NORTH VANCOUVER CITY

Environment a concern
as NVC backs several
First Narrows options

-THE LIONS Gate Bridge
should be replaced by either
a shallow tunnel or a new
five-lane bridge, or be refur-
bished into a double-deck
bridge, North. Vancouver
City, Council decided
Monday night.

. By Stephen Wisenthal
_ Contributing Writer

- The councillors voted to back
a number of options while stress-
ing the need to preserve the envi-
ronment and provide a safe First
Narrows crossing.

“Coun. Barbara Perrault said
she supported the idea of a new
‘five-lane bridge or a shallow
tunnel on the grounds of safety.

“There are more accidents on

-the Lions Gate Bridge than on

any other bridge in- the Lower

Mainland,” said Perrault.
“Mayor Jack: Loucks said a

new crossing should have the.

least. possible impact on the
environment.

“What we'd like to see is
something that will have the
least destruction, certainly to the
North Shore but aiso to Stanley
Park,” said Loucks.

Council's motion suggested

‘the Ministry of Transportation

and Highways choose from the

following possible crossings:

EB both of the double- ~decking

options; .

the new five-lane bridge

option;

@ three shallow tunnel options,

just east of the existing structure,

using two routes through Stanley

Park or around Brockton Point.
A shortlist of three or four

options will be passed on to the |

highways. ministry by the
Community Focus Committee.

A committee of technical
experts, including an offshore
bridge expert, the ministry's
bridge engineer and other con-
sultants will examine the favored

options in closer detail.

NEWS photo Cindy Goodman

LEESA ANDERSON of i West Vancouver's First. impression Hair Design holds the Revenue
Canada document which explains that she has to pay Ul benefits for Staff who are renting chairs
in her establishment and consider themselves to be self-employed.

seek pee rules Revenue Canada says she is liable to pay for UI

NORTH : VANCOUVER |

City councillors. pressed
‘staff Monday night to pro-
duce a poticy on triplexes as
‘ they:decided: to: send'a pro-
posed three-unit develop-
ment toa public hearing.

By Stephen Wisenthal “

Q Coniribiating Writer!

Developer Dav id Lie man

; “told council his s proposed devel-
“opment at 218 Bast i9th St. had

deen stalled since it.was voted

down in July. He, demanded
“action.

said'Leeman.'
He'saidhe already had a

‘planning permit for a duplex on -

‘the site, but the units'in a triplex

“would be more afferdable. :
; Either. structure would have

about the same floor area -=

about 3,800 square fect (353 sq.’

m)'— so there would be no

point-in defeating a triplex ;

because it would be too bulky,
said Leeman.

“The scale of the street is
going to.be altered one way or
“another,” he told council.

“ ioe ; cs

Ls Business . .27

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: “fB Classified Ads..........37,

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, “What we are asking is one
question only —; that we: be.

{allowed ‘lo build three units on.
* this‘site,”

' He added that two other
triplexes had been approved on
nearby lots in duplex zones dur-
ing recent months.

Coun. Bill Bell said the city

“needed to develop a broader pol-
_ icy on the treatment of triplexes.

“TL don't mind it going to a
public hearing, but my big con-
cern is that this council has not
looked at.the triplex question,”
said Bell.

‘Coun. John Braithwaite said

“the city should stick by the offi-
cial community plan and put a

stop to ull three-unil develop-
ments in duplex zones.

“L hope council really takes
this seriously and puts its foot
down,” said Braithwaite, oppos-
ing sending the proposal to pub-
lic hearing.

Coun. Barbara Perrault said it

“would be difficult to hold the

line on density in a time of very
high land prices.

“City lots are now selling for

in. excess. of $200,000 or
$300,000. When we first bought
our homes in this city, $6,000 or
$7,000 would. buy you a very
fine piece of land,” said
Perrault.

Planner Richard White said
staff expected to have planning
guidelines for duplex zoning

. ready by April.

8 Inquiring Reporter . ve A2
Insights...:...........

@i News of the Weird.....34

i Vintage Years | veeee eee 2D

. fi What’s Going On ... .. 23

Weather

Monday, mostly cloudy with showers. High SC, low I°C.

: Canadian Publications Mail Sates Product Agreement Number 0087238

REVENUE CANADA‘ ‘has
made operating a salon a hair-
raising experience for a West

’VancGuver woman.

. By Kate Zimmerman

Contributing Writer

Leesa Anderson owns First
Impression Hair. Design at 2389
Marine Dr. She rents out five styl-
ists’ chairs there.’

Since the business opened three /
the:

yeurs ago, the hairdressers at
store have had their own hairdress-
ing and business licences and GST
numbers.The hairdressers collect
their own money directly from cus-
tomers and buy their own hair-care
nroducts.

But the federal government says
they are Anderson’s employees and
she must pay their unemployment
insurance benefits.

Anderson maintains the stylists

are self-employed, and so do they.

And, she says, if she is expected

to pay $5,000 in benefits annually
- to the people who rent her chairs for
* $500 a month, and pay an accoun-

tant to calculate her contributions,
other salon owners who use the
same chair rental arrangement
should be equally liable.

Otherwise, she will have to raise
the rent of the chairs to cover unem-
ployment insurance benefit costs,
and her stylists will likely move to
other salons that do not have to pay
the benefits. Most of them don’t.

Anderson says she has spoken to
nine salon owners in West
Vancouver and none of them pay
the benefits to staff.

“Flow am I supposed to keep my
renters?” she asks.

She also went into the claims
office posing as a hairdresser rent-
ing a chair. She said:she had been
told by her employer that the salon
was now required to pay unemploy-
ment insurance. Anderson says tie
claims office assured her that she

was self-employed.

In: another experiment,
accountant altempted to send unem-
ployment insurance payments to
Revenue Canada for a former
employee.

The government returned the
cheque, informing the accountant
that the hairstylist had been self-
employed.

Revenue Canada public affairs,
officer Dave Morgan, says he can’t’

* discuss Anderson's particular case.

He says when individuals begin
businesses they apply for an
Employers’ Remittance Order and
obtain a kit containing information
about benefits, among other issucs.
Morgan says Anderson would have
received a booklet of information
for barbers and hairdressers which
telis them that stylists who rent
chairs are considered by Revenue
Canada to be * ‘employed in insur-

able employment in spite of the fact

that they are not employees.”

Under the unemployment insur-
ance regulations which date back
to 1965, hair salon owners in this
situation are required to withhold
money from employees to submit to
the government — even though
Anderson's employees’ are not paid
by her in the first place.

Morgan says Revenue Canada
has a review program which allows
it to conduct audits on an ongoing
basis. It doesn’t target any particu-
lar industry, he says.

" If Anderson feels there are other
businesses of the same type as hers
which are not complying with this
Revenue Canada policy, Morgan
says she can inform Revenue
Canada about them.

“Asked if Revenue Canada is
itself unconcerned with consistency
of compliance, Morgan says that's
not-the case. “If we find there is a
lack of consistency in any industry
we would certainly follow up,” he
says.

The North Shore News con-
ducted an informal survey. of 25

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION:
Should: there be limits on residential garbage pick-up i in North. Vancouver?

her’

barbers and hairstylists on the North ;
Shore. Of the surveyed shops. which
rented chairs to Stylists, none paid
unemployment. insurance benefits
for employees. - :
Most owners who spoke 10 the :
News had na idea they were expect-
ed to pay ‘the benefits; they
described their renters as self
employed, ,
One owner said he knew about
~ Revenue Canada’s position, but he
got around the issue-by keeping all
the stylists’ business dealings sepa-
rate from his own, including having
themeach pay a portion of his:
salon's rent. oe
Lawrence Pattenatide, an
employee of North Park Men’s
Hair, says he used to rent a chair at
Crimpers in New Westminster. in
the 1970s, He claims’ renting chairs.”
is “commonplace” in the industry.
and at any given lime there are sev-
eral ads in the classified section of .
local newspapers: offering chairs for
rent. ' :
In the 1970s, Pattenaude says *

Revenue Canada accepted that hairs >”

stylists who rented chairs were self-
employed.’ He never received ‘T4
slips from Crimpers and didn’t have
to pay the unemployment insurance .
benefits.

Anderson predicts a large: hue
and cry if this Revenue Canada pol-
icy is implemented everywhere.
“There are 12,000 hairstylists in
B.C.,” she says.

! The ones in her-shop don’ t.want
to have to contribute $500-$700. |.
And she doesn't think she’ll de able -

; to.compete ‘in the market if'she is
singled out to pay unemployment

insurance, “I don’t have $250 an

hour és hire a tax lawyer.”

In the meantime, Anderson has
been audited three times in less than
two years Ly Revenue Catiada, She |
says she has been called every
month with demands, for money,
and has so far incurred $2,000 in
fines and penalties while she.
appeals the goverment’ s ruling.

aes