20 - Sunday, July 17 1988 - North Shore News NORTH VAN B BUSINESS School offers chance to improve writing skills SYLVAN CLEAR Writing is the title and intent of a new program available through the North Van- couver Sylvan Learning Centre. The program is designed for students needing to learn the mechanics of writing and sentence structure and for adults wanting to brush up on writing skills. Said Adrian Parker, the centre’ s director: ‘‘With 13 per cent of the nation’s 17 year olds considered functionally illiterate and four- fifths unable to write a persuasive essay, there’s an urgent need to supplement the writing skills of the vast majority of our youth.’’ According to Glenn Hogen, vice-president of education for Sylvan Learning Corporation, “The new program is a process approach to writing, where skills are sequenced from simple to more complex activities. Placement of a student is determined by a diagnostic test battery.’? Program participants are given tokens as rewards for every step of progress. ~ Tokens may be used to purchase items from the ‘‘Sylvan store.’’ | For more information call the centre at 985-6811. wk We A NORTH Vancouver man_ has been appointed as a new member to the board of the Credit Union Deposit Insurance Corporation. Finance and Corporate Relations Minister Mel Couvelier announced business briefcase Michael Becker last week a three-year appointment for Don James, president and chief operating officer of Fred Deely Imports Ltd. James is also a direc- tor of Richmond Savings Credit ‘Union. wk eK SMALL BUSINESSES looking for a crash course in the essentials of exporting to the U.S.A. can plug into the federal Department of Ex- ternal Affairs’ New Exporters to Border States (NEBS) program. The program is aimed at small to medium-sized Canadian com- panies which have not previously been exporters but are becoming interested in markets in U.S. border states. Participants in regularly sched- uled NEBS missions are taken to the nearest Canadian trade office across the U.S. border. Over the course of a one or two-day period, participants are ushered through all phases of exporting — from customs clearance procedures to warehousing and distribution of goods. They attend briefings to hear from experts from both the U.S. and Canada including manu- facturers’ representatives, freight forwarders, customs brokers and bankers. NEBS business missions for B.C. companies are organized through federal consulates based in Seattle. For more information contact the United States Trade And In- vestment Development Division at (613) 993-5912. New minimum wage in effect EFFECTIVE JULY !, British Columbia’s minimum wage for workers 18 or older increased from $4 an hour to $4.50 an hour. * For workers under 18 the minimum wage will i in- crease from $3.65 an hour to $4 an hour. Minimum wage rates for domestics, live-in home- makers, farmworkers, horticultural workers and resi- dent caretakers will also i increase approximately 12 per cent. CHUCK COOK Labour and Consumer Services Minister Lyall © Hanson said his ministry would continue to monitor the impact of the new minimum wage on individual industries. Approximately five per cent of British Columbia's work force currently earns the minimum wage. Most minimum wage carners are employed in the accommodation and food service industries, trade and finance or in agriculture. A rose by any other name... Shakespeare was right, of course, but I can’t help wishing this excellent program had a sweeter sounding § name. Somehow the terms, “National Strategy”, and, “Child Care” just don’t fit together. The basis of the thing is sound; families are the foundation of Canada, but it takes a lot of money to raise kids, so the government should do what it can to ease the financial burden on parents. ? This program tackles the problems at two levels. First, it gives some much needed tax relief to parents of § pre-schoolers, kids aged six and younger. if Working parents who send their infants to licenced day care facilities will be able to deduct up to a max- @ imum of $4,000 per child for these expenses, double the present limit. The existing limit of $8,000 per family § for these expenses is removed, and that’s only fair to larger families. : For parents who care for their youngsters at home, and who therefore don’t qualify for this tax break, the 3 Child Tax Credit will be increased by $200 year for each child aged six or less. That’s a 40% improvement # to be phased in over the next couple of tax years. : These combined tax reforms will help 1.3 million families, almost three-quarters of all Canadians with young ff children. The second part of this initiative tackles the many serious deficiencies in existing day care programs for B children up to the age of 14. We don’t have enough child care facilities, and many of the programs that are fj available aren’t geared to the real requirements of parents in the 80's, especially those who work part-time, § or those who work shifts. The government proposes to put three billion dollars into Federal/Provincial child care programs with the ; aim of providing 200,000 new licenced “child care spaces”, (another unfortunate bureaucratic homily), and to § pay for the operating costs. How these operating costs will actually be paid illustrates the fundamental difference in the philosophy of Conservatives and the New Democrats. We say, we'll hand parents the money to pay day care fees, and then § leave them free to choose which facility they want their children to attend. The N.D.P., however, says they would § directly fund all the operating costs, but, parents would be directed where to send their kids. . In total, the Government has committed 6.4 billion dollars to this initiative over the next seven years, plus another one billion dollars a year thereafter to maintain it. ; + That's a lot of money, even by Ottawa standards, but I regard it as an investment in our country’s future. # A worth-while and sensible investment. ‘This space paid for by North Vancouver Progressive Conservative Riding Association. wkhaeek THE NORTH Vancouver Canada Employment Centre for Students has more than 1,000 students reg- istered who are willing to fill in temporary labor shortages, cut lawns, paint, build fences or per- form any other types of casual jobs. The staff at the centre are cur- rently contacting local homeown- ers, employers and contractors 1o encourage them to hire students for a few hours, a day, several days, or longer. For further information about hiring a student, call 986-3404, or visit, between I] a.m. and 2 p.m. to July 20, an employment display booth located in Park Royal south. AUG. 6 & 13 SEPT. 7, 8 and 9 “The ACCESS CENTER ... at Lonsdale Quay at the North Vancouver Seabue Terminal 984-4671 Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 1-9 p.m. To many parents, it seems like only yesterday their children started school. But time flies so quickly that the minule you turn around, x Our kids are off to university or college, To help take ‘the financial worry out of the inevitable day your child heads off for higher education, consider in- vesting in. an RBC Dominion Securities Education ‘Trust. It helps you handle the cost of post- secondary education, Income earned on your choice of investments is sheltered from tay. With Fri. & Sat. 1-4 p.m. ‘PARENTS & GRANDPARENTS: Do you handle your child’s future as carefully as you handle your child? your earnings compounding tax free, your investment grows quickly. Ptus, it's easy to start. For further information, return the coupon below or call: For your benefit. And especially your child's. 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