’s predictable that I would have concerns about the loss of programs such as Mothers’ Time Off, Nobody’s Perfect, and half the funding for the Terrace Sexual Assault Centre... That's because 1 work with people who, through no fault of their- own, live in poverty, isolation, and severe stress, These programs are ail relatively inexpensive, yet provide services which in the long run prevent child abuse, some types-of mental illness, and even physical illness (through information made accessible - to people with low literacy, and through dealing with . stress thal over time can produce physiological damage), Surely it makes sense to say that such programs would save money over the long term, and in fact that their absence, or decreased function, will increase costs for health care, for the justice system, and for the general health of the community. I would appreciate a response that will truly satisfy mé, as a concerned citizen and health professional, that these cuts are really fiscally, and nat simply’ politically, wise. ; , Carol Harrison Terrace B.C, Grandmother got ER runaround at hospital Dear Sir: What’s with the conduct of emergency room staff and doctors, with the unfortunate little girt losing her life, due lo the inadequacy of our current hospital care? In the month of May 2002, my grandmother was taken to the Mills ER as she fell down hurting her knee. She is 88 years old and can still walk on her own accord. She waited as usual. No X-rays were taken, no formal exam, just take two pills and goodbye. This disgruntled our family. Not only did the doctor not examine her leg or knee thoroughly, we had to call the ambulance once again to take her back to the ER the next morning. To our surprise, the doctor on call then requested a full examination, including X- rays. My grandmother had a fractured knee after hours of tests, and was sent to the Prince Rupert hospital to be examined by a specialist. Why does an elder have to be pushed out right away? Our health care is in disarray. People go to the ER for a reason, not to be sent home because of a quick diagnosis. We did write to the doctor on call that evening, . but still have not heard a reply back, and we will continue to wait for his statement.” Few oe 8 44) S Blan-and Pamela’ Grant . Terrace B.C. Go, Byron, go Dear Sir: I am so impressed with the album Abnormal Pleasures, the debut release of One Ton, the Quebec- based band including Terrace’s Byron Mikaloff, featured in your July 10 edition (“Pop musique”, BI, The Terrace Standard). Tn an ongoing effort to support up and coming local artists, my wife Phyllis brought home Abnormal Pleasures. | was expecting more head-banging, foul and unintelligible music. From the intro track through to the final cut I was blown away. Fram the blues sounds of “I’m Still In Love With You” to my favourite, the “light rap??” track “Another Miracle” this is an album chock full of great music spanning an incredible range. As someone in their mid 40s who is pretly much convinced there has been no good new music since the pre-disco 1970s, I was overwhelmed with the ‘ complex and mature sound of One Ton. . I would strangly suspect. you are going to see. Byron Mikaloff and his bandmates on the Juno: stage sooner than Jater.. : . David D. Hull ~’ Terrace B.C, Liberals buying votes Dear Sir: ae If anyone has any: ideas on how to loosen the prime , Minister’s death grip'on the Parliament building, _ taxpayers’ expense. ; they'd better act before election time. There is now a gag law that limits third party advertising during election time. Mr. Chretien is using every trick he can think up to ” keep himself and his party in power. At first glance it appears that he doesn’t think Vancouver has enough immigrant drug dealers. He has opened the immigration gates even wider ‘to let in people with tuberculosis, AIDS, small pox or any other disease. IlIness-is now not a sufficient cause for immigrant rejection. Financial responsibility for spouses has dropped from-10 to 3 years and immigrants are entitled: to welfare after 3 years.. Two friends of either or same sex can live together and claim homosexual benefits - wilh no way to prove otherwise. oe . Al second glance there is a clear message here: if you vote Liberal we'll help you get set up at All this, coupled with his money-laundering racket _ Of giving huge amounts of money to -advertising ‘ agencies, wha can show no value for the money paid to them, but are making large contributions to the Liberal Party. _ ; It might just put this fellow back in office unless people are made aware of the beating they’re taking, Premiers should be allowed to appoint provincial ‘immigration ministers so that the provinces can control who comes into a province. That sounds like a better idea than the present one of. cutting back on . everything except politicians’ salaries to pay for-these carefully calculated blunders, a os te AOE er os = Lioyd Brinson: » Nass Camp, B.C.