nerth shore news VIEWPOINT Time to act ORTH Shore residents have but one clear shot at stating Nj their positions regarding the creation of a Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority (GVTA). ‘The Greater Vancouver Regional District is hosting a series of public consultation meetings this month throughout the Lower Mainland. Just cne session is set for the North Shore: doors open at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 7 in the ballroom at Lonsdale Quay Hotel. The deadline for ratification of a . recommended agreement on trans- ‘portation governance and funding for such an authority is set for Feb. 28. -The basic deal at hand is this: the province is passing on to a regional level the levers of power necessary to ‘develop and manage transit and Everything from AirCare, to trains, buses and bridges is on the table. The authority will directly collect revenues froin transit fares, fuel tax and other revenues currently flowing to the province and the Vancouver Regional Transit Commission. Some local municipal politicians would like to see the Feb. 28 ratifica- tion deadline extended to allow for more specific information on the financial aspects of the agreement. - It is legitimate to ask whether the timing is driven by the NDP’s desire to show a debt and liability down- loading benefit in its spring 1998 budget. Others are critical of the fact that there will only be one member representing the entire North Shore on the GVTA board. There remain many questions to be transportation 4 mailbox infrastructure. Crime report lacks - fespect f for rights. Dear Editor: Iraj Rezaei).you unfortii- nately missed a few signif is’ important our : next. quar- ictive. report.’ r long-time loyal eaders are just curious to know! why ‘you'-did. not “mention those issues. Following . bricfly we look into the matter: Iraj‘ Rezaci got a traffic icket. He deliberately did ot .buckle’ his’ scat-belt hile driving a car!!! Iraj Rezaei stopped on _ pedestrian. lane. on 13th ":and ‘Lonsdale ‘and violat- “ed traffic regulations; @ Iraj. Rezaei refused to say “Hi” to a North Van “police officer; “AB Iraj Rezaci got a warn- _ing from-a Safeway con- “troller. for reverse park- ingly tion. showed no responsibility. Once more you _ proved how hostile you “ guys are. , You have no respect ‘for one’s _ fundamental | human rights. For the past years, you “and North Van pre ejudice and. revengeful police have béen working hard to defame my. reputa- . You hate me. I hate you guys too. . - You hate my commu- nity. - Tam sure a vast major- ity of my community hate the North Shore News.. 1am still alive. lam working with full capacity. - Iam still. the .same. man: extremely intelli- gent, responsible and constructive. I still hate you and your co-conspire Islaiaic government of Iran. still hate Iranian Islamic Fundamentalists on the North Shore. Traj Rezaci Vancouver Worth Shore News. founded in 1969 as an subuthan newspaper and quabtied under Sctudule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Gece fax Act. 1s published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid. and ckstrouted to every door on the Hoth Shove. Canada Post Canadan Pubbrations Mat Sales Product Agresment to 0007238 Masing rates avanlable on request. Garbara Emo Distribution Manager 986-1337 (124) 985- 64,582 (average circulation, Wesnesday. Friday & Sunday) : Par ee ee 985-2131 (101) donathan Bell Creative Sereces Manager 2131 (127) 985-2131 (160) Entire contents © 1997 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All tights reserved. asked and answered. Get involved. Pp OO BR OnE; ouT oF PROFESSIONAL ‘CouRTESY, FATHER TIME VISITS DR. KEVORKIAN . ‘Midwifery burdens sinking system SNEAKY Christmas and Stupid New Year from Joy MacPhail. While the monopoly state health sys- tem frays with cutbacks and invisible signs reading Caution: The Auditor-General Has Determined That Rationed Health Services and Long Waiting Lists . for Surgery May Cause Your Death — as it actu- ally has in some highly ublicized cases — B.C."s ealth minister is incorpo- rating a totally arbitrary service that duplicates and competes with an existing service. Midwifery. A blest to the past that only New Democratic Party feminist ide- ologues like MacPhail would push for at a time when the system is being throttled by budget cutbacks. And it was sprung on the province — here’s the sneaky part — 10 days before the end of the year, complete with a New Year’s baby bureaucracy, the College of Midwifery. A grand way of aborting dis- cussion by a public distracted by the Christmas season. Even better, MacPhail handed the midwives a much fatter fee than doctors get. Especially considering their respec- tive qualifications and overhead costs. Midwives can walk into the new bureaucratic structure without any degree or diploma if they’ve had practical experience. (Incidentally, B.C.’s highest- profile midwife swiftly announced she won’t join the new college.) In contrast, doctors spend six years in professional Des Dhaliwal Human Resoutces 985-2131 (177) PETER SPECK Publisher fe Stephenson Classitied Manager 986-6222 (202) Photography Manager ots ete ete studies on top of three years of under- graduate work, As of vesterday, when the college kicked in, a midwife will be paid $2,250 per delivery and 42 days of post-delivery service. Her income will . be capped at a very ample $90,000 a year. That’s 40 deliveries. Under the Medical Services Plan, as a Langley doctor cited in a- bitter letter, a doctor is paid about $800 for. ” equivalent scrvice. About | half gocs to office over- head. Which, one sus- pects, is far less for mid- wives. Midwives insist they do more than. doctors, It says here that most of their post-natal care falls into the category of warm fuzzies and New Age bonding. Stuff that first mothers have historically acquired from their own mothers, sisters, friends and post-natal classes. Stuff that most mothers won’t need after their first baby. Stuff they may even considér intrusive but will shrug and accept because it’s “free.” If there are - post-natal complexities, midwives won’t be able to handle them anyway, as acknowledged in a recent pro- * midwife letter in the Sin. And think. Doesn’t your family doctor know the “whole you” better than any short-term midwife with onc specialty? If you can’t imagine when your doctor’s broad med- ical knowledge, plus familiarity with your medical history, might be of crucial importance at childbirth, you need a live- lier imagination. Midwives of course have. been’a arou id for a long time, doing their then-neces- ~~ sary and noble work when “doctors” were merely barbers in Salerno. But today midwives have only limit utility and appeal, mostiy to upper-mid- dic-class urban trendics and fans of med- ica! chic — the very parlor pinks ai arrange. for theni privately, and fo » delivery, if they wished.’ Most births are simple, - having one yourself — as I jovially tol my wife at Lions Gate Hospital had our third, sertling down ‘wit book beside her bed. But, anticipating ‘any ‘comp! catio friend, P'd go with the team of p their equipment at a hospital — i ing the nurses. At Lions’Gate th wonderful, adding not only. skills vital element of cheer-leading suppo that a ‘male doctor usually can’t co! ai says, this will add costs to'a besieged sy in - rem. I think of Frank Mercier: ages Wilf’s Automatic Transmission; owned by.my West. Vanco / Wilf Burnett. Last June Frank was in‘de: of heart bypass and aorta valve surge soon complicated by a badly broken. shoulder. Desperate, in pain, he didn get the surgery until Oct. 23. His pli made the BCTV news. While the Frank ‘: Merciers wait in agony, Health Minister MacPhail plays to her narrow constitue cy with public moncy and primps in}: advertisements as the NDP’s pinup girl and aspiring premier. a LETTERS TO THE EDITOR © Letters must include your name, full address & telephone number. ar ‘VIA e-mail: trenshaw @ direct.ca Goug Foot Comptrolier 988-2431 (133) Managing Editor 985-2131 (116) Gali Sneigrove General Office Manager 925-2931 (105) internet- hitp:/Avww.nsnews.com Promotions Manager Display Manager 980-0511 (166) 985-2131 (218) Classitied Advertising Newsroom Distribution Display & Reai Estate Fax Newsroom Fax Classified, Accounting & Main Office Fax Michael Becker - News Editor 985-2131 (114) . Andrew McCredie - Sports/Community Editor 995-2131 (147)