Trade-pact would

kill 56,000 B.C. jobs

— page 12

February 10, 1988
40°

Vol. 51, No. 5

Groups vow to

fight premiers

abortion stand

Premier Bill Vander Zalm’s refusal to
fund abortion services unless a woman’s life
is threatened sparked anger and a declara-
tion of war from the province’s pro-choice
activists this week.

“We are outraged. This is privatization of
the medical system. He’s setting up a two-
tiered system of medicare — one for the
rich and one for poor,” said Pat Brighouse
of the B.C. Coalition for Abortion Clinics.

Vander Zalm announced his new posi-
tion on abortion Saturday at the Vancouver
airport after returning from vacation. He
said that even in cases of rape or incest
abortions would not be covered under the
B.C. Medical Insurance Plan.

On Monday the Socred cabinet endorsed
the premier’s position at a meeting in Powell
River.

see PRO-CHOICE page 3

Nine-year-old Vancouver student
Jean-Louis laconis poses with his
crayon drawing which was chosen
from more than 600 entries for the
top award in the Children as Peace-
makers Foundation contest, spon-
sored in western Canada by the
Congress of Canadian Women.
Shown here with his art teacher at
Lord Nelson School, Sonia Hutson
(r), and B.C. CCW president Susan
Dahlin, Jean-Louis will represent
Canada at the international cerem-
ony at Disneyland in Anaheim, Cali-
fornia where children from several
countries around the world will be
honoured for their contribution to
peace. First awarded to seven Cali-
fornia students in 1983, the Child-
ren’s Peace Prize — aglass sculpture
symbolizing children’s quest for
peace — has since been given to
children in more than 20 countries.

Special to the Tribune
Alberta nurses said last week there is no
point in ending their two week old strike
despite a $250,000 fine handed down by a
provincial court judge Feb. 4. Margaret

EDITORIAL, page 4

Ethier, president of the United Nurses of
Alberta (UNA), said her 11,000 members
would only return to work with a nego-
tiated settlement in hand.

“If the government wants the nurses

back to work they are going to have to
make a settlement,” Ethier told a press
conference Feb. 3, the same day the union
had been convicted of criminal contempt
for ignoring an order to end their strike.
Strikes by Alberta hospital workers were
outlawed in 1983. :
Ethier said court-ordered penalties
would only prolong the strike because the
nurses would have nothing left to lose.
Edmonton Judge William Sinclair gave
the union five days to pay the fine.
Observers were critical of Sinclair's

handling of the proceedings. He refused
almost all requests by UNA lawyer, John
Falkner to cross-examine prosecution
witnesses. Much of the government’s case
came from the union’s official statements
lifted from the media.

The inevitability of a heavy fine did not
seem to faze the militant nurses’ leader.
‘*All we have is members’ dues. We don’t
own anything ... They can do all these
things, but they can’t get the nurses back
to work.”

As the Tribune went to press, the judi-

ciary had not yet moved in on union offi-
cials, although the law provides for fines of
up to $10,000 a day and jail terms for
individuals found in criminal contempt.

However, civil contempt charges have
been laid by the Alberta Hospital Associa-
tion against dozens of nurses. The charges
highlight the opposition’s pettiness, Ethier
noted. The accused nurses were strikers
who had been providing care during
emergencies.

see LABOUR page 6