counter cr - Dear Editor: : In response to the news items and editorials on the subject of the ‘funding crisis faced by the North Vancouver District 44 School District (News, Jan. 12 and follow- -, ing) we would fike to raise the fol- , lowing points: To the criticism that the District 44 board has never managed its affairs the way it was elected to do, we have to point out that the board has been .boxed in by provincial AY trustees rth cE : » government policy and left with lit- a: tie power to manage effectively. The board long ago recognized that only the provincial government has the ability to effect sclutions to the problems that, in part, their poli- cies have created, To say that it is anarchy for the board to defy the provincial govern- ment and submit a realistic budget is hysteria, Control of the schoo! -dis- trict budget should reside at the community level but this has been lost with the increasing centraliza- tion of first the Social Credit and now the NDP governments. North Vancouver is not the only ‘school ' board running 2 deficit, although its situation is the most ‘serious. Other government-funded ards and agencies are also run- g deficits. This may be because they too are being obliged to pro- vide. services: with revenues that simply are inadequate to the job. : Unless the situation is addressed if can only get worse. We are only the tip of the iceberg. ~ Mr, Charbonneau has chosen to- follow.in'Mr. Vander Zalm's foot- steps and replace an elected school board with ‘an appointed trustee. -; The results will probably be sim- ilar. ‘It will cost him even more money. i ‘The District 44 board was man- aging as well as possible with the obligations it faced and the resources it was given. An appoint- ed trustee will need the same thing the elected board. needed, either relief from some of the obligations or an increase in revenue. ‘The board: asked the minister repeatedly f for meaningful heip and advice and was repeatedly ignored, “« Sick-day buyouts to administra- tors who retired or otherwise left are raised by a number of critics as an example of irresponsibility on the part of the board. This benefit is a result of a con- tract provision brought in a number ’ of years ago. It is paid out over three “years and costs about $75,000 per » year, It’s a lot of money but not a major contributor to the $2.6 mil- lion deficit Jast year or the estimated $2.3 million this year. «While the board may not have liked having to pay this amount, not “paying would likely have led to being sued. “We. would then have incurred legal costs to defend our position, would have lost and ended up hav- ing to pay the money after all. ” The prudent course was to pay up and make sure that future con- - tracts do not contain this provision, ‘both of which we did. It’s a waste of ime moaning about having to abide by contracts that were signed in the - past. _ The board closed its diagnostic centres with reluctance last year and ooked for more cost effective ways o deliver services to learning dis- rom the provincial government for earning disabilities and special iS! DISMISSED DISTRICT 44 school board members Guy Heywood (left) and Barbara MacLeilan ... Controi of the school district budget should reside at the community level. Funding from the province in this area is woefully inadequate. It is a deep irony that the minister's amalgamation plan for North and West Vancouver will achieve most of its modest savings by reductions in this area, There’s something very wrong about that. Another item criticized is the North Vancouver Outdoor School. This unique facility benefits every child in our schools and is a piace where learning disabled and special- -needs children can often shine because it gives them opportunities to excel in areas other than regular academics. The outdoor school is largely self-supporting and we were work- ing hard to make it fully self-fund- ed. The board would have been foolish to close this facility. And finally what can I say about the “spin-doctored stories?” It is true that the Ministry of Education has a communications Mt. Seymour Little League Association Annual General Meeting Weds @ February 28 © 7:30 pm | department and various public reta- tions people and can afford expen- sive newspaper ads to try to justify its actions, The school district lost its com- munications director long ago due to budget cuts and public relations, internal communications and media relations are handled by whomever can find the time, including trustees who sometimes write press releases themselves, As individuals, trustees certainly don't have the money to counter a high-priced government media cam- paign. There are no spin-doctors in District 44 or among its elected imistees — just a lot of hard work- ing, dedicated people who want the best for North Vancouver school children and who are fed up with the raw deal this district is getting. Barbara MacLellan and Guy | Heywood Elected District 44 trustees Parkgate library, N. 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Nobody brings people and nature together like the Centified Birdleeding Specialists at Wild Birds Unlimited?. i 1 190 Marine Dr —— Vancouver. 988-2121 BiRUSTED « FEEDERS & BIRDBAIHS © Nature Gets, § 'LONSDALE PHYSIOTHERAPY CLINIC * Providing General Physical Therapy Since 1983 SPECIAL INTEREST IN: B Neck & Back Pain, Sprains & Strains Shoulder Pain, Hand Injuries, Tendonitis, Rehabilitation Of Fractures & Fout Problerns ALSO PROVIDING ASSESSMENT & TREATMENT FOR: SPORT, WORK & MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT Related Injuries And Return to Work Conditioning KEN COOK B.Se.P.T. Member C.PA., C.PT.A. ted white, mip. WRITTEN QUESTIONS . ” Moat Canadians have heard of or watched on tefevision, the daily | Question Period In Parliament. The 45 minutes of oral questions and (usually) non-anawers tends to be the basis for tho poiltical stories of the day, but the questions themssives have to bo fairty brief, y mating ‘t difficult to dea! with complicated topics. However, MPs can pose more comprehensive written questions by placing them on the parliamentary Order Paper. The time to get an answer to a written question is not supposed to exceed 90 days, although it often does, especially if the answer could be embarrassing to the Goverment. For the most part f though, the answers to written questions tend to be of significantly more value than those received during Question Period. — MY QUESTIONS Since the beginning of 1994 | have placed several written questions on the Order Paper. For example, | asked for “the total 8 number of full time employees at each job classification in the respective federal departments for 1994". This resulted in several pages of data about the 187,851 people work for the Federal question again this year to see if there really has been & downsizing of the civil service as promised in the =: budget. The answer to one of my other questions revealed that fraudulent use of Unemployment Insurance has been running at, or around, 5% of all claims for saveral years, although people are now being prosecuted. The collection of amounts ewing seems to be more efficient than it used to be and is preferred over prosecution. ASTRONAUT FAMILIES b A question | asked of Revenue Canada resulted in a very lengthy personal fetter from the Minister, David Anderson, in addition to the official department reply. My question (Q-142) read: “What has the government determined to be the total number of immigrant families residing In Canada who, (a) continue to earn their living abroad in countries which do not have a tax treaty with Canada, (b) fail to report to Revenue Canada their total from international ad “a 2908 LONSDALE, NORTH VANCOUVER & advertoriat dan.31/96 | sources, and (c) file for the federal child tax benefit?” ; ‘Two countries which are a source | of immigrants to Canada, Hong Kong § and Talwar, have low rates of f taxation and do not have tax troaties ° with Canada. This moans that there | is the potential for Canadian | residents to use those countries as tax havens, and rumours. abound that there are entire “Astronaut Families* living in expensive homes in Canada with no apparent source of income, The story goes that at Jsast one member of the family spands time in the country of origin - 3 eaming money at a lower tax rate but § not declaring the income in Canada. As an added bonus, those ramaining in Canada are purported to be §@ . eotlecting GST refunds and other 5 benefits because of their low, or non- existent, Canadian income. No one has ever been able to give me the names of a family § actually doing this, so | asked the question in ordar to find out whether Revenue Canada had detected a .§ problem. THE ANSWER To Q-142 It was apparent from the answer to Q-142 that a problem does exist, but because .of the lack of a tax treaty, there is no way of knowing how much tax evasion is occurring. The answer was carefully worded and a bit confusing, but part of the actual text is as follows: “Revenue Canada is working with the Department of Citizenship and immigration to obtain information — to facilitate the development of enforcement prograins, and ito better focus client assistance and education programs, so that new | Canadians are aware of their obligations. Revenue Canada's data basas do not at this time contain the information requested | concerning immigrant familles .} residing In Canada.” 1 must have struck a nerve with my question, because a four page | personal letter from the Minister arrived on my desk at about the same time as | received the above departmental reply. i will quote from the Minister's | letter, and expand on this topic a little more in next week's report. § : #3021200 Lynn valley Rds “North Vancouver, B.C. V7J 2A2 ®: “Tels 666-0585" Fax: 666-0509 *.”