— - $20

GOOD deeds deserve
2pplause.

Soa 22-trumpet salute
herein to Diamond fim
Pattison for his $20 million
pledge over the next seven
vears to fund prostate cancer
research and education at
Vancouver General Hospital’s
Prostate Centre,

The record-setting act of
putting money where one’s
mouth is reveals there is
much more than bottom-lines
driving the persona of West
Vancouver's most successtitl
son.

Ir also sheds some much-
needed light on the issue of
prostate cancer and its current
standing near the bottom of
the political funding priority
heap.

North Vancouver MP ‘Ted
White, a long-time advocate
of increasing federal funding,
for prostate cancer research,
points out in a May 30 News
story that Pattison’s private
donation puts to shame the
federal government's $15 mil-
lion allocation to prostate
cancer research over the next
five years.

That federal government
funding is up markedly from
previous pitiful amounts, but
it’s still not enough when you
consider how widespread the
disease is and how many
Canadian families it has
affected and continues to
affect.

Other more politically
bankable ailments have rele-
gated prostate cancer to dis-
cant backburners.

Over the 10-year period
from 1992 to 2002, for
example, AIDS research will
have been allotted $414 mil-
lion in federal funding, breast
cancer $70 million and
prostate cancer a paltry $16.5
million.

To the Residents of:

m spotli

Prostate cancer research
funding in the first half of
that 10-year period was noth-
ing short of scandalous:
$560,000. AEDS research by
comparison got $203 million.

Here are some more stats
to chew on: Canadian men
now face a one in cight
chance of contracting prostate
cancer; itis the most fre-
quently diagnosed cancer in
mens an esumated 4,200 men
will die from prostate cancer
this year, under 500 will die
from AIDS. Yet AIDS gets 25
times more federal funding
than does prostate cancer.

In the five years after the
first death from AIDS was
reported in Canada in 1979,
Over seven times as many
deaths resulted trom prostate
cancer (52,000) as they did
from AIDS-related illnesses
(7,159).

Contrary to popular per-
ceptions, prostate cancer is
not an old man’s disease.
More and more it is afflicting
men in their 40s and 50s.

Nor is prostate cancer the
result of engaging in risky
lifestyle behaviours, Its cause
is unknown; the cause of
AIDS, on the other hand, is
known and therefore pre-
ventable. Yet the search for a
Prostate cancer cure continues

“to take a distant backseat to

AIDS. /
Ignoring prostate cancer
has a significant pricetag.
Annual treatment costs for
the estimated 20,000 new

cases per year in Canada
range upwards of $400 mil-
lion,

So what gives here?

For one thing, average
guys just aren't a big political
sell. On the radar sereen of
professional pols, they are but
Insignificant static compared
with “oppressed” special
interest groups.

And as most women will
tell vou, whether you want co
hear it or not, guys just aren't
good at dealing with things
medical.

Apart from the old female
saw that males are daisy boys

Dear Editor:

Open letter to North
Vancouver City mayor and
council: Congratulations for
using granite in the rebuilding
of your public civic plaza.

First, the good news: You
may not know that British
Columbia is blessed with some
of the world’s finest granites.
Further,
B.C. companies have invested
boldly in new granite quarry-
ing and fabricating technology
and are struggling to rebuild
our once thriving B.C. stone
and quarry trades.

Now, the other news:
Regretfully, we believe B.C.
granite pavers originally speci-
fied for che North Vancouver
Civie Plaza project have been
rejected in deference to gran-
ite imported from China.

Granite producers in China
may use labour, environmental

and trade practices which —- if

used in Canada — would be
clearly viewed as illegal, uneate
and unethical.

The District of West Vancouver, The District of North Vancouver,
and The City of North Vancouver;

£999 Residential
Lawn Sprinkling Regulations
In support of the Greater Vancouver Water District's Water Shortage

Response Plan, the following lawn sprinkling regulations are in
effect from June 1, 1999 until September 30, 1999:

EVEN numbered addresses can use sprinklers
SATURDAY and WEDNESDAY
4:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., and 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

ODD numbered addresses can use sprinklers

SUNDAY and THURSDAY

’ 4:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.,. and 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

. Special permits for ‘newly planted lawns are available at your
Municipal Hall to allow sprinkling outside the restricted times.

° Hand watering and sprinkling of vegetable gardens, shrubs
and Slowers are all unrestricted.

G. MacKay, P Eng:
District of West Vancouver

R. J. West-Sells, P Eng

_ District of North Vancouver

J. Laughlin, P Eng
City of North Vancouver

a osmall number of

when it comes to dealing with
pain, men as arule just don't
do the doctor thing, especially
when it comes to prostate -
area details,

They also don’t do the
wholesale lobbying and whin-
ing thing very well. Thus the
political non-priority of what is
a major national health issue.

Jim Pattison’s contribution
should do more than tiseal
good for prostate cancer
research, It should raise the
disease’s profile in the public
consciousness and perhaps in
the process ignite some tires
beneath some sedentary polit-

+

rock rol

The question is: should any
British Columbia public body,
citizen or corporation pur:
chase products from an olf:
shore manufacturer who pays
its workers 40 cents per hour
and provides no equivalent to
our Workers Compensation
Board, Provincial ~~ Labour
Code or Child Labour protec-
tion?

The B.C. Natural Stone
Association is beginning a
campaign to educate archi-
tects, landscape architects,
designers, project. specifiers
and public decision makers
about the truth and conse-
quences of this crisis, which is
having a serious impact on the
B.C, stone and quarry indus-
try.

Please consider the follow-
ing points:

@ Project specifiers in B.C.
should know the origin of
granite specified for any public
or private project, the same
way retail trade buyers should

“ADVERTISING CORRECTION

In our —
Father's Day #1 Sroadsheet

__, (Promo #695)
included in this newspaper

PLEASE NOTE:

Page 3 - Perry Evlis cotton short-
Sleeve crewneck tee, $82 will not-oe
available.

Page 5 - Nautica wrinkle resistant
ching shorts (style B71813c} S69 -

was incorrectly described. Copy should
ead. “Nautica wrinkle- resistant chino .
shorts, $75°,

Page 3 - item 0: Jones New York
canvas pant (style 4773470062), $1 10
will not be available. -

We sincerely apologize to our
valued customers and regret an}

inconvenience or confusion this

may have caused,

EATON’S

\ Ha. Gallery

.

Dundarave

2402 Marine Drive
W. Vancouver

925-1224

Sunday, June 6. 1999 — North Shore News -— 7

ical backsides to redress
Prostate cancers woeful fund:
ing inequity.

Some might quibble with
the condition placed on
Pattison’s donation — that.
the VGH and UBC hospital
foundation raise at least S10
milhon op its own over the
same seven-vear period of
Pattison’s piedge — bur the
gaveat makes good business
sense. The foundation, as
with any other, should not be
entirely dependent upon
money being dropped trom
on high. it should expect to
have to do some work on its

ling in
know if carpets or clothing
come trom “off-shore” facto-
ries that violate our labor or
child protection standards.

@ B.C. Granite provides a
100% contribution to our B.C,
economy by providing many
primary and secondary jobs.
B.C. granite represents money
reinvested in the B.C. econo-
my. Granite from China pro-
vides a profit to an importer —
but the bulk of taxpayers’
money is in effect transferred
“off-shore,” possibly to a
state-run operation.

@ Using the wrong stone may
create liability.

The B.C. quarry trades are
not atraid of competition —
ona level playing field. B.C.
granite producers have invest-

inequity |

own behalfin raising money
and public awareness. Goals
are great motivators. That's
the capitalist way of the
world.

As to your own good deed
in this department: there’s a
Father's Day (Sunday, June
20) run co raise funds for
prostate cancer research start-
ing at Y a.m. at Burnaby Lake
Park. Call the run hotline at
983-4262 for information.
Your contribution will make a
difference.

Healthy dads make the
world a better place.

—~ renshaw@direct.ca

plaza

ed many millions of dollars
into the provincial economy
the past three years to com-
pete successfully on issues of
price, quality and service with
the finest stone producers in
the developed world.

Nor all granite is created
equal, On the basis of appear-
ance and quality, B.C. Granite
is among the finest in the
world,

Consider the real cost of
buying “cheap” granite from
China, ft is the same as the
cost of buying “cheap” lumber
trom China. :
Ron Percival,
Chairman. :
British Columbia Natural

Vice-

"Stone Association

yoho@mail.connected.be

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