north shore news MAIL BOX Lower Wiainland’s taxi licensing needs everhaui Dear Editor: Regarding the objections by tay compa: nies to the minibus service, here are some determinants and a suggested resolution. Maniy sav Vancouver and cavirons have the poorest taxi service at the highest price in North America, § This condition is due to the government bureaucracy which has decided there shoul be no tree enterprise in the taxi industry. They have decided roo few licences be granted in order to keep protit high for the existing licence owners. @ The reason this stupid state continues is because the populace and their representa- tives in Victoria and in our local councils give their sanction to this elimination of tree enterprise, & There should be no government restraints to legal creative activity. One should have the right to buy a taxi licence trom city hall, buy a new ear, and then have the right to go broke or prosper, whatever. Licences that were bough: trom city hall ar $25 are trading at over $100,000 cach. Why? Because a raxi licence is so lucrative they are worth this. @ Many cab owners have tvo drivers, each doing a 12-hour shift. The take is split with the owner, Therefore, the owner gets two incomes, each day, cach week, cach month and cach year till eternity for his $100,000 investment. He knows the suthorities will keep taxis in short supply by granting too few licences, 50 the carrent high fares, and the worth of the licence will hold up. B The fares have to be high to amortize the $100,000 investment, ineir worth on the after-market. This $100,000 0 must be recouped from the customers. Bf Ifthe subject ever comes up, the plight of the poor tant driver is trotted out. Never the terrific situation of the taxi owner. Wie is interesting to note there is no drivers union, B Washington, D.C. had unrestricted entry to the cab business. A new car plus a freely obtained $50 license and a person was in business. The drivers (usually the meners) made a decent living as the fares were low, (no $100,000 to amortize}, so evervone uses zasis far more and tayis are very busy. @ The resolution would come it the North Vancouver councils put the welfare of the cit- izen first and foremost and loudly demanded that the nameless bureaucrat (who is he? put a name fo him!) give permission to the “jit- ney” bus to drive over your border without this ridiculous farce of making their own cit- izens unload, walk over the border and reload. They would also require that more taxi licences be granted upon demand. N. 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JEEP OWNERS om Complete mechanical & electrical repairs hy factory trained technician IMPEX AUTOMOTIVE 4335 Pemberton Ave. Tel: 985-6237 Visit our web site: a ww3. bc-sympatico.ca/ime mpexauto/i impexauto-htr} = =, advertonal, March 24/1999 GATHERING STRENGTH There has been a great deal of pub- lic attention focussed on native land ciaims and self-government of late, so I thought | would share with you some information which appea7ved in 2 recently released document entitled “Gathering Strength - Cansda's Aboriginal Action Plan.” Published under the authority of the Minister of indian Affairs and Northern Devetopment, it is presented in the form of a Progress Report on the first year of the Liberal Government's “sus- tainable, leng term plan that is leading to stronger and more self-suflicient Aboriginal communities.” LOTS OF PROGRAMS One thing which tealiy jumps off the pages of the “Gathering Strength” report is the enormous number of programs which have been established, or are being estab- lished, as part of “an integrated, govern- ment-wide plan to address the key chalienges facing Aboriginal people.” While it is easy to understand, from read- ing the list of programs, why S6 billion a year is needed in order to fund them, it remains unclear exactly what percentage of the funding actualiy reaches those it is meant to hetp. Here is a list of some of the Programs identified in the report. Many seem to overlap one another, but | leave it to you to judge whether you think they will, or are, helping our aborigina! people to become self-sufficient. * Regional agreements on developing social welfare reforms have been signed in Labrador, Quebec, and the Atlantic provinces * An Aboriginal human Resource Development Council has been estab- fished * A First Nations and Inuit Youth Employment Strategy is in place * A First Nations Eriployment and Training Centre carries out training asso- ciated with the oil and gas industry * An Aborigina! Masters Program recruits for middle management job in the Federal Government * The Aboriginal Workforce Participation Initiative is working on strategies for employment and retraining * 86 “First Nations” are participating in 7 welfare demonstration projects * More than 35 Education Reform Projects are in place * In Alberta Cree Learning Tools are being developed for junior high schools * Aboriginal Studies and Language Curricula are being developed for use in band and provincial schools in Nova Scotia * Anew Housing Innovation Fundis in - operation * A Special Needs Education Pilot Project is beir.g developed in Quebec * An Education Centre for Excellence is being established in Manitoba - * The Aboriginal Justice Learning Network offers training for Aboriginal community-based programs : * The First Nations Policing Policy contin- ues to train and place Aboriginal police * Health Canada is running ait Aboriginal Heed Start Program to give Aboriginal children a rurturing pre-school environ- ment Ted White, M.P. , #302-1200 Lynn Valley Road, Tel: 666-0585 ‘Fax: 666-0509, Internet: created * Canadian Heritage is providing $20 million to preserve and teach Aboriginal lan- guages * Canadian Heritage is developing a net- work of Urbari Multipurpose Aboriginal Youth Certres * An Aboriginal Procurement Strategy has been established to he!p Aboriginal business start-ups * The Youth Entrepreneurs Micro-Credit Lending Program is in place * The Opportunity Fund and Resources Acquisition initiative wilt support 70 to 80 new business start-ups * A Financial Services Roundtable is working to improve commercial lending on reserves * ‘jhe Fisheries License Allocation Transfer Program increases opportunities fo work in the commercial fishery * The Resource Access Negotiations Program has more than doubled in 1998/99 * Economie Development Strategies are being formulated for the Northwest Teriitories. Yukon, and Nunavut. * The Nunavut Human Resources Deveiopment Strategy is being imple- mented * NWT is participating in the Western Governance Project ? An Aboriginal Statistical Unit is being developed in Saskatchewan * A National Fiscai Relations Table is being developed around government to government transfer programs * Tripartite Fiscal Relations and Governance Tables are already in operation * The First Nations Oil and Gas Management initiative involves 5 bands * The creation of an Independent Claims Body is anticipated * The Lands Management Training Program is in place * The Aboriginal Healing Foundation is managing a $350 million healing fund * An {nuit Action Plan is being developed A BIGGER BUREAUCRACY ! assume that all of the managers of the abcve initiatives wili to want to try to pre- serve their jots for as long as possible, so they are virtually certain to ask for even more money and more staff next year. It is therefore quite likely that the pattern of sig- nificant annual growth in the budget of Indian Affairs and Northern Development since 1993 will continue into the future. in other words, we should nct be surprised to see expenditures of $6.5 or even $7 billion annually within the next year or two. Rather than leading to a downsizing of the Department, with more money flowing directly to the individuals who need it, | suspect that the vast majority of the above initiatives will simply lead to even more bureaucracy and ineffi- ciency, with little or no improvement in the living conditions on reserves. You can get more information on “Gathering Strength” at website www.inac.ge.ca North Vancouver, 8.C. V7J 242 ttps//www.seform.cafwhite-t/ *. * An Aboriginal Health Institute is being |