Socreds’ axe cuts city detox centre The provincial minister of cedures were such that it also‘ health, James Nielsen, is still at, kept out other people who need- his favorite past-time these days _—_ ed treatment. — cutting back health services. What makes the whole situa- tion worse is that the city jail is now being renovated. The His latest victim is the Great Northern Way detoxification centre at 377 East 2ndAvenuein _—_drunk tank is being eliminated. Vancouver. The jail staff is being reduced to This is the centre where they provide more police for street treat drunks. And if anyone patrol. It would be hard pressed to handle even four drunks a day. The chief of police has pointed out that drunks “‘are going to die on the street if they should think it doesn’t fill an urgent need, just bear in mind that between the time it opened on Feb. 25 of this year and the end of September — a matter of six months — it handled 6,000 —_aren’t taken off periodically for cases. medical attention.”’ The mininster of health is cut- For some offficials of the ting the number of beds from 42 —_ alcohol and drug program (ap- pointed by the ministry of health under James Nielsen), now to say that “‘we are on top of the situation’, ‘‘it’s a tem- porary problem’? is so much horse manure. How ‘“‘tem- porary”’ can it be when on Oct. to 10! The staff has also been cut drastically and a hiring freeze imposed. The purpose of the cuts as far as the provincial government is concerned is to save money. For the minister of health, it is Harry Rankin just another way of transferring 18 the police were informed that the costs from the province to _ because of staff shortages and a the city. It’s anattempt toforce full hiring freeze, admissions the city to handle drunks would bereduced by 50 percent. The cutbacks in the detox program are cruel, callous and through the city jail (where Van- couver taxpayers foot the bill) rather than a detox centre heartless, not to say (financed by the provincial hypocritical. The government government). And since thecity _ itself is helping to create the pro- has no other major source of — blem with its liquor policies and it profits from those policies too — today one of its major sources of revenue is the tax on liquor. This action by the provincial government is absolutely not permissable. The compulsory aspect of the program should be instituted — chronic drunks who need medical treatment funds than property taxes, it means more taxes for both business and homeowners. Right from the time that the government opened the detox centre it has been reneging on its responsibilities. As Bob Stewart, the chief constable of the city’s police force, pointed out to city council, the govern- ment refused to implement the _ should be given that treatment, “compulsory”? aspect of the the restrictions on admissions to program to handle drunks, it the detox centre should be drop- established admission criteria which kept out certain types of drunks, and its admission pro- ped, the cutbacks rescinded, funding restored and the staff increased , Vancouver teachers will receive a zero wage increase from a school board in complete sympathy with the budget slashing of education mininster Bill Vander Zalm, if the Civic Non-Partisan Association succeeds in Saturday’s election. That appears to be the message from NPA candidates, who took matters into their own hands in a pre-election attempt to negotiate a restraint budget directly with the Socred minister responsible for the $10 million shortfall in the VSB budget for 1983. Five NPA candidates said Mon- day they hope for an answer from Vander Zalm before the Nov. 20 election, at a press conference that board chairman Pauline Weinstein called a ‘‘gimmick to get media coverage.” She said the action of the school board contenders, which includes incumbent trustee Kim Campbell, “undermines the attempt of the board to negotiate in good faith with the minister.’’ The VSB, with five of its nine trustees members of the labor-backed Committee of Progressive Electors civic party, has been pressing Victoria for a six percent increase in its 1983 budget. The NPA electoral move, by which the right-wing group is ask- ing Vander Zalm for a three per- cent budget hike, comes at a time when the VSB, along with 61 other school districts in the province, has gone to binding arbitration over contract negotiations with teachers. The deadline for a settle- ment was midnight, Monday. The trustees has been negotiating salaries and benefits virtually in the dark, uncertain of the financial resources they’ll have in the coming year because of the confusing and contradictory legislation that has followed in the wake of the provincial govern- ment’s restraint program. ‘going to en VANCOUVER Zero wage hike proposed by NPA school candidates! in’‘gimmick’ budget plan — The situation is further confused because all arbitrated settlements must be submitted ‘to commis- sioner Ed Peck, who rules on all public sector settlements under the provisions of the Compensation Stabilization Program, by Dec. 31. If Peck finds the settlements ex- ceed restraint guidelines, he can order the arbitration board to establish a new settlement, creating a seemingly endless spiral of rejec- tions and resubmissions that could drag well into the new year. ‘‘We’re wondering where it’s all ,” said B.C. School Trustees Association spokesman Steve Bareham, who reported that teachers in five school districts had settled for a zero percent wage hike. He added that those settlements could ‘‘set the tone”’ for arbitration proceedings on the remaining boards, a move which would put pressure on the province’s teachers to bear the brunt of the Socred’s cutbacks. The B.C. Teachers Federation has maintained a stead- fast position against zero wage hikes. Bareham also said the five boards who settled promised to reopen negotiations if the financial situation changes for the better. But trustees and teacher’s officials have agreed that public education faces about 3.5 percent less funding next year than in 1982. _ Under such a situation it is “highly unlikely that Vander Zalm will single out the Vancouver school board for favored treat- ment,” said Weinstein regarding the NPA candidates funding “‘pro- posal.” Their plan calls on the provincial government to match dollar for~ dollar the $4.5 million the NPA has said it will take from the board’s $13-million capital surplus fund to meet the shortfall in operating costs next year. -perties, has been used to offset pr -tics with the minister who has rai) ‘their plan would prevent layo Additionally, the T he day of the opening of the federal Liberal Party convention just a little over a week ago, the right-wing National Citizens Coalition published a series of full page ads terming the event ‘‘Pierre Trudeau’s party.’’ Making use of the great political thinkers among its ranks, the NCC targeted several Liberal cabinet ministers and suggested that Agriculture Canada’s proposed new agriculture trading corporation was the same “‘system they’ve been trying to make work (in Moscow) since 1917.’’ Like the National Rifle Association in the U.S., the NCC and theads it publishes are predictable. But what make the latest one interesting is that Colin M. Brown, the London Life insurance company director who founded the NCC, recently held his own party to which were in- vited some of the ‘‘citizens”’ of his coalition. According to Toronto’s society reporters, the guests included Thomas J. Bata, the president of Bata Shoe, (the largest footwear com- pany in the world) and a director of CP Air, IBM Canada and other companies; Thomas Galt, chairman of Sun Life Assurance and direc- tor of Bank of Montreal, Canadian Pacific Enterprises, Canon and other companies; David Kinnear, vice-president of A.E.LePage real estate and a director of several companies including the finance arm of _ Eaton’s; Arthur H. , chairman of Canada Trust and director of Algoma Steel, MacMillan Bloedell, Royal Insurance and several others; Edward Rogers, chief executive officer of Canadian Cablesystems and the president of Rogers Telecommunications Ltd. and many others. In fact, the guest list goes on and on. And the list of corporations on whose boards they sit is longer that the roster of the local chamber of commerce. But they’re just your average ‘‘citizens”’, of course. * * * is name isn’t as well known in Canada, the country in which he has resided since 1964. But thousands of readers in his native India, and others around the world will be pleased with the recognition given to North Vancouver citizen and progressive poet Gurcharan Rampuri next month, Rampuri, a Tribune reader who has written on ‘“‘social, political, peace and romantic themes,”’ started writing as a 17- ear-old i in 1946. Anelectrical draftsman by trade, he has five published collections to his credit, and his works have appeared in anthologies i in the Soviet Union and Canada. In 1957 his work was brought to the attention of millions of readers outside of India with the inclusion of poems on the theme of interna- tional peace in an anthology of five Punajabi-language poets translated into Russian by Progress Publishes, Moscow. A sampling of his work has also appeared in English through an anthology of Asian- Canadian poets, Green Snow, published in 1976. Rampuri’s poetry has been translated into Hindi and other languages of India. Last October the Punjab Sahitya Akademi (Punjab Academy of Literature), a branch of the Punjab Arts Council, decided to honor Rampuri’s 36 years of work with a cash award to be presented to the author when he visits his homeland in December. The award will also include ‘‘a memento for your outstanding contribution to Punjabi literature,’’ wrote Arts Council chairman M.S. Randhawa ina letter to the author. Ironically, it was his poetry that led to his present profession. He secured his job with B.C. Hydro shortly after arriving in British Col- umbia_ through an admirer who had read his work in a literary magazine. In Punjabi, Rampuri’s collections include Fragrance of Wheat (1953), Promises (1960), Nest of Rays (1963), Blind Alley (1973) and Dancer (1980). As only a few of his poems are available to most Canadian readers, Rampuri plans to offer a collection of his insights into ‘“‘the social realities of the day’’ in an English- Sateen collection within the next two years. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 19, 1982—Page 2 Socred-dominated civic party has} asked for a $400,000 increase for : school supplies. But Weinstein said the fund, created from the sale of school p perty increases on Vancouv' homeowners for school purposes The board also uses about 4 million from the fund each year ft necessary capital improvemen! she said. ~ The NPA candidates, accusi COPE majority on the VSB engaging in ‘‘confrontation”’ ta’) ed the ire of even Socred trusteé) across the province, has claime?y and a rollback of 1982 wages of teachers. The NPA hopefuls seem oblivious to Vander Zalm’s rec suggestions for legislation ann ing existing teacher contracts f allowing the layoff of thousands 0 B.C. teachers. | Vote labor slate Nov. 20 Here is the unity slate of can- didates endorsed by the Van- couver and District Labof Council for the civic elections Saturday. Bold face type] denotes an incumbent. ; Mayor: Michael Harcourt Council: Carmela Allevato Delicia Crump Libby Davies Bruce Eriksen Erich Ewert Sol Jackson Harry Rankin Carole Walker Bill Yee Bruce Yorke Park Board: Joe Arnaud tt Mike Chrunik | Connie Fogal Tim Louis Peter Marcus } Jim Quail i Pat Wilson School Board: Frank Fuller Wes Knapp David Lane Mike O’ Neill Gary Onstad Phillip Rankin Sandra Rogan Jasjit Sandhu Pauline Weinstein 3 Have you renewed your sub?