BRITISH COLUMBIA Cash-starved hospitals must serve Expo trade What’s going to happen to our hospi- tals once the Expo 86 tourists start flood- ing the city? Will there be a huge increase in the case load? Will they be able to meet demand with their facilities and staff that have been so drastically cut back in the last several years? According to Expo 86 officials, an influx of 18 million visitors is expected. This averages out to three million a month for the six months of Expo. That’s the equivalent of the combined populations of Alberta nd Saskatchewan coming here every month. We can take for granted that a sub- stantial number of these people will require hospital treatment during their stay in Vancouver or the. Vancouver area, or, for that. matter, in their travels to other parts of the province. Hundreds of thousands of these visitors will come by car, and this will inevitably mean an increase in car accidents with resultant injuries. Out of three million people there are bound to be some who will suffer : beart attacks; : fcc etc: The whole idea of the government’s allowing liquor sales on Sunday and so on seems to be to increase the “partying” spirit during Expo. The police, and anyone else who thinks about it, know that there will be a big increase in the drug traffic. Alcohol and drugs alone will bring a large increase in hospital cases due to car accidents, brawls, overdoses and other incidents. Is this causing any concern among hospital administrators? A spokesman for St. Paul’s hospital says that a sizeable increase can be expected in the number of emergency admissions. But Jim Flett, president of Vancouver General Hospital, sees‘ no’ © cause for alarm. According to the Van- couver Sun (April 3, 1986) he estimates that only “two extra admissions a day or about about 60 a month” will be expe- rienced by his hospital, and that this increased demand can be handled “‘with no trouble.” Mr. Flett also stated that the VGH admits over 30,000 people a year. This is an average of 82 admissions a day. If the population of the Lower Main-. land is increased by 300,000 for half a year, as it will be by Epxo opening if attendance forecasts are realized, this will (according to Mr. Flett) cause an average admission increase of only two per day, or 2.4 per cent. I find this estimate totally unrealistic. It just doesn’t make sense. Perhaps no one can make an accurate estimate but it seems to me that VGH and other hospitals in the Vancouver area should prepare now for a massive increase in the demand for treatment, not only for emergency cases that can be treated and released on the same day, but for more serious cases. It’s no secret that health care in B.C. has been drastically cut back. Facilities have been closed down, wards have been closed, beds have been taken out. Liter- ally thousands of hospital staff have been laid off. * Harry — Rankin What is going to happen to B.C. peo- ple, heart patients included, many of whom must even now wait many months for life-or-death surgery? Some don’t make it since, due to cutbacks, the facilities and staff just aren’t there. They are the human sacrifices to the god of Expo. : It seems to me that we should demand that our hospital administration make ‘some realistic estimates of the additional ‘~ facilities and ‘staff they will need‘due'to «| Expo 86. And provision should be made to adjust these estimates in the light of needs as they arise. The Social Credit government must make a firm commit- ment to provide any extra funds needed by B.C. hospitals to meet these emer- gency needs. The health of our people must not be sacrificed just to reduce the Expo 86 debt. City pledges actioll to prevent evictions related to Expo 86 Vancouver city council has responded to the entreaties of city tenants groups by vow- ing to crack down on landlords who con- travene city bylaws by renting their premises to Expo 86 tourists. Following the urgings of the B.C. Tenants Rights Coalition, the Downtown Eastside Residents Association and Red Door rental agency, council last week voted to send a letter to all landlords in the down- town core advising them that renting apartment suites to tourists contravenes city zoning bylaws. David Lane of the coalition’s Tenants Rights Action Centre (TRAC) estimates that “hundreds and hundreds” of Van- couver and area apartment dwellers have been evicted by landlords hoping to cash in on the Expo trade, while DERA’s Jim Green reports that some 600 hotel-dwelling residents of the Downtown Eastside have been forced out. DERA was heading back to council Tuesday to seek city support for a boycott of six hotels. The community organization plans a series of “flying pickets” at hotels to urge tourists: not to patronize the accom- modations. Additional actions-to be taken by the city include: : e An investigation of the more than 30 reservation agencies operating in the city, to ensure the agencies have business licences and are aware of city bylaws; © Enforcing city bylaws strictly, includ- ing obtaining court injunctions against “Jandlords:if-necessarysis. ces. at giecsh yal: ™ © @*Placing ‘notices, in local newspapers advising landlords what they can or cannot do under city bylaws. Lane said TRAC has sent city hall a list of more than 40 buildings where landlords have admitted tenants were evicted to make way for the tourist trade. : : Despite the zoning bylaws, TRAC has received reports of crews moving furniture into empty suites at one Giovanni Zen hold- ing and at the Barclay Street~ building owned by landlord Henry Ng, whose We’re in the black with COPE-Unity By BRUCE YORKE A few weeks ago the Vancouver Sun - reported in a prominent front page story that the city was “in the red,” implying that our finances were being mismanaged by the progressive majority on council. This is the same false story being spread bythe pro-business __ group on council. | Whatis thetruth? The city has just received its audited financial statements from the chartered accountant firm of Thorne Riddell. These show that the city operated ata $14,168,787 © profit in 1985 and that its total assets increased from $2,122,674,181 a year ago to $2,227,192,826 by Dec. 31, 1985. The truth is that we are operating with a substantial surplus and our total assets are rising. : These facts cannot be denied by the forces behind right-wing mayoral con- tender Ald. Gordon Campbell. Instead, the facts are ignored. The coalition of aldermen from the Non-Partisan Associa- tion and The Electors Action Movement BRUCE YORKE endlessly charge that the progressive majority — the Committee of Progressive Electors aldermen and the mayor’s forces, _ collectively known as “COPE-Unity” — are bleeding our civic reserves to death. This charge is false. Our auditors show that the property endowment fund (PEF), the interest from which we’ve used to help balance the city’s operating budget, had a net operating income of $14,748,126 in 1985. From this amount we set aside $2,213,859 for parking sites, $315,000 for park acqui- sitions, and transferred $7,027,445 into our operating budget in order to maintain services and keep taxes down. As a result the fund had an overall sur- plus of $5,191,822 in 1985 and its assets amounted to $460,452,062 at year’s end. Some bleeding. Last week council adopted its 1986 budget, which will result in a modest $25 tax increase for the typical homeowner. This budget, as with previous budgets under the COPE-Unity majority, provides for full maintenance of civic services. But if the Campbell grouping had had their way, there would have been either cuts in services or taxes increased further by levying another $30 on each homeowner. Incredible as it may seem, given the facts, the so-called “responsible” fiscal conservatives (all five of them) voted against a bookkeeping transfer of $10.6 million from the expected PEF revenues in 1986, which, as stated above, translates into voting against a tax cut of approxi- mately $30 a homeowner. Hence, far from being in the red or improperly managed, the city, under the COPE-Unity administration, is in excel- lent financial shape. And the final proof, if — anything further is needed is that Van- couver continues to enjoy a triple-A credit rating. | In summary, the operating budget has ensured: © No cuts in services in four years; @ No layoffs in the civic work forces; © No tax increases above the inflation rate; @ No lessening of our AAA credit rat- ing. It’s a success story that meakes us the envy of every other municipality in the country. The COPE-Unity grouping deserves your support, in order to maintain that success.in the years ahead. Bruce Yorke is a Vancouver alderman with the Committee of Progressive Electors and a member of city council's finance committee. 2 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MAY 7, 1986 remaining tenants have foiled &™ attempts through victories scored at Residential Tenancy Branch. Lane” such scenes are “‘precisely what 1S hap? ing all over the city.” , “As soon as we find out these suites being rented, we'll be reporting t city,” he said. oft" TRAC has found that the dozens® ervation agencies that have sprung es cash in on the Expo tourist trade al 4) _ally going door to door” seeking 2" — accommodations, Lane reported. In the Downtown Eatside, deme” tors from community groups and unions hit three area hotels —™™. ropol, the Rainier and Regal Place — © a one-hour protest May 2, and squads of flying pickets are set t0 8°, moment’s notice for future demonst!@ F Predicting support from EX Green said DERA has received most recently, from Everett, Was! — notifying the organization that © have cancelled their reservations 4 where mass evictions have taken pla% DAVID LANE. ..ready: to report ; tions. ee JIM GREEN. . .DERA seeking oY port.