"rest of the northwest. . — “But ‘there are a few ‘for not policy tial Orthopedic debate continues Dear Sir: Ii’s tempting, so very templing to write a letter saying ‘‘to Hell with Rupert for getting the orthopedic program.”’ _. You could also say that Kitimat should become a separate pro- vince with all the money and in- dustry here. ‘Yes, these are several reasons fo say to Hell with the saying itas well. ~” For one, it’s bad manners, Plus despite everything, Terrace and Prince Rupert are our neighbours. But most of all, if we continue to - squabble among ourselves, all _- that’s accomplishing is making _ some Faceless bureaucrats in Vic- - foria’s job a lot easier. If's called divide and coriquer. When the hospitals put up and united front ‘to fight budgetary ws cuts, ‘the. government responded with the: Northwest Hospital Ser- vice Review, which I may: point out was not a Royal commission and had no mandate to remove scrvices from hospitals, As a result of this review, all three hospitals have been at each other’s ihroais. 1 will give the review credit for putting om paper the major problems in health care in this -area,.such as lack of facilities and specialists. They fall through on finding’a solution. -I-found Table 6 in that report most interesting in showing what population numbers were needed to support a specialist’s practice. I “ wasn’t ‘surprised to sce that we don’t need a gerontologist in his area, What surprised me was that with a combined population of 60,000, northwestern B.C. should have: - four gencral surgeons - two ophthalmologists - two orthopedic surgeons ~ four anesthetists - three radiologists - two pathologists -Sixinternisis - two gynecologists. - two pediatricians | - two psychiatrisis That’s a total of 29 specialists, roughiy 10 per hospital. But instead of giving what is needed and deserved, the Minis- try of Health took what services we do have (stretched to the limit that they arc), and proceeded to Stretch them out even more. Like a pack of starving dogs, the- hospitals’ of the northwest have. been going busy fighting among themselves, that when a ' few seraps are thrown to us, there’s such a feeding frenzy that _ we forget one thing. As a com-: munity we are entilled to as mush as any area in B,C, So let’s stop fighting. We all want the same thing. People in the northwest work hard and pay laxes, and it’s not like these Specialists aren’t going to be busy when we get them. As the ald saying goes, “‘United we stand, divided we fall.’? Let’s’ not turn northwestern B.C. into a medical Yugoslavia. Yours truly, Mark Hawkins, Kitimat, B.C, stop medical Yugoslavia fedaddaed MILLS MEMORIAL HOSPITAL and its sister institutions in the northwest should stick together and avoid fall into the provincial government trap of divide and conquer, says one letter writer. NDP executive criticizes gov't move An open letter to: Premier Mike Harcourt Victoria, B.C, ‘Dear Premier Harcourt: As president of the Skeena NDP provincial association dur- ing the last provincial election, I was proud to be a member of a political party that advocated . openness and fairness in govern- ment process; that promised a Kijig "process ‘based ou! board: consultations ‘ with the’ people who would be directly af- fected by the results; that promised an end to public policy ‘decisions motivated by narrow ‘political considerations; that gave ._., assurances thal public policy would be based on a rational analysis of all available informa- tion and public stated principals. What happened? Speaking plainly, the decision to move the orthopedic sugeon fom Kitimat to Prince Rupert was a political one, not based on the above considerations. I understand that Mr. Ramsey, Minister of Health, claims to have acted upon the recommendation of, the, North West Health Review Panel, J pul it:to you that. this is an explanation of convenience. Aithough the panel expressed concern over parochial, regional competition for health services, no sound or compelling reasons were given for ils recommenda- tion to move orthopedic services Dear Sir: I was pleased to read Mr. Watmough’s reply lo the recent articles on mushroom picking and the task force, It pleases me to know that his views on strong local representation coincides with that of the newly formed Northwest Mushroom Pickers Coali- tion. Incidentally the task force is not a proposed group. They are, and have been, operational since March of 1992, | Our commitlee recently received and has been reviewing (he minutes of the meetings. from the -govern- ment funded task force, Our group will be holding a town hall meeting in the next couple of months as CONCERN OVER mushroom picking gathered steam in the fall of 1992. That's a picture of Rick Shaw, taken that year, with a sample of what was picked, Pickers uniting well as putting in an in- formation booth at the Skeena Mall, It is our hope to share with you anything that we have -or may leam. We further want to gain your support and voice in telling ihe government to pul on the brakes and slow down. Hopefully with the voice of the people we can have a moratorium put on any fur- ther actions by the task force. ; This will give us the time to properly research and present the views of the public, This to save (he government from making any rash decisions or mis- takes applicable to agro forestry. Alan Grier, Terrace, B.C, to Prince Rupert. There are many Teasons not to — most of which aré firmly rooted in common sense, Additionally, Mr. Ramsey led the people in this area to believe that further consultations would occur prior to a final decision. The announcement, when it came, was a shock, The citizens in this constituency supported Mr, Giesbrecht in his call for delay. in the: decision;-for . he referral of the decision: tothe regional health board whin it be- comes operational. I put it to you that the minister was obligated to communicate his intentions . with Tespect to the making of a decision much mate clearly than actually happened. Mz. Giesbrecht, members of Io- cal governments and boards with an interest in this issue, and the people who provide health care services in this region had a right to know that a decision was im- minent. I remain committed to the prin- ciples and policies of the New Democratic Party, and will publicly defend the actions of government which are consistent wawith those. principles..: 171. : of? When ‘compromise is-necessary, ‘it will have my support provided that the processes are clear, fair, democratic, and consistent. In solidarity, I remain. Frank Rowe, Terrace, B.C, Tne word ‘sect’ used incorrectly Dear Sir: I would like fo respond to the recent Terrace Standard news story headlined, ‘‘Pilgrims behind lax diatribe’’, . T object to the pejorative words, “diatribe” and ‘‘sect”? used to describe the Catholic organiza- tion called the Pilgrims of St. Michael, which is based in Roujemont, Quebec, Nowadays, the word, ‘‘sect”’ is an insulting term. In some minds itis synonymous with the modem word, ‘‘cult’’. I was angered last year when The Terrace Standard used the word, ‘‘sect’’, to describe the Pil- grims but I was too lazy and per- haps too cowardly to respond. During the past year I have read. their publications and I’m con- vinced that they are faithful Cath- olics who are doing their best to get out some important informa- tion aboul our economy and how it is controlled, and by whom. Ironically, not only are the Pil- grims not a secl, but what they. promulgate is fidelity and obedience to the Catholic church and its teachings regarding the. evits of contraception, abortion, - infanticide, cuthanasia, homosexuality, usury, personal and institutional greed, - Tragically, these essential truths of the Catholic church are re- jected by 85 - 95 per cent of the Catholics in the Industrialized, . prosperous counties .of the world. It scems to me that about the. same percenlage of priest. and - bishops exhibit the same. lack of faith in the teaching authority of- the Church, which I believe is _ built by Christ on the authority - He commissioned to Peter and the successor Popes. «| Most of us are quite willing to. dilft downward: on a.wide: road _ Where there’s lots of company. In : contrast, the Pilgrims are very much 4 group that is set apart by what they believe and how they live. I admire them for their dedication. They have formed their 40- year-old movement for reasons of social justice. The background of the first generation of Pilgrims is probably much different form most of us. Their French-Canadian fathers and grandfathers struggled on farms and worked in the bush for a dollar a day. It wasn’t only the Marxists who saw something wrong: with the system of monopoly capitalism. Catholic thinkers and activists have struggled, not like the Mar- xists to establish a paradise on earth which without god turned into over 70 years of hell for the Soviet Peoples, but to build a socicty that values justice and charity. Whether the Pilgrims are tight or wrong in proposing how the economic sysiem should be changed is a question that re- : quires much study and analysis. I don’t know, however, that their publications and their ideas receive much interest and respect by Catholic bishops in countries such a8 Poland and Brazil, whose economies are devastated by the Godless power mongers of capi- lalists and communism. IE these writers in thelr publica- tion, Michael Journal, used strong words to denounce those power- ful ones who would live in luxury while people are dying of starva- tion outside the walls of their mansions, 1 say, more power to them, _ If you read your Gospels you will find that Christ was not one to mince words, Sincerely, 7 Tom Brophy, — errace, B.C, “‘Hénocurable Loyd 4 #dithy © cyt ~ Minister of Human Resources « ny The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 2, 1994-A5 CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag Call to move on Tom Weegar in “Bill Doesn’t Get it,” (Letter, Dec. 22, 1993) tells me that I don’t know anything about the native past. Well, 40 years ago I joined the Indian Arts and Welfare Society in Victoria. I became a member of the royal museum’s archacology club; I have been digging for the past; I collected many artifacts which are now in museums; ] studied all the books on the different tribes written by Dr. Wilson Duff and many other books and pubii- cations. I travelled to many native villages to make colour slides of fast disappearing longhouses, smoke houses, dugouts, etc. which I donated to the reyal museum. We have had many native fosterchildren, We are the grandparents of sic lovely native grandchildren. My only relatives in Canada are native. So are many friends, This is the reason why this so-called ‘‘racist’’ belicves that na- tives should join the rest of Canada and not ask for apartheid or self government. Separation leads to more poverty, All cultures of the world are changing. Progressives dan’t look to: the past. My ancestors in Holland were also living in a Stone Age until the: Romans came to bring them civilization and Christanity. We are still very thankful for that. co oe . Turning the clock back is a crime to the new and young genera- tion, Who wants swect grass and sweat houses? Young people don’t like it, and don’t want it. This kind of culture doesn’t get them anywhere. We have to move on. ' Dear Sir: Bill Homburg, Terrace, B.C, Justice found lacking Dear Str: Where is justice? Afier the recent break and enter to our home Jan. 11, Isat down and tried to figure out the cost of the investigation to you and the tax payer — a figure not easy to achieve. : Just think about it, four or five police officers and vehicles, dis- patcher, tracking dog, finger printing, hours of paper work, etc, just to try to catch some inconsiderate, thoughtless lowlife thief, The costs dig deep into our pockets per incident. Then you pick-up The Terrace Standard and read the court report from and I have to believe there must be a mistake or misprint (or I should hope so), as I can’t see where justice was served to an adult woman convicted on 30 counts of break and enter, two counts fail- ing to appear in court and three other convictions. ’ The judge in the case opted to give the lady a tap on the hand — one day in jail and two years probation. To me that’s not much of a deterrent, It would almost encourage other would be or could be thieves. It seems as though the RCMP and all of us other taxpayers have once again wasted a lot of time and money.-She gets the tap and we get the slap. We thank all those who responded to and assisted us with the aftermath of our recent break in. Se . Kelth Alexander, Terrace, B.C. Labour change needed © An open letter to: oo liga pile Sana Serec aid Ottawa, Ontario RE; Canada Labour Code Dear Sir: ree yt The Kitimat—Terrace and District Labour Council,’ as we did with your Conservative predecessor, is appealing to your ministry to make long-needed changes to the Canada Labour Code.:. > The use of replacement workers inevitably creates unrest,-is un- fair, and oftentimes leads to violence and tragedy as witnessed at the Royal Oak Mine in Yellowknife, Rogers Cable, and others, We note that the sanitization of the words describing workers Stealing other workers’ jobs has evolved over time from ‘*scabs’’ to *‘strikebreakers”* to “‘replacement workers’. It’s enough to make one wonder if the person who steals your car is a “replacement driver’, We respectfully submit that it is high time the federal Labour ’ Code is reviewed and brought up to date in number of areas, but es- pecially to reflect anti-strike breaking legislation. We point out that the province of Quebec has: had such legislation for more than a decade, while others — British Columbia and Sas- katchewan --- also have anti-strike breaking legislation, - For the sake of Canadian workers and thelr communities we are hopeful that your government will introduce anti-strike breaking legislation at your earliest opportunity. Your sincerely, John Jensen, President, Kitimat—Terrace and District Labour Council a ee eS ce THE START IS FOR PEOPLE LEARNING TO READ The Start ag! THE TRAIN Is a great way to travel up here. Itis run by VIA Rail and {s called The Skeena. The train runs between Jasper and Prince Rupert. But there is talk about ending the run. That’s because the train costs a jot of money ta operate. No- - body knows when a final decision will be mado, Job course planned | a | ; THERE IS a new program for people who do not have a job, It is" belng run by the chamber of commerce, They want to train people. who work in stores or restaurants, The {dea of the course is to make cuslomers happy. ‘This course 7 will take 40 people, Half of the people will already have jobs, The. other half will not have work.) 22> ; Money for the course is coming from the federal gov course will start as soon as Its details ate decided."