Association board of
directors . rejected the
provincial government's
latest offer for doctors’
fee increases,.the BCMA
president has warned.

Dr. Alex Mandeville ©

said the group’s board of
directors had rejected
unanimously the
government's latest offer
of an overall increase of
15.2 per cent. He said the

ra billing

doctors wanted 29.6 per
cent for settlement.

Mandeville: said the
board recommended the
3.700
doctors vote against the
government offer, and
ballots would. be mailed
out soon. :

Ifa simple majority of

the doctors rejects. the
final offer ~
government . makes: no
other offer, Mandeville
said the. extra billing
would legally begin April
1.

Labor party split
wide open

LONDON (UPI) - The
Sstrife-torn Labor party
split wide open in its
worst internal crisis in 50
years, making it possible
for Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher’s
Conservatives to remain
in power for years.

The rift, long in the.

making, opened’ Monday
with the announcement
by 12 right-wing rebel
Laborite members. of

parliament and two other.

former Labor, cabinet

ministers that they. had

quit the party and
planned to form a new

Record bank heist

Social Democratic Party
before Easter.

“This -~intention is
clearly incompatible with
our continuing mem-
bership ~ ‘of the Labor
party,” “they said. in a
statement ‘exlaining ‘their
action. - “We = have,
therefore: ‘now all ceased
to be members.”

Leaders “of the
breakaway ™. .group -said
they plan: immediate talks
with the Liberals. about a
possible. alliance in the
next peneral election in

about two. and a half °

years.

in W. Germany

HEIDELBERG, West
Germany (UPI) - Two
men took the senior staff
of a bank and their
families hostage and
forced them to help steal
$1.37 million Tuesday in
the biggest bank robbery
in West German history.

Brandishing pistols, the
two robbers burst into the
home of the director of
the Heidelberg
Bezirkssparkasse Bank
around 3:30 p.m.

Monday. The director
and his family were taken
captive as they returned
home.

The two men, who
police sources said were
German, forced the
director to call his senior
staffers and invite them
and their families over.
The robbers then held 28
men, women and
children hostage until
Tuesday morning, police
said.

Hijacker threat
to destroy plane

ISLAMABAD, Pakis-
tan (UPT) - A Pakistani
dissident who hijacked a
domestic airliner with 14)
people aboard to Sovict-
occupicd Afghanistan
threatened Tuesday to
blow up the plane unless
Pakistan released 81
political prisoners.

Airline authorities to
Islamabad said they could
not confirm or deny a

report the 130 passengers
were brought into the
Kabul Airport lounge,
leaving the hijacker on
baord with the 1!1-
member crew.

Officials said = the
passengers were on the
four-engine jetliner as it
left Peshawar Ménday
when a man reportedly
armed with hand
grenades and fight arms
ordered it to Kabul.

fee-for-service

‘and - the

-prepared for

“increase -

e+ wee

FROM PAGE Ai

According to figures
District
council, the District faces a
25 per cent increase in police
costs if the federal govern-

ment cuts its contribution as

proposed.

The federal government
wants to. drastically cut its
contribution to municipal
policing to 10 per cent, from
the currént cost sharing
formula of 44 per cent for
the first five men and 19 per
cent for every other man.

With a. District RCMP
force of 72 men this would
‘the. municipal
police. ‘budget from
$2,384,640 to.$2,981,448 or
an increase. of $8,289 per
man. .

One alternative to’ save
money suggested by: District
staff is to reduce the District
force by 12 men for a saving

of $447,000 dollars.

The RCMP. sets. the
maximum criminal case load
per man at 100 and because
the current District case load
per man is about 83 the
District could have a force as
small as 60 men and not
exceed the federal caseload
limit.

Superintendent A.C.

Wilson the head of the North

Vancouver detachment

. views such a suggestion with
caution.

“In the District where the
case load is not as high the
crime rate is not as high,” he
said... .

If the.case load increased,
Wilson: feels crime might
increase and once the crime
rate goes up “it is twice as
hard to stop.”

“I would have to recon-

sider the deployment of
men,” Wilson said, if a
cutback in the District force
should occur.

According to calcuations
based on recent population
figures and statistics sup-
plied by the B.C. Police
Commission, the District
currently has the lowest

police coverage on a
population basis of any force
on the North Shore.

District council registered
“extreme opposition” to the
federal budget proposals
when given the opportunity
last week.

Alderman Ernie Crist
suggested that some sort of
municipal force should be
established if RCMP costs
were so high, and while
some aldermen seemed
inclined to agree with him
other council members

a disagreed.

“We (council) mustn't lose
sight of the fact that our
citizens want some degree of
protection,” Alderman John
Lakes cautioned, saying “the
last thing we want to do is
gamble with protection.”

“There is no way we can
just dispense with the ser
vices of the RCMP,” Mayor
Don Bell said.

“Right now we are stuck
with the RCMP for the
immediate future.”

After the meeting Bell said
he felt that there would be
no serious move to replace
the RCMP.

The same is true in the
City of North Van which
faces a similar increase in
policing costs because of the
federal proposals.

Police officers working in
the City are already over the

100 criminal cases per man .

maximum and Wilson says
“this is starting to concern
us.”

The District staff report
also notes this and suggests
that any police taken from

the. District force could be

transferred to the City force.
While the North Van-
couver RCMP detachments
work from the same building
there is a seperation between
the City and District forces.
In January some City

aldermen also suggested a .
- municipal force may be

feasible but in a later in-
terview Mayor Jack Loucks
said “I don’t happen to agree
with them.”

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“I'm satisfied with the type
of service they (the RCMP)
have been giving us.”

Loucks said “I don't know
anybody that is satisfied”
with the new funding for-

mula. tne eea

He feels that when ‘With’ an actual
negotiations are completed force of ¢
the municipalities could well “Vancouver has the: hi
retain “basically the same police coverage
contract” was before.

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