4 rookeye s season _| Gn the road again Bocting it The commercial nets are set, and A Terrace soccer sensation is now driving hard in her new home the fish wheels will soon be turning\NEWS PAGE A121 down south\SPORTS B5 A 66-year-old version of Forrest. Gump treks his way through the northwest\COMMUNITY B1 WEDNESDAY JUNE 26, 1996 93¢ PLUS 7¢ GST VOL. 9 NO. 21 New Directions plan put on hold THE PROVINCE has put the brakes on its controversial plan to regionalize B.C’'s health care bureaucracy, Newly appointed health minister Joy MacPhail said Friday cost pressures on the medicare system have halted further decentralization pending a full review ‘of the NDP’s New Directions policy and its potential impact. “What Lam doing is saying let's all take a pause so that [can assess fully the impact of those changes before we make them permanent,” MacPhail said. Whether or not-a review will spell another round of reorganization.is not clear, but MacPhail did say she intends to follow through with the program, ° “There is absolutely no intention whatsoever of moving backward,” she Directions remains solid.” The review is expected to last at least two weeks and will concentrate on bureaucratic overlaps, streamlining finances and dealing with decreased fed- erul transfer payments. MacPhail has criticized her own min-- istry for not being: more aggressive ‘in eliminating doubled-up services. Skeena MLA Helmut Giesbrecht said that’s the key to the announcement. “There may have been people get- ting into this and doing some hiring when there was never an intention to create a bureaucracy,” Giesbrecht said. “Maybe there’s ‘a move towards that that can be nipped in the bud before it goes too far. I don’t think you want any increase in the bureaucracy” gram to the rethink of the Year 2000 edu- cation reforms that ultimately led to a major watering down and elimination of the more contentious items. “As with the year 2000 program, it miay be that what comes oul of this is a different form of it and one that is more acceptable to the general public.” "A review of the program won’t cause problems for the community health coun- cils or the Northwest Regional Health Board, said board member Jim Thom. "In fact it will give them breathing space and a bit of extra time to prepare for the transition. The Terrace community health coun- cil is to eventually take, over control of Mills Memorial Hospital and other health care facilities and decision-making in the The regional health board will even- tually be responsible for allocating money and deciding where services will be located. Both sets of bodies have been slower than expected in getting started, however, The system is supposed to give more control over local services to communi- ties. The reforms-were also designed to move services from expensive hospitals and acute care facilities to cheaper one- stop -clinics, home care and outpatient services. ‘Thom said putting decision-making in the hands of locals is geod, “We have no better understanding and comprehension of health care in the region,” But he says there ure large unresolved “We don’t have the doctors on side,” he snid. “As tang as you don’t have the doctors on side, the program can’t work,” Terrace community health council member Val George said the problem has been the way in which New Directions has been carried out. “They should have tried a couple of pilot projects like the municipalities rec- ommended to them at the beginning,” he said. “You can’t bring about that great a change to the system all at once,” The experience in other countries was dn early signal that regionalization in B.C. would run into some major pro- blems, said Terrace anaesthetist Dr. Philip Lin. “Regionalization does not save mon- ey because you incur extra costs else- added. “The commitment to New es A new toy He compared the review of the pro- THORNHILL FIREFIGHTERS are now much better equipped with the addition this month of a brand new 1996 Freightliner fire truck. It cost $149,000 plus tax, but the new diesel air brake-quipped ma- chine can pump 1,050 gallons of water par minute — way more Terrace area. problems. than the 650 galion per minute limit of its predecessor. It's also a lot more comfortable and can carry more people, That's Thornhill regional district director Peggy Julseth and Thormihill Volunteer Fire Department chief Guy Belanger with the new model, Treaty effect probe underway Dy JEFF NAGEL THE PROVINCE has begun its analysis of how the proposed Nisga’a treaty might affect people and businesses in the northwest. Aboriginal affairs ministry spokesman Peter Sniith said it was decided to have ministry staff carry oul the socio-economic impact study, rath- er than hire an outside contractor. “We've got a lot of experience and talent in house that enables us to do-it on that basis,’” he said. Smith said they'll be conducting interviews wilh people living and working in the north- west. The results of the study will be used to help guide the final treaty negotlatlons, which could get underway later this year. Smith said they hope to Finish the study by late July. It’s an important exercise,’’ he said, “*Tt's part of the overall broad exercise in conducting pub- . lic consultation on the Nisga’ a agreement-in- principle.”’ Terrace cily councillors say they asked for an independent study of the Nisga's treaty’s ef- - - fects, “We are not too enthusaistic about having a study done by the ministry,’*? councillor Val George said. City says gov’t study of deal could be biased “The ministry obviously has some biases. I don’t think we can put much confidence in a study that’s done by the ministry in house.” Mayor Jack Talstra says he’s not sure if he’s going to take further action, Earlier this spring he said he might give Ter- race residents a referendum on the agreement in principle if it becomes a controversial docu- ment. Nisga’a leaders maintain the treaty will result in a tremendous amount more — nol less —_— money Mowing into Terrace. Smith sald detailed treaty negotiations won't begin until after the public consultation pracess _ has been exhausted, There had been some talk of resuming negoti- atlons in the fall, he said, but there is no sched- ule set yet, and public consultation will go on as long as necessary, “The overriding factor is has everybody had a chance to discuss and ask qliestions about the agreement in principle,’ Smith said. ‘it’s a matier of determining when that process has been exhausted.” Before negotiations resume, the three parties will also have to agree on a new openness protocol to guide the final talks. Smith said that will probably mean a change from the secrecy that was in place throughout agreement-in-principle negotiations towards talks like those underway in various parts of the province under the B.C, Treaty Commission. Open negotiations took place here two weeks ago in the Tsimshian land claim talks, for exam- ple. The Nisga'a framework agreement’s secrecy clause allowed negotiators to negoliate in secret and keep all topics confidential unless all three parties agreed otherwise. The clause was signed by former Socred aboriginal affairs minister and now B.C. Reform leader Jack Weisgerber, who says nego- tiators misinterpreted its intent. Smith says exact details of how an openness protocol would work — issues like whether and how negotiations might be broadcast on cable TV — would have to be worked out Smith said there won’ likely be any further information meetings In Terrace over the sum- mer, and could not say for certain if there will be more sessions here prior to a resumption of talks. The re-start of talks does not mean the end of public consultation, he added, where,” Lin said. Talks on local school issues bogging down By CRIS LEYKAUF HOW MUCH fundraising should schools do? Should teachers have more input into the school budget? These are some of the issues that are still undecided in local contract negotiations between the Terrace teacher’s union and the School District 88. The two sides met late last week, but failed to come to any agreement on most issues. “We didn’t get very far,”’ said Sandra Audet, chair of the bargaining committee for the Terrace and Dis- trict Teacher's Union. School district secretary-treasurer Barry Piersdorff had no comment on the negotiations, saying that both sides had agreed not to lalk publicly about them. The talks are about strictly non-moactary issues. Agreements on wages and benefits were recently bam- mered out during province-wide negotiations. Both teachers and school boards voted in favour of a contract which gives teachers a total of a two per cent raise over the term of the contract, Negotiation of the local issues, which were excluded from the province-wide talks, began last fall, Audet says very little progress has been made so far. "We haven't seen a great deal of willingness to resolve these issucs,”’ she said. Among the issues on the table: Wi teacher involvement in extra-curricular activities Wan unpaid leave plan Wi race relations Ma sunsct clause on negative remarks in personnel files Mf corporate involvement in schools, Only two issues were decided last week, said Audet, and the remaining ones were shelved until the two sides meet again in the fall. The teacher’s union was concerned about teachers trans- porting students in cars, and wanted guidelines on when they might be required to do this. The school district agreed that teachers only have to transport students when it is part of their job description. Teachers were also worried about the use of schools by the public after school hours. Some teachers leave valu- ables in their classrooms, and wanted to know when their classroom would be used. The school district agreed to in- form them, But other issues were Icft undiscussed, For example, how much corporate involvement is ap- propriate in the schools? ‘‘There’s no paratneters for this. We want some pro- tection for our members and for the students in our schools,’’ said Audet. The teacher’s union also wants to know what will happen to contract language when the Kitimat and Terrace districts amalgamate in December. For example, Kilimat teachers have an agreement where they can work at 80 per cen of their salary for four years, and take the fifth year off, al 80 per cent salary, at no cost _to the district. Terrace teachers want to know if this option will extend to them when the districts amalgamate, Effectively, the board has said we'll worry about it later,”? said Audet. ‘'But these issues will have to be resolved,’? . Audet predicts many of the unresolved issues will simply “be shuffted aside until the next round of contract talks. That's because when the provincial agreement was signed, il included a provision that stated that if agreement wasn’t reached on Local issues, the existing contract would simply be rolled over with no changes, - "We won't inake any headway,” said Audet, ‘'But we probably won't lose.”