A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 10, 1999 “TERRACE. STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK’ ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 » FAX: (250) 638-8432 EMAIL: standard@kermode.net a What gives? SKEENA NDP MLA Helmut Giesbrecht and the provincial health ministry must step in and clear up the confusion and contradiction regarding orthopedic surgical services. Events of the past few weeks have exposed a glaring weakness in northwest health care plan- ning and the situation can no longer continue. An orthopedic surgeon fixes and repairs bones. For years Kitimat has been the host of one of two northwest orthopedic surgical positions. (The other is in Prince Rupert.) Indeed, Kitimat regards an orthopedic surgeon as a historical right, a jewel in its tiara of medical services. Last fall the orthopedic surgeon in Kitimat left, reviving a debate that perhaps Kitimat is not the: best home base for this position. The health min- istry feels that basing a single specialist in a place without a strong supporting cast of other specialties leads to burn out and inefficiencies. Terrace, says the ministry, is a more logical loca- tion given the large number of other specialists here and the central geographic position of this city in the northwest. Three weeks ago Terrace community health council officials, after meeting with the health ministry, announced this city would be the new base for the orthopedic surgeon. That drew an immediate condemnation from Kitimat health and city officials who reported the same health ministry said they should continue recruiting to fill the vacant position. The resulting political ruckus was enough for Mr. Giesbrecht to declare any transfer of the position was off. Things would continue the way they were. But Mr. Giesbrecht also said the transfer of the position would make sense if things could be arranged so that Kitimat would: not suffer an overall loss of medical services. There are suggestions, for instance, that: more Terrace-based specialists could schedule operat- ing time in Kitimat. That would increase the kind of speciality services available in that city and do away with the need of folks there to travel to Terrace. So far, this seems to make sense. But whether this will happen, or even if it will be fleshed out to see if it is workable, is another matter altogether. Instead of medical services being ar- ranged logically, we’re left with the impression that which city gets what is some kind of compe- tition similar to dogs fighting over a bone. At the heart of this — and this goes for other health care issues in the northwest — is the lack of a regional health care body with the authority and the money to make changes. The northwest did have such a body as part of the provincial government’s plan to move health care decision making out of Victoria. But it wiped out that body here in 1996, leaving com- munity health councils to work things out be- tween themselves. That doesn’t seem to be working. So it is up to Mr. Giesbrecht and the health ministry to pro- vide their vision for northwest health care, Then we can balance that against what is going on now to determine if we are getting proper service and value for our money. 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Could VICTORIA — Gordon Wilson has just given public cynicism about and mistrust of politicians its biggest boost in years, Ever since he lost the leadership of the Liberal Party over his love affair with his now wife Judy Tyabji, and with it his chance to be the next premier of British Columbia, Wilson slowly and steadily built a reputation as a man of prin- ciple. The party he formed after his ouster as Liberal leader — the Progressive Democratic Alliance - had become a genuine alternative to both the NDP, which appears to be bereft of ideas as well as ideals, and the Liberals, regarded with great suspi- cion by many voters. The quiet admiration of © Wilson was not yet reflected in the polls, but that meant very little. Consider his meteoric overnight rise in 1991 from obscure, unpaid leader of the Liberal Party, with no seats in the legisla- ture, to leader of the official - opposition. Wilson’s defection from the PDA, the party he cre- ated, leaves in its wake a lot of disappointed, hurt and angry people who believed that this guy was different. They had supported the Darn it WHEN 66-YEAR-OLD Fay Moxness of Quesnel enrolled in the 10-week elec- trician’s apprenticeship course at the College of New Caledonia in Prince Gearge, she didn’t expect to be dri- yen out in three weeks hy constant classroom profan- ity. Her first two class days were fine. On the third day, her classmates — all males in their 20s and 30s — began peppering their conversation with obscenities, especially their pet f-word, Though their cursing offended and embarrassed her, even disturbed her sleep, not wanting to cause trouble, she kept quiet. As ~ did her enabling instructor. Passing the course was ‘important to her, For 35 years she’s worked with her _ husband, a residential elec- trical contractor, drilling, wiring... Last year the local FROM THE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER party with their hearts, if not yet with their pocketbooks and votes. They had run in the last election as candi- dates, believing they stood ' for something other than the ~ . Hired, ald political left-ver- sus-right conflagration, And then, out of the blue, he abandoned his supporters. Adding insult to injury, he publicly invited them to come over to the NDP with them. Why did he do it? Three reasons; Money, status and the remote chance of still becoming premier, As a cabinet minister, Wilson will earn about $35,000 a year more than he did as an MLA, leading a one-member party without official standing in the legis- Stop THROUGH BIROCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI RENTAL-CAR Quit! WELL MISS OUR PLANE |! building inspector made it clear ta continue, she would need a ticket. So she persevered ... until one morning, as she entered the classroom, a girlie maga- zine fell off a desk in front of her, where it lay open on the floor. She snapped. She fled the class, cleaned out her locker, ‘be Premier Wi lature. And the recognition that comes with being a cab- inet minister is already evi- denced in the newspaper headlines, so vital to ambi- tious politicians. But most important, it is the possibility that the NDP will dump Glen Clark and go looking for a new leader to improve its image with the voters before the next elec- tion that prompted Wilson to abandon his principles and sign on with the NDP- In that regard, he should fit right in. The NDP is obviously in big trouble and has to find a way to improve its one-digit public support. In such cir- cumstance, it is quite com- mon for parties to pressure the leader “to step down.*": That’s what happened to ~ Mike: Harcourt. The strategy proved suc- cessful. Clark was able to sell the NDP to voters as a new and improved party, albeit with a few fibs of a balanced budget thrown in. And if it worked once, maybe it'll work again. If and when the time comes for the NDP to exert pressure on Clark to step down “for the good of the party,” Wilson will be in a good position to offer him- self as the new saviour. And don’t think that Wil- drove home to Quesnel. She’s in Quesnel, unsure how she can get her ticket because she needs classroom training to do so. Her class- mates graduated mid- December. John English, dean of trades, says, “The college takes very seriously its responsibility to provide a safe and comfortable learn- ing environment.” Yes, Indeedy. So seriously, for three weeks the instructor allowed his ill-bred male students to harass this lone woman with their offensive talk, 2 . “By her complaint about foul language,” English says, “Moxness has edu- cated the offending man and his classmates.” Whoopee! A grandmother should abandon her educa- tion as a way to teach grown men manners they should FACE 17 GLEN WE'RE GONNA BE TOAST: «. Ison? son won't be a force to be reckoned with if he should become the master of his new political home. Wilson is one of the brightest people in the legis- lature. He can quickly iden- tify a problem and offer a solution. What’s more, he’s articulate and able to explain the whole thing to the public much more convincingly than anyone else on the NDP benches. Wilson is also far claser to the centre of the political spectrum than the NDP which, of course, hopes that his joining their ranks will give the government that new, close-to-the-centre, pro-business kind of look. - Time will tell whether the “gamble: pays off. I suspect i? ll ‘take more than a new cabinet member for the NDP to regain its fortunes. It will also be very difficult to sell the party’s left wing on the new look. And it won’t be easy for Wilson, if possible at all, to shed his new-gained: reputa- tion aS a crass opportunist who will forsake anyone and anything to achieve his polit- ical goals. I am not impressed. Beyer can be reached at: Tel: (250) 920-9300; Fax: (250) 356-9597; E-mail: . hubert@coolcom.com the swearing mother’s knee! . “We have to teach some ~ of these students about what is appropriate behaviour,’’ English says. “Employers want more than just techni- cal expertise.” So does Moxness. So doa lot of us folk who believe in common decency, respect for others, and the right to frequent public places with- out hearing gutter gab. “If the kids had rules to live by in their speech,” says Moxness, “maybe _ their behaviour would improve. After all, these men didn’t swear for the first two. days,” When students enrol, they receive a college calendar spelling out the behaviour the college expects from. them. “If they know only One adjective,” Moxness says, “how do they get into college in the first place?” vacated herrentedroom, and have learned at their BUT siW!THis IS\ Uh NOT EVERYONE IN THE THE CITY! No ONE CITY 1S From THe CITY) -/T TRAP with PICK us uP?! 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