i's oo fe. + b = & ‘ : i ia ( ‘. i ‘ i ye _A4- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 15, 2006 TANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210, Clinton Street Terrace, B. C..-'V8G SR2- TELEPHONE: (250). 638-7283 - FAX: (250) 638-8432 | “y. © WEB: www.terracestandard.com | EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard.com Vesta Douglas ‘THOSE WHO. knew Vesta, Douglas will. not be - surprised at the following story: ‘Not that long ago a prominent Terrace resident “visited Vesta..In the course of the conversation he mentioned something about another local person. “Qh? And what skeletons do you. have i in your closet?” Vesta replied. | ‘ Or this one, courtesy of: Malcolm Baxter, a for: qt mer senior reporter with The Terrace Standard _ and now the editor of. The Northern Sentinel. in” Kitimat: _ Some years ago Malcolm covered three stories. in-a very brief span of time. All of. them featured Vesta i in‘one ‘fashion or, another. . | : At the last such session, Vesta leaned over. to | . Malcolm and. said,. “You know Malcolm, we Te- - ally have to stop meeting like this.” That was Vesta. Direct, honest, to the point and To fonny. She was also modest. Just two years ago, when’ Vesta’ s health and age combined to the point she _ Tequired ongoing assistance and medical care she, as is the case with many senior citizens, ended up in Mills Memorial Hospital. ~ As her health stabilized thanks to the care of the © people at Mills, Vesta’s legion of supporters and - admirers then turned to the future. And that was a "transfer, to Terraceview Lodge. « ~' But as was — and-is — the case with other. se- niors, there was no room: at. Terraceview.. Vesta _ would have to stay at Mills... og Now the lack of. space at Terraceview and the housing of seniors at Mills which is not intended to be a long term residential facility is an ongo- ing story in Terrace. Mills is first and foremost a hospital andiis sfot intended to: ‘be'a a place of long term residential care. That lead to. discussion among Vesta’. s support: ‘ers that perhaps some publicity would help. After all, how could someone who gave so much to the. city now face something like this? So far, so good. Until it came to talking to Ves- ta. “No thanks,” she said. There was no way she would. be treated any differently. than any other _ person in her situation. In due course, Vesta was. ” . eventually moved to Terraceview. An educator, philanthropist, supporter of nu- ‘merous community causes, friend to many and al- ways, always, always a person consumed with the welfare and well-being of children, Vesta touched and changed all of our lives. Indeed, anybody who | “uses the library i in the summer is indebted to her. _ because a donation from-her made air condition- ‘ing there possible. . Toward the end she said she was ready to make the j journey onward. “I’m not regretful or morose,” Vesta added. By all accounts Vesta’s passing — her journey — was peaceful and dignified. And so it should have been. oo | | . - PUBLISHER/EDITOR: .. °Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur — . NEWS: Sarah A. Zimmerman COMMUNITY: Dustin Quezada “~ NEWS/SPORTS: Margaret Speirs 3 . FRONT. OFFICE: Darlene Keeping, Carolyn Anderson CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Alanna Bentham , ' ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: - Bert Husband, Susan Willemen 2005 WINNER AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik "NEWSPAPERS PRODUCTION: Susan Credgeur ETT SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: — ' $57.94 (4$4.06 GST)=62.00 per year, - Seniors $50.98 (+$3.57 GST)=54.55; Out of Province $65.17 .(+$4.56 GST)=69.73 Outside of Canada (6 months) $156.91(+10.98 GST)}=167.89 astotrates se Serving the Té:.20e and Thamhit area. Punished on Wearescey of @ each week at $21. Canton Suet, ievane, res Commie, 1733 522. | - S Black Press Stories, photsoraohs, sustretions. desies ard nesses in te Tevace Serozd 22 te orcosty of Te Soy fight holders, inckucing Slack Press L:3., £3 RusTétion rears services are aneertsng agences. ; woo oP pak. wihot writen permission is specifically prohibited. Asghorized as second-class mai pencing the Post Office Denarinert, Sor payer of postage i cast. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for their time and talents 4 ) a | egy. DARN SHAME HABPER. ISN'T IN TURIN. HE'D BE . A SHOO-IN FORA A GOLD '( FOR WAAT _ MEDAL. 922, EVENT?) , | Employers have to be careful - RECENTLY THIS column . addressed — the . employers who ‘treat their issue - employees as” “security © guards. ‘That item . cautioned employers about the risks and costs of allowing employees to place themselves in danger - to protect the employer’ s assets. One way in:.which employers indirectly pressure employees to take such risks’ is by. deducting the costs. of ‘theft from wages. ; This is clearly an unlawful. ‘practice in British Columbia and I strongly discourage. employers from such a strat- The B.C. Employment Standards Act governs the range of permissible Payroll deductions. “= Aside from the so-called statutory deductions (income ~ tax, Canada » Pension ‘Plan premiums, and: ‘Employment Insurance . premiums), range of permissible wedue. tions is narrow. ‘Employers need to under- stand that all wage deduc- tions must be permitted by the Act or by’some other stat- ute of B.C. or Canada. Any other unauthorized deduction ‘from wages is prohibited un- | - less it is expressly. approved by the Director of Employ-. ment Standards... The Act lists the types of permissible deductions. They include deductions which are required by any . Statute of B.C. or Canada. The employer also. must make deductions, in limited circumstances, when the em- ployee has made a written “assignment” of | of wages (the payment). These’ include ‘assign- ments to a trade union pursu- ant to the B. C. Labour Rela- tions Code and to acharitable - organization or pension plan if the amounts are deductible. for income tax purposes un- der the Income Tax Act. ~ Other permissible assign- ments can address a mainte- nance obligation under the Family Maintenance En- forcement Act and for the purpose of payments to an insurance company for med- ical coverage. An employee may also request that an em- ployer honour an assignment _of wages to satisfy a credit obligation. To be valid, an assignment of wages must be’ written, it “must be specific, and it must be given voluntarily. Blanket . authorizations imposed by the employer and allowing it to make deductions for non- specific future. events (such as possible thefts) would: surely be invalid. ROBERT SMITHSON | .employee’s written direction authorizing a deduction | or ‘The key really is that the : “sections. of the Act permit- “ting written assignments of wages contemplate payments to third parties, not to the “employer. In some circum- ’ stances, the employer will be _allowed to recover ‘a legiti- . mate debt from the employee by, way of an. assignment of wages. But employers" cannot . take deductions from wages for . the purpose of paying - any of its own.costs of doing businéss. An-employee must not be asked to pay any costs related to damage, breakage, or loss. They. are also not . required to pay for special clothing such as uniforms (including cleaning). The Employment Stan- dards Branch has disallowed deductions, amounting :.to, .a:.; payment of the employer’s business costs, in a range of instances. These include costs of car accidents involv- ing the employer’s vehicle, withholding of wages pend- ing the retum of company property, cellular telephone accounts, air travel, and training cours- es for business purposes. The branch has also disal- lowed deductions for work- related credit card bills, re-: - covery of customers’ bad debts, correcting © alleged work deficiencies of the em- ployee, damage to custom- ers’ property, and fines in- curred by employees while. working. The employer cannot, therefore, deduct wages to recover the costs of theft of its assets. This is true even ” theft. speeding tickets, - ‘when it-is the employee her: ‘self who is suspected of the — The employer must, in- | stead, avail itself of the courts and the normal remedies © available to creditors seeking : repayment. . , So, employers in B.C. who.deduct wages from'em- . ployees to recover the costof stolen items are. making: two serious errors.: First, they _ are. breaching their legal obligations under . J the Act. Now that fines’ are mandatory for B.C. employ- - ers breaching the Act;. this” . could well prove to be a cost- as ly exercise. Second, they are placing an indirect pressure on their employees to place them- selves at risk to protect the | employer’s assets. That not only - puts ‘em-. ployees’ lives in danger but it also creates an extraordinary Tisk of liability for the em- totes a wads Pa barges _ ployer in the event of a tragic result. Robert Smithson is a part- ner at Pushor Mitchell LLP in Kelowna practicing exclu- sively in the area of labour and employment law. For more information about his . practice, log onto www. push- ormitchell:com. If you havea labour or employment question for him” to answer in a future “Legal Ease”, email him at smith-_ son@pushormitchell.com. This ‘ subject. matter is provided for general infor-- — . "mational purposes only and is-not intended to be relied upon as legal advice, — Floor crossers get a roasting IN. SCHOOL I shared third grade _with two other students. Alice. a . birty blonde with her eyes pulled to either side: by. pigtails. and Marlene. a sturdy brunette with — more money than manners: Some days we played together. . Other days they ignored me and.” giggled while I wondered: what -unkind things they might be = Saving about me. Politicians remind me. of Alice and Marlene. One day David Em- erson is a Liberal, saying vicious. things about the Conservatives. Fourteen days later he rushes to be sworn into Stephen Harper's ~ cabinet. Emerson about-faced faster than’ Kurt Browning in a _ blurring spin. Emerson gave the switch ‘so ‘much thought even his constitu- ency staff weren’t aware he was about to be sworn in to the cabi- net. A signed photo of Paul Martin still -hung on the wail in his con- ' stituency office when reporters ‘| showed up for reaction. How can politicians expect voters to believe anything they say when they express two oppo- site views in the same week? Harper emphasized that he had courted Emerson: Emerson had merely snapped up the offer of a ‘cabinet post like a staving THROUGH BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI trout t gulping a fiv. Emerson likes to be in charge, ‘pundits say. Taking the cabinet post had nothing to do with its guarantee of preStige and aheftier salary. Oh, sure. , Unfortunately, Emerson joins a long line:of floor walkers. Be- linda Stronach. who defected for purely philanthropic reasons (to save Martin’s government from defeat). Scott Brison used to be a Con- servative. Then the MP from Nova Scotia crossed the floor to join the Liberals and, in the last govern- ment. was a cabinet minister. And then there is Ujjal Dosan- jh. the former NDP premier of B.C. He joined the federal Liber- als, won a seat in Vancouver in the 2004 federal election and: like ‘Brison, became a cabinet minister in the last Liberal government. - Dosanjh was only living up '. to the reputations of other B.C. politicians who have worn more ~ ~ colours than a circus clown. ’ [believed Dosanjh was astal- - - wart NDP until he saw a chance | to become Minister of Health for Paul Martin’s Liberals. . Quicker than a Tunway mod- el switching dresses in a Paris fashion show, he donned Liberal colours and spouted the Liberal line. Until then, I had the utmost re- " spect for him and for his wife. an advocate for women’s rights and health. His defection shredded my opinion of him and of his ener-_ getic wife. If an MP changes his mind on a particular issue after more in- formation or hearing other views, ; I can support that. But to be a staunch Liberal one day, then a reformed Conservative the next, points to one trait — a million dollar ambition anchored to twenty-five cent integrity. Watch for the defector to des- ert the ranks when defeat stares them in the face again. In the. meantime, . they will make the same vicious, cutting remarks to their current opposi- tion, to keep in practice. . By contrast, Nathan Cullen's ability to debate and defend his position without bad-mouthing: the opposition stands out as an: oddity in the House. ~ His good manners are a major reason I've voted for him as the © Member of Parliament for Skeena = Bulkley Valley in two elections. I don’t recall his qualifications, as listed in his first campaign bro- chure, but I do remember think- ing, “This is a young man who : has. worked with various citizens’ groups throughout the world. He _has to be polite, flexible, and will- ing to listen while others present their views.” So far I believe he has done so. This may.be one reason he col- lected so many votes in the Janu- ary election. Even voters who don’t support NDP positions saw the potential in an MP who can get along to benefit his constituents. . Media reports suggest voters - in Emerson's riding are disgusted by his defection. Thanks to his opportunism he’s lost his voter playmates.