Tax reform winners: The rich
   OTTAWA (CP) — Even with tax reform, the very rich have been the big winners and the middle-class the big losers of Conservative tax changes during the last 3V4 years, a study released Tuesday suggests.
   “The 1988 personal income tax reform will increase the disposable income of Canadian taxpayers — with the biggest gainers in the top one per cent — but leaves the majority worse off than in 1984,” says a summary of the study for the Institute for Research on Public Study.
   The study, released on the eve of Finance Minister Michael Wilson’s fourth and possibly last budget before the next federal election, raises questions about the minister’s claim that his reforms have made the tax system fairer.
   Wilson is not expected to announce any major tax changes in his budget but merely to give an accounting of the government’s 3'/2-year stewardship and the economic and financial outlook for Canada for the coming half decade.
   The study, using a new Statistics Canada computer model, concludes that income tax reforms that came into effect this year will leave all families with lower tax rates and more spending money than would have been the case had there been no reforms.
   But those reforms only partially offset the increases in income taxes that Canadians have been hit with since the Tories came to power in September 1984, says the study by Allan Maslove, a professor on sabbatical from Carleton University’s School of Public Administration.
   In effect it concludes that Canadians are better off with the tax reforms than without them but, with the exception of the very poor and the very rich, not better off than they were when the Tories came to power.
HERMAN1
               While Prince George males look forward to such events as the Bum-T-Bum and bathing suit contests, Hunks l°cal females can feast their eyes on nine hunks vying for the title of Mr. Mardi Gras 1988. From left, back row are: Darcy Marquette, Dwayne Braaten, Dave Kennedy, Gibby Chasse, Brent Paul-
 son and Trevor Guile; middle row, Ken Umbarger and Shane Pomeroy and, in front, Dan Martin. They will strut their stuff during the annual contest at 8 p.m. Friday at the Inn of the North. Tickets are available at the desk. Tonight the contestants will make an appearance at the Overdrive.
COURT RULING LEFT ‘VOW
New abortion law promised
Alta, nurses vote on strike
  EDMONTON (CP) - The United Nurses of Alberta will hold a pro-vincewide vote this week on whether its 11,400 members want to continue an illegal strike that began 17 days ago.
   Union president Margaret Ethier said Tuesday she expects members to vote to continue the strike until a negotiated settlement is reached.
   If the majority vote against staying on strike, the union will have to accept management’s latest contract offer, said union vice-president David Harrigan.
   Ethier would not specify when the vote will be held and would say only it will come before the end of the week. She said weekly votes will be held until the strike ends.
   Earlier, the union paid a $250,000 fine imposed last week after it was found guilty of criminal contempt of court for defying a 1983 provincial law that prohibits strikes by hospital workers. It borrowed the money.
      by JOAN BRYDEN Southam News OTTAWA —The federal government will draft a new law to regulate abortions and fill the legal void left by the Supreme Court, Justice Minister Ray Hnatyshyn said Tuesday.
   The Supreme Court left “a void” in Canadian law last month when it struck down the country’s 19-year-old abortion law as unconstitutional, Hnatyshyn told the Commons.
   “We in the federal government believe that a legislative approach on the federal level is appropriate,” he said noting that, as a result of the Supreme Court ruling, Canada is now “the only western industrialized country that does not have legislative rules with respect to abortion.
   “We are considering all of our options in that regard and hope to present (a proposal) to Parliament so that we can debate it on the floor of this House at the earliest possible date.”
   Hnatyshyn said a new law will not be drafted without first completing consultations with provincial attorneys general and health ministers.
   He refused to tell reporters later what kind of legislative action the government is considering or to say if it involves amendments to the Criminal Code.
  The Supreme Court ruled two weeks ago that Section 251 of the
 Criminal Code is too restrictive, unevenly applied and a violation of women’s right to security of person. The law stipulated an abortion could only be performed in an accredited hospital after a therapeutic abortion committee had judged the woman’s life or health was in danger.
   Hnatyshyn said the new law will have to reflect the “constraints” placed on the federal government by the Supreme Court ruling.
   “We obviously have to be mindful of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that we have in Canada
 in considering our legislative options.”
 . Hnatyshyn wouldn’t say when he expects to introduce a new law. But he told reporters the government is giving “urgent priority” to the matter and will not delay it through extensive consultations with the provinces, which have jurisdiction over health care.
   Legislative options open to the government include a new criminal law restricting how and when abortions can be performed, including the rights of the fetus in the Charter or using the so-called notwithstanding clause to override the
 Charter and reinstate the old law.
   Hnatyshyn said the day following the Supreme Court ruling that he was not contemplating using the notwithstanding clause. But he has since been under pressure from some anti-abortion backbench Tories to override the Charter and resurrect the old law at least until a new law is passed.
   Liberal Leader John Turner asked Hnatyshyn in the Commons Tuesday to repeat his assurance that the notwithstanding clause won’t be used. But Hnatyshyn would say only that he’s already answered that question.
          "This is my nephew, Eric. He wants to borrow that $100 you still owe me."
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OUTRIGGER'S JACK LEE
Restaurateur mourned
   Jack Lee, the man who brought elegant Polynesian dining to Prince George, died Monday in Vancouver General Hospital at the age of 74 following a lengthy illness.
   Well known for his Outrigger restaurant, Mr. Lee was a central figure in the Prince George restaurant business for more than 30 years.
   Born in Canton, China in 1913, he came to Prince George in 1947 as the owner of the Wayside Inn, a restaurant located on Third Avenue.
   In 1948, he took over the Chicken Inn restaurant and a year later began operating the Prince George Cafe located in the Prince George Hotel.
   In 1965, with foresight and a belief in this community, Mr. Lee constructed the Outrigger Polynesian Restaurant on Sixth Avenue during same era as the pulp mills were being established. He operated the restaurant until 1976.
   “It was a unique restaurant for Prince George and considered on a par with establishments across Western Canada including the Beachcomber in Vancouver,” said Lee’s son, Jim.
   “My father always enjoyed the
Jack Lee at Outrigger restaurant in 1972.
 restaurant industry and the people,” he said, recalling such notable persons as (former prime minister) Pierre Elliot Trudeau being served by family members during a visit to the restaurant.
   “The Outrigger was mentioned and described “as a surprise to find in Prince George” in a feature by Time Magazine about construction of Northwood Pulp and Paper, Jim Lee said.
   Mr. Lee belonged to the Downtown Rotary and Kinsmen Club as well as the civil defence organization in which he was in-
 volved in the food area.
   “He often catered to his clubs’ conventions including one at Six Mile Lake where he cooked for hundreds of people over outdoor bonfires,” Jim Lee said.
  The Lees moved to Vancouver in 1980.
   Mr. Lee is survived by wife, May and son Jim, of Vancouver, daughters Nancy and Dahlia of San Francisco, Belvon of Coquitlam and Sherri of Burnaby.
   A funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. Monday at the Chinese United Church in Vancouver.
INJURIES ON PICKET LINE
wtm
The Prince George
Citizen
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1988	40 CENTS
VSO revival plan eyed 2 Ten killed in raging storm 7 Lemieux star of stars 13
Ann Landers................30	Entertainment...........26,27
Bridge......................19	Family.....................30
Business...................8,9	Horoscopes.................18
City, B.C...................2,3	International ................7
Classified................16-20	Movies .....................26
Comics .....................26	National.....................5
Crossword..................17	Sports....................13-15
Editorial.....................4	Television ..................18
TELEPHONE: 562-2441
Mail truck
driver
'not
guilty'
     by KEN BERNSOHN Staff reporter Michael O’Dwyer, 26, of Dawson Creek, was found not guilty today of two charges of dangerous driving causing bodily harm after two women were injured when he drove a transport truck through a post office picket line last summer.
   The incident took place on June 23,1987 at the Prince George Canada Post mail-sorting plant on Penn Road.
   Although County Court Judge Victor Curtis ruled the manner of driving was dangerous, he said the Crown had not proved O’Dwyer intended injury or acted in an irrational manner.
   After edging through the picket line O’Dwyer accelerated significantly, which was a dangerous action, he said.
   He “used the force of the Mack truck to counter the force of the crowd,” Curtis said.
    Citing previous court rulings, the judge said the Crown had to prove the 26-year-old driver from Dawson Creek “departed from the usual standard of care,” considering the situation. He described the situation as people screaming, pounding on the truck, pushing against it — a situation easily leading to stress, confusion and fear.
   Deputy regional Crown counsel Oleh Kuzma said the Crown would consider appealing the decision.
   “The implications are pretty frightening if people can’t establish a legal picket line and be defended against dangerous driving,” Trevor Berry, business agent for the letter carriers’ union said immediately after the decision was made.
   “The Supreme Court has recently ruled, in federal jurisdiction, the right to peacefully picket is guaranteed under the Charter of Rights. We can’t leave it (the decision) lying in this particular courtroom.”
   He said other trucks had approached the mall processing plant on Penn Road earlier in the day and come to a halt, then negotiated to try to get permission to go through the line. He said O’Dwyer never halted.
   In his decision, Curtis went over the facts of the case, pointing out that the truck slowed, began a left turn, and inched through the line then accelerated.
   “Those toward the right fender were caught in the sweeping motion of the truck” as it turned into the parking lot. This meant those near the right bumper had difficulty getting out of the way. O’Dwyer could not see immediately in front of the truck due to the seven-foot height of the grille and hood. Therefore O’Dwyer could not have seen the two people injured when hit by the truck, Curtis said.
   Gertrude Lefebvre, 46, was hit, and had at least one wheel of the Mack truck go over her. She suffered gashes in her head, four broken ribs, broken vertebrae, a broken elbow, broken left knee and a broken ankle.
  Elaine Schemenauer was knocked down, tried to grab the bumper, then grabbed the front axle of the truck and was dragged about 30 metres before the truck stopped. After being treated at the Prince George Regional Hospital for scrapes and bruises she was released.
   O’Dwyer testified Tuesday that the first he knew of the injuries was after he inched the truck forward, watching people move aside, then drove into the parking lot.
   “Someone said I’d killed someone.”
   He stopped the truck.
   When he first approached the picket line, “I did not feel these people would actually try to stop me,” he said.
   In his summation, defence lawyer Dennis Mitchell argued that the strikers were blocking a public highway.
   He said O’Dwyer slowed down, and proceeded with caution through the picket line.
   “This isn’t dangerous driving,” Mitchell said.
   Kuzma replied, saying the legality of the picketing was not the issue.
   “If a person is jaywalking I have no right to hit him because I have the right of way. That is dangerous driving.
   “He drove in a way dangerous to the public — the picketers.”