FRIDAY, AUGUST 6, 1971 LOFFMARK EDICT THREAT 10 B.C. HEALTH SERVICES Amchitka Island 500 Miles 1000 1500 I a Stowing as the deadline approaches. This week a delegation tawa to urge the test be cancelled. t H . . aa LSeweta cise wires and letters should be sent t Protest grows against H-test nd, expected to take place in October, are of prominent citizens tn Vancouver ding the test be called off. The U.S. Senate, in-an o Nixon. Demands should also be made on Transit fight goes to City Hall Steps bef WO citizens groups, the andpuittee for Public Transit ama tequaison Group have amal- campai their forces in the ahd fore 1 block the freeways or rapid transit. rangit mittee for Public Public Was established at a transit Conference on rapid Colle held at Langara City en ee last May. The confer- Centrat 2s sponsored by the th Council of Ratepayers, Coy, mcouver & District Labor Tents and the Vancouver s Council. Liaison G &Stahi; on Group was seqselished by City Council to f Citizen opinion on a Corgi. yconnector between 401. ‘ie Viaduct and Highway tean, ‘NCluded city officials, a epres OF consultants, and End €ntatives from five East ese munity organizations. ta five groups and alder- Public arry Rankin in a joint | ~ Statement opposed any Te The campaign against freeways ‘ of Vancouver City Hall Tuesday, Aug.24 re the matter comes up in Council. ‘ big promoters have d for public transit will be carried to the ened a rally will be held at 9a.m., just freeway connector link and called on City Council to instead implement a rapid transit system. The representatives of these community groups have now joined with the Committee for Public Transit. ae “Our experiences indicate that the majority of informed citizens favor rapid transit over freeways,” said Ben Swankey, chairman of the Transit Commit- tee, ‘‘despite City Council’s apparent determination to push freeways and shelve rapid transit. Council is trying to impose a freeway system on the city one section at a time. “The key link is the new Georgia Viaduct. It-is much more than just a replacement — it is the hub of a freeway system designed to funnel all traffic into the centre of the city where the their invest ments. : “Other links in the freeway chain are an east-west freeway, a north-south freeway, a water- front highway, an expressway along the north shore of False Creek and a third crossing of Burrard Inlet. : “Right now Vancouver City Council is trying to push through ‘the connector between Georgia Viaduct and Highway 401: It will come before City Council on August 10. We are calling on all concerned groups and indi- viduals to appear before Council with briefs and delegations:” The Committee for Public Transit has also announced two public rallies against the East ‘End freeway connector. The first will be held on | Sunday, August 8th at 8:00 p.m. at False Creek, Campbell ‘Avenue and Prior Street. Speakers will include alderman Harry Rankin. The second is a rally at City Hall Vol. 32, No. Socred order covers up inadequate facilities By MAURICE RUSH The dispute between the Socred government and the medical profession following the dictatorial order-in- council put through by the Cabinet last week should not ‘be allowed to cover up one vital fact: That health and hospital services through this province are totally inadequate and that the main responsibility for this lies foursquare on the Socred government. In recent months the Socred government has been dras- tically cutting back on hospital and health funds and shifting some of the burden on to civic taxpayers. It has been part of the government’s program to cut back spending on health, educa- tion and other needed services. Present health and hospital facilities are in a state of chaos, as many doctors will tell you. Waiting lists for hospital care, in some cases requiring urgent operations and treatmegt, are endless. Critically ill and suffering poeple are often forced to wait for months for a hospital-bed. There have been many instances of sick people requiring opera- tions dying before they get a hospital bed. The public have no brief for conservative elements in the medical profession who are more concerned with running a business and making a profit than with public health. When it suits their purpose they claim there are too many doctors— as some are doing now. And when it suited their purpose to claim there were too few doctors — as when they opposed full public medicare— they did so. It is no secret that present hospital boards are undemo- cratic and are run like closed shops, often showing favoritism to some doctors. The public know from visits to their family doctors that all kinds of ruses have to be resorted to get a sick patient into hospital if the family doctor doesn’t have the necessary “‘pull.”’ But all this aside. The main villain in the presént confron- tation between the government and the medical profession is the Socred government and the minister of health Ralph Loff mark. Since he became minister of health Loffmark has been engaged in a running battle with the medical profession, hospital boards and municipalities over his cold-blooded approach to the lack of adequate hospital and health facilities. One has only to look back on the press of last year .to see that Loffmark has been under constant fire for his attempts to impose unpopular health policies. The order-in-council is a political move by the Socred government to force health services under the dictatorial thumb of the cabinet. Unable to defend its policies, and determined to impose its will on health services in the province, the Socred cabinet has taken on itself powers to lay down the law on vital matters including appointments to hospitals. : The B.C. Federation of Labor was absolutely right last week See SOCRED ORDER, pg. 8 Logger looks at socialist lands —See pg. 7