PRINCE GEORGE
High today: 13 Low tonight: 4 Details page 2
THURSDAY, APRIL 26,2001
Serving the Central Interior since 1916
80 CENTS (HOME DELIVERED: 50 CENTS A DAY)
Board wants hospital probe
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen staff
The Northern Interior Regional Health Board is calling for an independent third party investigation to look into safety concerns expressed this week by doctors at Prince George Regional Hospital.
Board chair Lorraine Grant said the board is responding by asking representatives from the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons, B.C. Registered Nurses Association and B.C. Risk Management Society to conduct an investigation on safety issues at the hospital.
“We have heard the concerns and we will move quickly to have those concerns investigated so we can continue to provide a safe environment for patients and staff, with the highest possible quality of care,” Grant said.
Doctors went public Tuesday about
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“What a screwup. I was only supposed to get a hip replacement.”
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“We have heard the concerns and we will move quickly to havethose concerns investigated.”
—Lorraine Grant
their concerns for patient safety, and pointed a finger at PGRH administration for allowing the hospital to deteriorate “beyond the point where physicians can confidently care for the citizens of Prince George.”
“The administration of the hospital
has allowed the nursing situation to deteriorate to the point where we can no longer guarantee safe care. The board must take responsibility for this situation and act immediately,” said Dr. Michael Moran, president of the Northern Medical Society.
In a phone survey of 96 nurses, the doctors said they learned only 2% of nurses are satisfied with administration at PGRH, 39% said they are asked to care for patients with illnesses beyond their level of training and 48% said the average shift worldoad is too great to provide proper care.
Moran said the situation puts doctors in the position of having to balance their legal liability with college guidelines and a commitment to patients.
Grant is asking medical staff to continue to work with the board to bring
concerns to its attention and find solutions together.
She said the biggest solution is to find more nurses and there is hope from recruiting efforts.
NIRHB director Harry Hufty said the board was aware of a high-level concern among the physicians, but they were not aware it was going to be made public.
“Our feeling is we should be working closely togethei to address the issues as they occur—not after the fact,” said Hufty.
“To say the board and administration is doing nothing to address the problems is a bit unfair. Administration is working hard to resolve the problems and our recruiting campaign is highly aggressive and is starting to pay off.” There are eight nursing graduates from UNBC, 20 registered nurses in a refresher course at CNC, 20 third-year nursing students and four third-year licensed practical nurses who are expected to start working at PGRH or in the region in the next six months, said Grant.
Harris named Alliance whip
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day named Prince George-Bulkley Valley MP Dick Harris to a senior party post Wednesday as Day moved quickly to replace senior MPs who resigned roles to protest his leadership.
Harris takes over the party whip duties from John Reynolds, who was named House leader during a caucus hieet-ing in Ottawa.
Deputy leader and caucus chair Deborah Grey, House leader Chuck Strahl and deputy House leader Grant McNally stepped down from their posts TUesday, less than a year after Day took the helm from former leader Preston Manning.
Other MPs have called for Day’s resignation following a series of gaffes, including a flip-flop on whether he had met an investigator who was supposed to “get the goods” on business dealings by Prime Minister Jean Chretien.
But Harris, a Day loyalist who supported the former Alberta treasurer for the Alliance leadership, played down the internal party dispute.
“We have a caucus with a small number of people that are concerned about a number of things,” he said
from Ottawa. “We’re sorting them out. It’s far less of a story than the national media is making it out to be.”
He said his support for Day is “unshakable” and added it’s not appropriate for MPs to be calling for the leader’s resignation. Harris didn’t criticize Prince George-Peace River MP Jay Hill, who earlier this week said he’s increasingly concerned with Day’s inability to overcome major
and blunders.”
Hill has been “decent and diplomatic” in his comments, said Harris, who was the Alliance’s deputy finance critic for banks and institutions.
Hill, also contacted in Ottawa, said as far as he knows he still retains his post as transport critic. Hill, who had supported Manning for the leadership, was party whip under the former leader for six months.
Hill said he’s still reserving judgment on whether he supports Da/s leadership. He said Day is to bring back a plan on how he will address MPs’ concerns on his continuing gaffes to the caucus meeting next Wednesday. “Until we can see that plan is there, in place and acted upon, I think the concerns about his leadership will continue,” said Hill.
CP photo
Local MP Dick Harris Is seen in the background as Stockwell Day listens to questions Wednesday.
Citizen photo by Brent Braaten
FISH FRIENDS — Jillian Newman, 9, and Stacy Nadeau, 10, both Foothills Elementary students, paint a fish by a storm drain on Urquhart Crescent Wednesday afternoon. Students painted the fish by the drains to remind the public not to pour waste down them because the water is not treated before it flows back into our rivers.
Candidates debate Liberal tax cut plan
City pushes census
by KAREN KWAN Citizen staff
The City of Prince George is urging residents to do their part for the community by participating in the 2001 national census next month.
“It’s important to the community and to the province,” said Coun. Don Zurowski. “Stand up and be counted.”
Current estimates peg the population of Prince George at 81,000.
Census population counts are used to determine funding from the federal and provincial governments in areas such as health care and education. The federal government bases transfer payments to the provinces on the numbers as well.
“Every time we understate the population by one person, we lose $1,000 from the federal government in transfer payments,” Zurowski said.
If goodwill and community spirit aren’t enough to compel people to
complete the census, under law each household is required by the federal government to participate.
Prince George-area residents can expect to receive a census questionnaire at their homes during the first week of May. If a response is not received by May 15, census takers will conduct home visits during the following two weeks. One in five questionnaires — homes will be chosen at random — will be more comprehensive than others.
Individual information given during the census is confidential to Statistics Canada, so people don’t have to worry about data being turned over to other government agencies or to the city, Zurowski said.
During the 1996 census, B.C. had the lowest rate of mail returns of any province. Anyone with questions can call the census information line at 1-800-591-2001.
Election
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
The Liberals’ promise of a “dramatic” personal income-tax cut within 90 days to spur B.C.’s economy is one of the party’s major platform planks.
It’s rolled out at almost every speech by candidates. It’s also criticized at every turn by the New Democrats, who say the Liberals won’t be able to deliver the tax cuts and maintain health and eduction services.
But Prince George North hopeful Pat Bell argues putting more money in people’s pockets will mean more spending on everything from a pair of jeans to repairing a fence to buying a new car. That, in turn, will create jobs and stimulate the economy, which will mean more tax revenues for the government, he said. “When you combine tax cuts with an efficient government, the net results is economic growth, which is what we all desire,” said Bell, a restaurant and logging truck owner.
He pointed to a study prepared for the U.S. Congress reviewing the economic performance of the lowest tax states versus the highest tax states from 1965 to 1993. It showed the growth in real per capita income for the 25 lowest tax states was 32% high-
er than the 25 highest tax states.
Bell also noted that nine of the 10 provinces in Canada that have had some form of a tax cut in the past decade have seen government revenue increase.
However, the NDP points to its own set of studies, showing the U.S. Treasury Department calculated U.S. president Ronald Reagan’s tax cuts in the early ’80s reduced American government revenue by $164 billion a year, and economic growth slowed.
The New Democrats also note that a study commissioned by the B.C. Institute of Chartered Accountants last year indicates for every dollar in tax cuts, government would recover only 10 to 20 cents.
Prince George North NDP candidate Bryan Llewellyn said he doesn’t believe the Liberals’ tax cut logic makes sense. “In fact, I think it’s ridiculous,” said Llewellyn, a hospital lab technologist.
The $20 or $30 it might add to a paycheque won’t have a huge impact on the economy, he said. Because the tax cuts will not be able to stimulate enough economic growth to Cover the loss in government revenues means the government will either have to borrow money to maintain services or cut services, he said. “I don’t see how they can do it.”
— See stories on pages 3, 5
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