www.pgcitizen.ca
THE
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015
Health care workers hold rally
PRINCE
GEORGE
CITIZEN
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Samantha WRIGHT ALLEN
Citizen staff, sallen@pgcitizen.ca
Prince George was one of 30 rally sites Tuesday as B.C. health care workers protested the one-year anniversary after the national Health Accord expired.
More than 20 health care workers and Hospital Employees’ Union members stood at the intersection of 15 Avenue and Central, waving flags and signs as passing cars honked support.
They joined a national day of action, organized by the Canadian Health Coalition, which is demanding the 10-year agreement be renewed. The accord guaranteed federal health care funding to provinces and territories.
It represents a $36 billion cut to federal transfers over a 10-year period, said Stephanie Smith, president of the BC Government and Services Employees’ Union.
SMITH
“We are not an impoverished country. We’re not an impoverished province and it is always about spending priorities,” said Smith of the accord, which expired March 31, 2014.
B.C. stands to lose $5 billion, Smith said.
While the provincial government announced increases to health care in its budget, Smith said that was counteracted by increases to health care premiums.
“We’re going to see user fees increasing. We’re seeing that in some hospitals already.”
Smith worries Canada is moving toward for-profit and private forms of health care delivery.
“We already have a health care system that’s stretched,” she said, adding that rural and isolated communities are underserved with patients often travelling long distances for care. “It’s going to get worse in my opinion.”
In Prince George, rally captain Natalie Fletcher said patients and staff have long been feeling the impact of underfunding.
— see ‘MORE, page 4
Time for school board to raise awareness about cuts: Warrington
Samantha WRIGHT ALLEN Citizen staff
Trustees came to Tuesday night’s board meeting wearing at least one black garment to mark the sombre discussion around budget cuts.
Brenda Hooker, chair of the finance committee, said it would be difficult to deal with the $3.3 million shortfall School District 57 is facing this year.
“There’s no possible way we can do that without affecting children and classrooms,” Hooker said, adding it’s frustrating that the focus is on taking away rather than being innovative.
Out of that, $727,000 must come from administrative savings, including the district office and in schools, following a province-wide government directive to cut $54 million in administrative services.
For Prince George, that represents $1.3 million over two years.
Former chair Sharel Warrington said it’s time for the board to do a better job communicating to the public how deep the cuts go.
“This year has really reached a high point, or I guess a very low point,” said Warrington, before the board unanimously passed her motion to develop strategies to raise awareness about the impact of the cuts.
“As long as we are the representatives of our board, of our community, we really do need to help our community, our public understand the challenges before us,” Warrington said. “They are significant. We are not going to be able to solve this alone.”
— see ADULT, page 4
Council
approves
University
Heights
rezoning
Charelle EVELYN Citizen staff cevelyn@pgcitizen.ca
After two hours of hearing opposition from neighbours, city council ultimately backed a proposal to spread multi-family homes through a larger area of a University Heights neighbourhood.
The 7-1 vote approved third reading of a rezoning application affecting a 2.43-hectare piece of land along Tyner Boulevard where the developer, Infinity Properties, is proposing to provide a mix of single-family and two-, three- and four-unit homes.
Coun. Albert Koehler voted against the application and Coun. Murry Krause was absent.
The public hearing and subsequent vote was postponed from March 2, after council proposed the nearly month-long break for neighbours to work out their is-
sues.
□ This developer has proven lack of moral accountability in continuously changing covenant rules.
— Diana Matheson
But despite updating a 2009 traffic impact study, changing the proposed layout of Rowe Street so that it functions as a crescent linking to University Heights Drive instead of connecting to the adjacent property owned by University Mountain View Estates and volunteering to register a covenant to limit the number of units, neighbours still had plenty to say about Infinity’s application.
In a letter to council, Diana Matheson said she was against the proposal due to changes already made to the area’s landscape and that the amount of units would lower the property values of the homes already established.
“This developer has proven lack of moral accountability in continuously changing covenant rules,” Matheson wrote. “As a lifetime resident of Prince George, I ask that you please deny this rezoning application and hold these property developers to a higher level of accountability. They divvy up their land, sell it to the highest bidder and then they are gone.” Matheson’s argument was reflected by nearly all the residents who spoke Monday night in opposition to the plan, with many citing a change in course from what they were told when they purchased their homes to what is now on the table for the subdivision.
— see ‘IT’S A, page 3
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