Sidney & Saanich Peninsula Commercial Real Estate i uae OBER 652-5171 NRS Peninsula Preperties Audited Circulation 12,968 A Victoria Weeklies Publication Wednesday March 27,1991 40¢ BUSINESS A26 > 1 BEYER: AT GRENBY A26 HAMPSON All LANG AQT MUSGRAVE Al4 TOP OF THE PILE A7 + | JAMES ISLAND - } | Workis going fultspeed _ | ahead, alihough new people are behind the multi-million dollar resor! development Page A3 TOP NOT TEMPTING A Couvelier denies he * | has aspirations for the | party leadership : Page A4 4 FERRY TERMINAL The upgrade of the Swanz Bay terminal is in iis final planning stage Page A9 _ | DON'T DIET Nutrition Monih Tips on losing weight LADY PANTHERS RETURN - | Experience was the _ | main benefit as the : git’s basketball team retums home from Page A24 Page Al7 |}, Victoria Review office hours The Review office, at-9726-First St. in Sidney, is open from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Mail to Box 2070, Sidney, B.C. V8L 3S5. Second class mail registration number 0128: Chamber wins battle against Customs by Girard Hengen The Review After an intense lobbying effort by local businesses, the Saanich Peninsula Chamber of Commerce and area politicians, changes planned for commercial Customs operations at the International Air- port have been scrapped. Canada Customs had intended to shift commercial customs trans- actions to downtown Victoria. The move threatened to be a major annoyance for businesses that relied on the airport for importing goods, forcing them to make jaunts from the airport to downtown and back again to pick up parcels. But the plans have been aborted after the Chamber of Commerce got wind of the change. The Chamber got in touch with a senior vice-president of the Cana- dian Chamber of Commerce. From there, the Peninsula Chamber's concems were relayed to MPs Mary Collins and Kim Campbell. Collins, in turn, con- tacted Canada Customs in Ottawa, and the proposal was abandoned. ~ The announcement was made at a Friday moming meeting in Vic- toma of about 25 business people, Victoria MP John Brewin, a repre- sentative of MP Lynn Hunter (Saa- nich-Gulf Islands) and customs officials. “(Canada Customs) recognized that the move they had projected would be detrimental out here,” says Marilyn Lee, general manager of Chamber. “Tt shows the effect of what can happen when you use the Cham- ber of Commerce to put your message out there.” David Rogers, manager of All- Routes Express, a cargo aircraft company operating between the Continued on Page A2 Zs MEETING FINNISH EOGEREY star Kari Tale xO was o real fini for Gancer Samcn- tha Cameron Sofuraay ai Memornal Arena. fhe Peninsuia student will be = one of about 36 Gancers fo visit ihe European couniry in December as 4 par of G tour organized by the Youth AMbDGasSsaaGis, should vanous funcrals- ing efforts be successful. Later Sofuy- — day, goaliender Takko stopped 47° Shots as fhe Finnish notional feam defecied Canada S- 1. cLenn werkmanphote school sirike surprises Japanese by Valorie Lennox The Review A teacher’s strike in Saanich district schools shocked two Japanese teachers who found schools closed when they arrived with 30 exchange students March Te “It’s hard for me to believe,” said Tomoko Inoue, a first-year teacher at Ritsumeikan Junior and Senior Secondary School in Kyoto, Japan. She and colleague Junichi Nakayama were supervising the 30 Japanese students during the three- week exchange visit to Stelly’s and Parkland Secondary Schools. Both were surprised to find their host schools closed by job action. In Japan, teachers have the right to strike but do not take job action during school hours, Nakayama said. “We have the right to strike but we believe students have the nght to learn so we won’t harm the~ Tights of the students,’ he explained. A teacher for 12 years, he has served as secretary-general for a teachers’ union in Japan. The major issue in Japan is reducing class sizes from an aver- age of 45 to 48 students per - teacher down to 40 students per teacher. An ideal size would be 35 students per teacher, Nakayama said. Salaries are also an issue. Pri- vate school teachers like Nakay- ama and Inoue are paid more than teachers in public schools but still make less than company workers in Japan. “The teachers in public schools don’t have the right to negotiate about salary,” Nakayama said. There have been some improve- ments, which Nakayama describes as “small, small steps.” The question of integrating spe- cial needs children is not as much of an issue in Japan as in B.C., although teachers are seeking extra help when special needs children are added to the already crowded classrooms. The major concern for the teachers’ union is class size, Nakayama said. Officially Nakayama and Inoue work from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. each day. Unofficially, they often stay until 6 p.m. and every Thursday have meetings which keep them at the school until 9 or 10 p.m. Classes are held from 8:50 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. Teachers in secon- dary schools do not do noon hour supervision although teachers in . elementary grades do supervise the children over lunch. Nakayama noted the relation- ship between teachers and princi- pals was much more relaxed in Canada. In Japan the teachers at a private school negotiate with a principal and board of trustees: in Canada the principal met with the teachers on the picket line and was not part of the negotiations. “The relationship between prin- cipals and teachers are quite dif- ferent and surprised us,” Inoue said. Nakayama said there was even a potluck lunch held on one picket line to which the visiting Japanese teachers were invited. “‘I_was very surprised,” he remarked. Canadians appear very friendly Continued on Page Az