Ie: s. ‘good to see city employees back on the
job after their 13-week stoppage. And none
will be working harder to'“catch up” than the
meter-maids — - many of whom may wish

the next week or two. it they could only keep
the profits from ticketing’ the hundreds of
naughty drivers now accustomed to parking

‘ all. day in one-hour zones, they'd make a
killing.

sunday

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nchuding
accompamed by #

ic tt and freedoms,
Y ted by the Magna
Carta in 1215,‘are threatened
by Ottawa’s proposed
Charter. ...of Rights, ‘ which

<would’ supersede the cen-

turies-old body of Common

Law on which those basié™
Tights and freedoms are
‘founded.

. That's the warning issued
this: week by Capilano -MP-
' Ron Huntington in a special
* letter ‘to his North and West
Vancouver constituents.

, Huntington notes that the
‘Bill of Rights in the U.S.
__sonstitution’ was drawn up
bya: constituent, assembly, so’
that. the. rights: it defined
_ were, by the people, for the

people”...

By contrast, he says:

. . “Today, in Canada, we have

a resolution being designed
by..the.. ‘state which en-

.. trenches: rights given by the

‘ state. When: such rights are

- given orimposed by the state,
what- then happens to our

- body ‘of: Common‘ Law and »

what then happens to-all the
_ unstated rights that we

Huntington is particularly

, critical oon the opening clause

and: free: ae oes out in it

.. Subject -. only .to such
‘reasonable. limits prescribed
by law. as:can be demon-
strably justified in a free and

~-democraticsociety.”

What is “reasonable”? he

tington (left).
asks.. How do you
“demonstrably justify”? How

do you ‘ensure: that these
definitions remain consistent
over time?

To illustrate the alleged
danger of the opening clause
he quotes from a recent

‘editorial in the Toronto

Globe and Mail: “... if a
federal majority government
passes a law stating that such
and such an infringement of
freedom is legal, the courts
will have to find (under the
Charter of Rights) that it was
done in a democratic
manner and is_ therefore
reasonable, however unjust
it may be.”

The simple fact that rights.
and freedoms can be added
or deleted by a simple

majority of the House of. ~

Commons is a serious and
frightening flaw,’ says
Huntington. .

ritten numerous kind words in the past
s doctors, P'm'a little sad about their
it:the moment. Maybe I should only be sad

about the antics of their titular leader Dr. Alex

Mandeville, the Rene Levesque of the B.C. .™.
Medical Association. Come May 13, the picture —

will be clearer.

That's the day the BCMA’s
three-day annual mecting in
Penticton opens. In order to
twist the arm of the public in
his current battle with the
government over fees, Dr.
Alex and the separatist
clique in the association
have called on all doctors to

attend.

If they do, it means a
shutdown of doctors’ offices
throughout B.C. for one full
week, since May 12 will be a
travel day and May 16-18 is
the Victoria weekend.

In other words, seven days
of union-style job action —
the first by Canadian doctors
since 1962 ‘when Saskat-
chewan physicians struck for

three weeks against
medicare.

Local job action is
promised, too, and has

already: started in Prince
George and Penticton. The
BCMA brass ‘Is encouraging
doctors; to quit hospital
committees, refuse to sign
sickness and death cer-
tificates, and stop renewing
prescriptions over the
phone.

BILLING BANNED»

As to “separatism”, the

association is also polling its
3,700 members, asking if
they are prepared to opt out
of medicare altogether (as
they're legally entitled to do)

if they don’t get what they
want.

There's a good deal to be
said on both sides in the
year-long battle over fee
increases. The BCMA has
presently dug in for a 52.8
per cent hike over two years
(26.4 per cent cach year).
Health Minister Jim Nielsen
is standing pat for the
moment on an offer of 15.2
per cent over one year or
26.8 per cent over two years.

When the doctors’ con-
tract expired March 31, they
were seeking an immediate
41 per cent raise and
numerous of them signalled
their intention of “balance
billing” patients for the
difference. The government
promptly introduced a draft
law to ban balance billing.
There's little doubt it had the

suppport of the general .

public, as well as of the NDP
opposition — except in one
particular.

The draft law, temporarily
postponed as negotiations
drag on again, contains a
compulsory ‘arbitration
clause widely regarded as
unfair to the doctors. This
has strengthened the
‘BCMA’s hand.and = en-
couraged the militant faction
led by Dr. Alex.

Nor can the doctors be
condemned out of hand for
claiming more money.

As pointed out before in

feature of our society.”

_ creates ~

“Worse ‘still, " he adds -
“other “basic rights we. have
come to take for granted.are -
not ever mentioned in the.
Charter.

“No protection is provided _
from interference with our: .
privacy, family, home or
correspondence. Neither has
the government seen fit to
entrench freedom of in-
formation as ‘an integral

Huntington's’ letter also
attacks the Trudeau con-
stitutional package on the
grounds that: | ;

e It takes away the rightto _ f
enjoy one’s own property — -
opening the door

two: “classes ‘fof
with B.C. and

provinces,

demand,
workers ‘who hit

pretty
relation to theniseives.
they’re going to ha
one way or the oth
judge the actual | size of
demand accordingly.

“whole ‘business is is the
of . the BCMA’s 1

e strategy on the image 0
profession. Union sty
Noel Wright »efesies, =
es ve ock 10 th
come as: a shock to te
accustomed to.
this column, a typical practitioners. of the
$80,000 feo presently paid pocratic Oath as onlys
under medicare can quickly lower than: ‘the Deity
be reduced to $8 or $9 an scale of virtues. _
hour take-home pay for “However, the . risk

many GPs. Office overhead,
income tax, private pension .
schemes, vacation allowance |

developing clay feet
viously doesn’t. worry

and 60-hour work weeks cut Alex and his 1 think
th Pe

¢ gross figure down to size complication can be avo
quite savagely. On the same \ simply by settling for
basis of calculation, a ’ that abes more sense
$50,000 executive in in- tient than that
dustry, working a 50-hour pationt the

week, nets $13 to $14 an

plays a big part in the ©

scalpel held’ at his th
soar rite ss
CLAY FEET Prosnoe

. . The doctors still have #

Nevertheless, it's not of public goodwill
merely a matter of bottom them...
lines, Public perceptions of week. they'll
the doctor's position also. ” between. that