eee iS 7 | ; : 4 1 4 VGH DEMONSTRATION...but N : ost ‘ Rude ac wURsES yRroe e @ “ - F . Yb ielsen wasn’t there to get the message. Nielsen avoids protesters Social Credit underfunding of the province’s hospitals recevied a t Monday as nurses and other health care workers demonstrated at the opening of a new wing of the Vancouver General Hospital. _ Health minister Jim Nielsen ob- viously had the sense to be elsewhere. He was missing from the rostrum of officials who presid- €d over the inaugeration of the first Phase of the VGH’s Laurel Street Project, a point not missed by the . angry hospital employees. They yelled ‘‘chicken’’ in Tesponse to the absence of Nielsen and universities minister Pat McGeer, and carried a variety of Placards reminding those attending the ceremony of the layoffs and bed closures resulting from the pro- vincial government’s $100 million shortfall in hospital financing this year, — One block away stood a large truck which closely resembled an ambulance. It was covered on both sides by a large petition to be sent to Nielsen as soon as there is no more room for signatures. Hospital workers wearing the now-familiar ‘‘Stop Eroding Health Care’ badge stood by the truck and handed out leaflets and buttons to passersby. The cam- paign is the effort of the Alliance to Save Health Care in B.C., spon- sored by the six hospital unions. Deputy health minister Peter Bazowski was met with a chorus of boos, particularly when Nielsen’s name came up, as he gave the speech officially opening the new emergency and cardiac care depart- ment. It is part of long term expan- sion project and is not connected with the yearly hospital budget. Meanwhile, B.C. Medical Association past president Dr. Ray March has been vindicated by col- Jeagues for his remarks on the deterioration of health care in the province’s hospitals. March had told the BCMA con- vention last week that conditions were so bad at the Royal Colum- bian Hospital where he operates that one operation was performed in a corridor because all six BRITISH COLUMBIA TRIBUNE PHOTO— SEAN GRIFF! operating rooms were in use. He - also told of equipment disintegrating during operations and falling into open wounds. His allegations were denied by RCH chairman J.W. Biggs, who sent a telex to Nielsen stating an in- vestigation failed to substantiate March’s claims. But a meeting of more than 150 RCH medical staff Monday voted to write Nielsen and state that facts were true, as documented by several doctors at the meeting. The staff also reiterated a call for the resignation of the hospital’s board of directors. B.C. doctors urge nuclear freeze _ B.C.’s doctors came out solidly M support of a halt to the nuclear arms race during the B.C. Medical SOciation’s convention in Van- Couver last week. They adopted two resolutions Supporting efforts to prevent the er of a nuclear holacaust and € principle of a nuclear freeze en- - forced by Canada and world Nuclear powers. The resolutions Were tabled by the Environment Health Committee of the associai- Uion’s Health Planning Council. Earlier they gave a warm Tesponse to American peace ac- Uvist Dr. Jack Geiger, who told the assembly that planning for a Medical response to a nuclear at- tack would be perpetrating ‘“‘a fraud and a delusion.” A founding member of the now international Physicians for Social Responsibility, Geiger said it would be ‘‘a profoundly unethical Act’’ for doctors to participate in so- called civil defence measures, which only ‘‘serve to diffuse public opposition’? to nuclear arms buildup. “It’s as if I went to the nearest state with a death penalty and jan up and down death row shouting, ‘Jadies and gentlemen, I don’t want you to give up all hope. I can assure you that when the moment comes and you are in the gas chamber, ll be there doing all I can’”’, Geiger said. The BCMA delegates acknowleged the argument that nuclear was is a ‘‘disease”’ which can only be cured by ‘prevention’. “Be it resolved that the BCMA recognizes the catastrophic dangers to all life in the event of a nuclear war and supports efforts for prevention of such a nuclear holacaust,’’ stated the first resolu- tion. The preamble to the second resolution listed the frightening arsenal of weaponry in the world today, and noted that 30 countries have demanded a freeze on nuclear arms. It urged the BCMA to “‘call for adoption of the principle of a nuclear freeze, under international verification and supervision by the Canadian government and world nuclear powers.”’ Geiger also urged opposition to the Cruise Missle, the U.S. first- strike weapon that ‘‘marks a water- shed, a turning point in the arms race. 15 B.C. councils plan peace ballot Richmond city council was so infuriated with a letter they received from the external af- fairs ministry they voted unanimously last week to holda vote on the disarmament ques- tion in the next civic election. And Coquitlam district coun- cil Monday took only the few minutes necessary to hear com- munity activist Eunice Parker speak on the issue before unanimously deciding to put the disarmament question on the civic ballot. They became the latest addi- tions to a growing list of B.C. municipalities which have responded positively to an in- itiative from Operation Dismantle, the national peace * organization seeking civic referendums to determine if Canadian citizens are for world disarmament. According to reports from Operation Dismantle spokesman Mark Vrunke and other sources, these B.C. civic centres will be asking that ques- tion of their residents in civic ballots: Nanaimo, Ladysmith, Vernon, Port Alberni, Van- couver, Prince George, Kamloops, Pitt Meadows, North Cowichan district, Dun- can, the district of Terrace, Comox-Strathcona regional district, Surrey, Richmond and Coquitlam. The 15 centres join several other Canadian municipalities, including Toronto and Ottawa. Many referendums are being held despite the opinions of some — notably city solicitors — that the process is outside council’s powers as defined under the provincial Municipal Act. Now municipal affairs minister Bill Vander Zalm has added his opinion. He said Tuesday that disar- mament is a federal responsibili- ty and that councils could be sued by citizens who objected to the ‘‘misuse’’ of civic funds. Some councils have bought this argument, and have refused Operation Dismantle’s in- itiative. But most have decided that a nuclear bomb recognizes no particular level of government. In Kamloops, alderman Gor- don Rye dismissed such criticisms with the comment that “‘preservation of the world is in everyone’s jurisdiction.”’ Kamloops council voted 9-1 to produce a ballot asking voters to support the ‘“‘concept of general disarmament’’ and negotiations leading to this goal, following the presentation of an 800-name petition from Opera- tion Dismantle representative Elanor Lenz. Vancouver alderman Marguerite Ford said her coun- cil was spending $6,000 on a referendum for peace because a nuclear war could destroy the entire Lower Mainland. That makes it a civic issue, she argued. Gloria Levi of Coquitlam district council said Vander Zalm was sticking to a “‘narrow, petty and immoral’’ interpreta- tion of the Municipal Act. Aldermen on Richmond city council were incensed by a letter from the external affairs depart- ment suggesting that “‘grass roots input”’ would be of little consequence to the Canadian government, said Fred Pawluk of the Richmond Electors Ac- tion League (REAL). Pawluk represented REAL when the progressive civic party appeared before council June 1 to back the effort of the Rich- mond Connection for World Peace who sought the coun- cillors’ support for the referen- dum. At that meeting city clerk | — Glyn Morris read a response he received to a letter he had sent to external affairs minister Mark MacGuigan seeking his opinion on the validity on peace referendums. “A global referendum, if held, would represent an expres- sion of public opinion in favor of disarmament, but could not be a substitute for actual negotiation of verifiable inter- national agreements. We are concerned that it would be misleading to the public,’’ wrote D.L.B. Hamlin, director of the ministry’s arms control and disarmament division. He noted that the House of Commons Standing Committee on External Affairs and Na- tional Defense had considered Operation Dismantle’s brief urging. the Canadian govern- ment to propose a global referendum at the United Na- ‘tions, and had rejected the idea. The Richmond City council subsequently voted unanimous- ly to put the peace referendum on the civic ballot. Peace leaders to speak June 18/ World Peace Council president Romesh Chandra and other members of a top-level WPC delegation which will be touring Canada following the United Na- tions Special Session on Disarma- ment will be speaking to a public meeting in Vancouver June 18 at 7:30 p.m. The meeting is set for the Vancouver Planetarium auditorium, 1100 Chestnut. The delegation inlcudes Mar- shall Francisco da Costa Gomes, former president of Portugal; Abdoulay Diallo, a minister in the presidential council of Guinea; Karen Talbot, WPC secretary at the UN; Camilo Perez, former dean of law at the University of Panama; and Ellen Ham- merschlag, secretary-translator at the WPC in Helsinki. It is one of two delegations which will be visiting Vancouver following the UN disarmament session. Some 30 members of the Japanese Congress against A and H Bombs will be in Vancouver June 14 and 15. The group will be at a reception at the Japanese Language School June 14 although seating is reportedly limited. A press con- ference has also been called for June 15. Another delegation of some peace activists is also scheduled to come to Vancouver from Tokyo June 14. Many of them are among those banned by U.S. edict from attending the UN ses- sion on the basis that they are members of peace organizations “‘with Communist ties.”’ More than 300 people have been barred from coming to the UN in New York under the provi- sions of the Cold War legislation, the McCarran-Walter Act impos- ed by the U.S. in 1952. ROMESH CHANDRA Ree PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JUNE 11, 1982—Page 3