Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 3, 2001 - 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 new way FOR YEARS, local community health councils have been heavily criticized for being unrespon- sive, not having enough authority and for protect- ing their own turf instead of looking outside their boundaries, That’s all to change very soon as the provincial government is contemplating a massive change in the way health care services are planned and man- aged. In all likelihood the dozen-plus health coun- cils in the northwest will be replaced by a regional body. There’s a lot to be liked about what is about to happen. A regional body will end the idea that health care services are localized within the town in which they are located. And it should stop the feeling that if Terrace, for instance, is the home to a specific medical specialty, that it and it alone benefits to the detriment of other places. The fact is the simple matter of geography has placed Terrace within the centre of the northwest. It enjoys the medical and other services it has only because those other towns and cities. exist here and provide the population base to sustain them. A regional body which recognizes this and can communicate this throughout the northwest can do wonders to improve levels of cooperation and understanding. As it is, pediatric and psychiatric services are already offered through regional models. Things can only get better with a more : formal regional governing authority. Recent and upcoming developments in modern communications now mean that medical special- ties and services can exist in places that would have been inconceivable just five years ago. . Hence, geography or population is no:longer the - barrier to medical care they once were. A regional body can therefore distribute ser- vices to ensure a balance as to their location with- out comprising the intended level of care. The challenge for any new regional body will be the decision-making and budgetary authority it receives from the provincial government. In other words, will the new B.C. Liberal government truly let northwesterners make our own decisions suited to regional needs and circumstances. Right now local health councils expend a lot of time and energy in justifying what they want to do with layer upon layer of health bureaucrats in Victoria. It’s contradictory, chews up resources and stifles the ability for creative management. The province will want to set standards and ex- pectations. And so it should. But an effective re- gional decision-making model must be accompa- nied by the ability to plan and to spend without first having to have everything approved by those in the south. One of the new government’s favourite phrases is “one size doesn’t fit all.” Changing the way health care is managed will test that premise. 2001 WINNER CCNA BETTER NEWSPAPERS PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rad Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Jeff Nagel NEWS/SPORTS Sarah Zimmerman NEWS /COMMUNITY: Jennifer Lang FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping & Carol McKay CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Terri Gordon ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Mark Beaupre & Stacy Swetlikoff TELEMARKETER: Stacy Swetlikoff DARKROOM/COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $55,15(+$3.86 GST) per year; Seniors $48.85 (+$3.42 GST); Out of Province $61.98 (+$4.34 GST) Outside of Canada (6 months} $152.34 (+$10.66 GST) COMPETITION MEMBER OF 8,C, AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, ; CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION ( e CN AL AND B.C. PRESS COUNCIL (www.bepresscouncll.org) Serving the Terrace and Thomhill area. Published on Wednesday of each waek at S210 Clinton Street, | Terrace, British Columbia, V8G 5R2. Stories, photographs, Itustrations, designs and typestyies In the Terraca Standard are the propetty of the copyright holdars, including Carlboo Press (1969) Lid, lis illustration repro cervicas and advertising agenclas. ; Raproduction in whole of in part, without written pennission, is specifically prohibited. Authorized as second-class mail pending the Post Office Department, (or paymant of postage In cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for thelr time and talents CURIEE) we AT AJR CANADA ARE TAKING STEPS TO RECTIFY COMPLAINTS TAAT | WE HAVE NOT LIVED UP To THE SPIRIT OF BILINGUALISM: QuR PINK SLIPS WILe BE IN BOTH ENGLISH AND FRENCH. Liberals prepare for layoffs, cuts VICTORIA — Let me get this straight: The B.C. Liberals now predict a $6 billion deficit by the 2004-05, unless they dramatically slash expendi- tures, spell services. Keep in mind that in its last year in office, the reviled and ostensibly inept NDP managed to balance the budget. - So where the hell does this $6 billion figure come from all of a sudden? I'l tell you where same of it comes from. ‘QOne-and-a-half billion can be directly attributed the “dramatic tax cuts,” the Lib- erals lavished on British Co- lumbians, most of it on higher- income earmers. The rest is the result of op- timistic economic forecasts, something the Liberals used to hound the NDP for. When the tax cuts were introduced, we were told they would generate economic activity which, in turn, would swell governmen . coffers, ae ee! It ain’t happening. The greatest beneficiaries of. the tax cuts were able to buy any- thing they wanted before the Liberals eased their tax bur- den. They’re not going to spend the additional money. ’ Lower-income earners whose taxes were reduced by maybe $20 a month, may at best buy a few more lottery tickets, a surer thing than waiting for the Liberals’ pra- mise of prosperity. Gary Collins, the finance minister rejects that nation. In response to a newspaper edi- FROM THE CAPITAL. HUBERT BEYER torial suggesting that he re- consider the tax cuts, Collins said in a letter to the editor re- thinking the tax cuts “would maintain our position as a high-lax province and send us into another decade of decline.” “This means that we will need to make some difficult decisions over the next few . months -to meet our .commit- ment’'to balance the budget in 2004-05,” the finance minister continued. It should be noted that the commitment Collins refers to was not one made during the election campaign. At that time, budgets were to be bal- anced, period. Only a couple of months after their landsiide victory, did the Liberals bring up the subject of facing deficits, the stuff they used to pillory the NDP for. So, the tax cuts remain and the government must look for other ways of balancing the books to lead us all to fiscal nirvana. Collins’ recipe for prosper- ity will be like Bill Bennett's restraint program, only more 50. Expect layoffs of up to 10,000 public servants. Expect ministries, budgets to be slashed by up to 30 per cent. Expect government operations to be sold off. Laying off a quarter of the public service has been done before, namely during Ben- nett’s restraint program of the early 1980s. But no sooner were all those people let go with gener- ous severance packages, than they were rehired on contract. Some of them never even mis- sed a pay cheque. Maybe that’s what the Lib- erals have in mind. Firing pub- lic servants goes over well in the province’s beer parlours. ~:. On:the other hand, the'Lib- -.:: erals may really get rid of- 10,00 workers and not-hire one... back on contract. I am waiting for an explanation from the fi- nance minister how it's going to help the economy to throw thousands of people out of work, onto employment insur- ance and, in many cases, eventually onto welfare. I also wonder how all those voters who felt the deep need to teach the NDP a lesson, and did, will react when the results of their decision will hit close to home. During the provincial elec- tion campaign, Skeena Cellu- lose workers interviewed on TV made no bones about their dis- like for the NDP. Yessir, they were going to vote Liberal to get rid of those socialists. The socialists were, of, course, the ones who saved their bacon by bailing out Skeena Cellulose. The Liberals they voted for will now hang them cut to dry. Next come the inevitable cuts in services. Programs people have taken for granted will be gone. When the Harris government in Ontario began slashing programs, women’s shelters were among the first victims. One more thing: The gov- ernment will blame some of our future economic woes on the terrorist attacks in the Uni- ted States, and they will be correct. There will be a fallout from those terrible events. At the same time, I clearly sremember the: Liberals reject-.' ‘ing the. NEP’s explanation: that: some of our economic pro- blems during the last decade were the direct result of the Asian melt-down. They were tight, too. If it’s true that people get the government they deserve, about 70 per cent of British Columbians will be in no posi- tion to complain in the months and years ahead. Beyer can be reached at: E-mail: hubert@coolcom.com; Tel (250) 381-6900; Web http: eww. hubertbeyer.com Just in Ti MERE HOURS after New York City’s World Trade Cen- ter towers collapsed a car manufacturer, 1 think it was Ford in Windsor, announced a temporary shut down. My first thought was, “Aha. Just-in- time delivery was late.” Just-in-time delivery is a management technique I first heard about from a cabinet- maker employed in a Calgary office furniture factory. The Calgary factory has a staff of 600 working around the clock in three shifts. A world wide supplier of shelving and cabinets, the factory strives for efficiency and cost-cutting, following the costly advice of a major consulting firm. The consulting form helped Toyota shorten its production time from two weeks to four days. . In keeping with the concept of just-in-time delivery, the factory mainlains no ware- house of stockpiled supplies. Instead, the company has on meme CONE QUCK!, You Pp my COTTA Seé THIS! THROUGH BLFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI hand only those components or materials it expects to build with within the next 24 hours. Supplies are ordered daily as their orders are received. Talk about stress. Not en- ough the production manager has to be sure to order every screw, hinge and plank neces- saty to assemble any cabinet. He must also depend upon everyone down the line to ful- Whoa! WHAT a en Yéotu! HAVE Goo! Bans THEY NEVER fome me does have fil their part of the plan on time, and without back order deficiencies. No doubt just-in-time deliv- ery is a chicken to the egg of promises by courier services and freightlines who guaran- tee avernight delivery. Under normal, ideal condi- tions, the plan works. And without warehouses, factories invest less in real estate upon which to locate. Instead of forklifts unload- ing supplies and restacking pallets in a corner to be re- trieved when needed, trucks are unloaded at the head of the assembly line. From there, everything flows along the assembly line until the finished product emerges ready to be crated and shipped to retail outlets scaltered across continents. That’s how everything moves ... until the day four hi- jacked airliners slowed 18- wheelers to a crawl. Fine tooth border searches by customs of- ——— pitfalls ficers stalled transport trucks up to 12 or more hours. By then some factories were short of components. Having paid big for advice to cut assembly costs, no fac- tory was inclined to pay staff to watch an idle assembly line. Immediate layoffs resulted. That’s where | differ from Toyota and: the Calgary office furniture factory. They make profits; I make a living. I like the backup of a warehouse. I also like the backup of a wood stove for my natural gas heat, a propane lantern and candles for my electric lights, and bags of flour and sugar for my counter canister. ; Modern high tech devices are dandy when they work, but when they don't, we have no backups. o0oOgn000 A correction to my column of September 19, 2001. Hepati- tis C is a blood borne disease. it cannot be contracted from keyboards or telephones, S MADAM! You vost HIT THE PHLice CRUISER: —— DRIVERS oA) THE WEATHER CHANNEL J}