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PRINCE GEORGE
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Citizen
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Serving the Central Interior since 1916
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2001
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Rural doctor crisis solved
More than a dozen physicians coming to health region
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen staff
More than a dozen family physicians are expected to come to the Northern Interior Health Region in the near future, thanks to the efforts of Maurice Leblanc of Mackenzie.
The solitary recruiting drive by Leblanc, owner of the Mackenzie pharmacy, means six surrounding communities will have solved their family doctor shortage by spring.
“We’re going to have more physicians than we can place (in the rural areas),” said Dr. Jennifer Rice, regional medical director with the Northern Interior Regional Health Board (NIRHB). Rice said two extras have already been placed in Prince George.
“And we still have 10 more to work with,” Rice added.
Rice said Wednesday there is only one vacancy remaining in the rural communities surrounding Prince George, and she’d “stake her job” on her belief that it will be filled within sue months.
Rice told the NIRHB that three physi-
cians have signed connacts in McBride and Valemount, and a fourth one is expected; two physicians are coming to Fort St. James in January that will bring that community to a full compliment; four physicians are in place in Mackenzie, four full time and one semiretired physician is in Burns Lake and eight full-time and two part-time physicians are practicing in Vanderhoof.
Rice attributes much of the recruiting success to Leblanc who spent three weeks in about six cities in South Africa where he interviewed 72 doctors.
“I know that professionals in South Africa want to relocate. That’s a known fact,” said Leblanc, who came home with 20 resumes of interested physicians which he submitted to Rice.
Those resumes have been screened down to those who meet the requirements of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C., Leblanc told The Citizen.
Leblanc said when Mackenzie was having a serious problem with doctors he “thought it was time for action.”
“Small communities like us can’t expect the hospital board administration to do everything,” said Leblanc who had a lot of contacts from a trip he made to South Africa in 1999 to talk to pharmacists. He prepared for this recruiting trip for more than three months, learning as much as could in order to answer questions.
And did they ever have a lot of questions, said Leblanc, noting it wasn’t abnormal for interviews to last 10 to 12 hours. Leblanc said the two most popular questions asked were “Is it true you have RCMP dressed in red?” and “Do you actually have white snow like we see on TV?”
‘“But they asked about everything
from lifestyles to schooling, cost of living, rural communities and population, and even how much a car costs.”
Rice said $3,000 was used from the rural recruitment budget to help offset Leblanc’s expenses.
“We were pleased to support his trip and we are very excited that it produced such positive results,” Rice said.
Forestry union criticizes environmentalists’ report
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
B.C.’s largest forest workers’ union Wednesday accused a coalition of environmental groups of working with U.S. lumber interests to eliminate forest jobs in Canada.
The environmental groups — calling themselves the B.C. Coalition for Sustainable Forest Solutions — issued a report in July that claimed B.C. taxpayers were subsidizing the province’s industry by $3 billion to $6 billion each year. U.S. lumber, firms successfully used a similar argument in a trade battle with Canada, which resulted in a preliminary 19.3% duty on Canadian lumber imports in August.
A review of the environmental coali-
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tion’s research found it was so shoddy and the logic so flimsy that it lacks credibility, said Dave Haggard, president of the Industrial, Wood and Allied Workers of Canada (IWA).
“They should be ashamed,” said Haggard, whose union represents about 5,000 forestry workers in the Prince George region. “They are helping U.S. firms to kill jobs in Canada.”
Environmental coalition spokesman William Horter said it was difficult to respond to the IWA attacks without knowing specifically what figures they were referring to in the report.
“I will say that the allegation we’re helping U.S. firms to kill jobs in Canada is absurd,” said Horter. “The work of the coalition is to talk about the real problems in B.C. and the real solutions.”
IWA Canada research director Doug Smyth said the figures used by the environmental coalition to support its claim were the same used by the U.S. lumber group that has alleged B.C. and other Canadian provinces subsidize its forest industry with low timber-harvesting fees.
By failing to convert western U.S. harvest volumes, the environmental coalition was able to vastly overestimate the difference between B.C. and U.S. stumpage costs, said Smyth. The miscalculation alone cuts the difference between B.C. and U.S. stumpage by one-third in the Interior and by half on the Coast, he said.
The environmental groups also failed to acknowledge or account for the impact on stumpage rates of important differences in species mix, log export volumes or real harvesting and hauling costs, added Smyth. “In its eagerness to drum up large subsidy allegations against the B.C. forest industry, the B.C. Coalition for Sustainable Forest Solutions has made serious calculation errors which render its conclusions meaningless.”
Horter questioned why the IWA was choosing to respond to the report three months after it was released. He also said the report was meant as a starting point to assist the new Liberal government in moving toward a market-based timber-pricing system, reforming timber-harvesting rights and creating a more sustainable forest sector for communities.
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF —
Three of Te vye's daughters sing of marriage and men in the first act of the Fiddler On The Roof, which opened Wednesday night at the Prince George Playhouse. The show runs through Oct. 20. Call 563-2880 for tickets.
Citizen photo
by Dave Milne
$1M budget increase not enough: NIRHB
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen staff
The Northern Interior Regional Health Board’s 2001—2002 operating budget contains a slight increase, but it’s not enough to cover an expected multi-million dollar deficit, said Barry Cheal, finance director.
Since the B.C. government had frozen the health budget for the next three years, Cheal said he didn’t expect a lot of surprises.
“We received a slight increase of $1 million” which brings the budget, received in a letter Tuesday from the Ministry of Health, to $118 million, said Cheal, who added, it won’t begin to make up for an estimated $6 million deficit the board expects to face
at'fiscal year end on March 31.
The letter also stated the government will pay for union wage increases for this year only amounting to about $5 million, but not for remaining years of contracts.
Total estimated costs of union contracts to March 31,2004, are estimated at $13.75 million “leaving potentially $8 million to be funded over the next two years,” Cheal said.
Cheal doesn’t know at this point if the wage increases will include costs of employee benefits like pensions, CPP and so forth.
The budget letter did not specifically mention the natural gas and other fuel prices which amounts to about $1 million for this year, and local officials are still waiting for information on the Min-
istry of Health’s support for the $10 million physician recruiting and retention contract allocated to the Northern Medical Society in June, 2000. That contract is up for contract negotiations March 31.
Lorraine Grant, NIRHB chairperson, said the budget does not match the region’s needs.
“We are committed to providing much-needed health services to the people of our region; yet we are continually under-funded.
Grant said more work is needed to calculate exactly what the deficit will be, but said the board will continue to work to regionalize many of its services to gain efficiencies.
NIRHB must reply to the budget letter no later than Oct. 26.
Treaty hearing process encouraging: MLA
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
Liberal MLA Paul Nettleton said Wednesday he’s encouraged by the tone of the first meetings to get input on referendum questions that will set principals for settling treaties.
There’s been little or no anti-treaty sentiment and natives have spoken at meetings in Prince Rupert and Smithers despite the First Nations Summit call for a boycott, he said.
“I think there’s a will to move forward, and this hearing process has not proved to be a divisive forum for those that are opposed to treaties,” said the Prince George-Omineca MLA.
“In fact, there’s something very healthy and good about allowing residents and leaders from various groups — be it First Nations or community groups — an opportunity to speak on their perspectives, concerns
and likely impact of treaties to them.”
The public input sessions kicked off last week in Prince Rupert, also travelling to Smithers and Fort St. John. This week, public meetings will be held in Williams Lake, Kelowna and Cran-brook. The public input sessions are set to come to Prince George on Oct. 24‘.
Nettleton, deputy-chairman of the aboriginal affairs committee travelling the province, acknowledged there hasn’t been much direct input into what questions should be in the referendum or on the guiding principles.
That won’t, however, stop the committee from coming up with a set of questions by its Nov. 15 deadline, he said.
“They are still helping us to formulate some sense of their concerns ... in fact, providing us with the kind of information we need to put our minds to those questions,” he said.
One of the few presenters to offer di-
rect suggestions for the questions was from Prince Rupert. Bruce Gochauer suggested the referendum could include questions like: What percentage of Crown land would you favour transferring to First Nations and what percentage of the budget do you favour spending on treaties over the next 40 years?
However, one native who spoke in Smithers remains concerned the referendum process could be divisive. Darlene Glaim-Buchholtz, a Wet’sutwet’en native, said the yes-no nature of a referendum could polarize the province. “We are concerned that this polarization may be a harbinger of ill will and bad feelings that will be with us for years to come,” she said.
But opportunities also exist to resolve treaties, she said. “We can meet these challenges if we work together in a spirit of recognition, respect and reconciliation.”
WestJet will continue to operate status quo
by KAREN KWAN Citizen staff
Smaller airlines say they have no immediate plans to increase service to Prince George in response to schedule reductions by Air Canada Regional.
An official for discount carrier Westjet said its current service level is suffi-cient to meet demand in Prince George. “We will continue to operate status quo out of Prince George,” said Bill Lamberton, vice-president of marketing and sales. The Calgary-based airline operates four flights per day from Prince George: two to Vancouver, one to Victoria and one to Calgary.
There’s been a slight drop in passenger volume across the system since the
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Sept. 11 terrorist strikes in the U.S., he said, but nothing that would prompt a cut in service. As for flight reductions at Air Canada Regional, Lamberton said WestJet might be able to handle the displaced travellers on its current runs.
And while other carriers in the country, including Air Canada and Air Transat, have cut routes and flights, WestJet has added a weekly non-stop run between Kelowna and the airline’s eastern hub in Hamilton, Ont.
As part of a 24% capacity reduction throughout its system, Air Canada Regional announced this week it is eliminating five daily flights from Prince George, including its 6 p.m. flight to Vancouver and its service to Calgary,
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and Kamloops and Kelowna. As well, two of three daily flights from Prince George to Dawson Creek are being replaced by direct flights from Dawson Creek to Vancouver. The changes — in effect from Nov. 4 to April 6 — are part of a massive downsizing announced by parent company Air Canada, spurred by declining passenger demand and additional costs resulting from the terrorist attacks. It’s not known if any of the 31 local employees will lose their jobs.
Alberta-based Peace Air is assessing its options in light of the industry developments, including improving connections from Prince George to Calgary and Edmonton, said president Albert Cooper.
However, he said there’s no time frame
for a decision. “Do we have any immediate plans for Prince George? No. But it is a market that’s of interest to us,” he said.
Northern Thunderbird Air of Prince George is largely unaffected by the decision at Air Canada Regional, said operations manager Bill Hesse. “It doesn’t really make a difference to our service,” he said. The airline focuses on charter flights and limited scheduled service to small northern communities-such as Williston Lake, Fort Ware and Tsay Keh. However, Hesse said the airline could be affected if the Air Canada Regional cuts make it inconvenient for hunters and fishers to connect to northern camps via Prince George.
— See story on page 14
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