NEWS BRIEFS

Ferry repair

THE B.C. Ferry Corp.’s Queen of Aiberni, damaged in
a collision with a bulk carrier Thursday morning, has
made its way to Vancouver Shipyards Co. Ltd. in North

Vancouver for repairs.

Vancouver Shipyards general manager Tom Ward said
the ferry’s main deck and upper car deck were damaged
in the collision. The vessel was on the Tsawwassen-to-
Nanaimo route when the mishap occurred near the

Tsawwassen ferry terminal.

Waid said Vancouver Shipyards has also been asked to
inspect the Japanese bulk carrier, which was loaded with
coal. To press time Fhursday, the ship was anchored in
English Bay. It has a 20-foot hole above the waterline.

Initial reports said that some injuries resulted from the

accident.

Ald?s motion to freeze
NV City hiring defeated

A NORTH Vancouver City
alderman’s motion to con-
sider instituting a two-year
freeze on hiring new city
employees was defeated
Monday.

By Pamela Lang
Contributing Writer

It's just good business practice,”’
Ald. Rod Clark said in introduc-
ing his motion.

City administrator Gerry Brewer
said that while the city’s current
policy allows employees to be
hired for seasonal and _ replace-
ment work, new positions must be
approved by council.

Clark’s motion would have
frozen hiring on all new positions,
provided the city’s finance com-
mittee deemed the freeze feasible.

With city development revenues
down by two-thirds from 1990 to
1991, and an inevitable expansion
of city hall, Clark said a tem-

a
NORTH VANCOUVER
CITY COUNCIL

porary freeze would be financially
prudent.

Ald. Stella Jo Dean, the only
councillor to support Clark’s mo-
tion, said that with a revenue drop
from $63.8 million to $20.8 mil-
lion, the development — services
department is obviously doing
much less work.

But Ald. Bill Bell called the
motion a waste of time.

“It’s not anything we don’t al-
ready do,'* agreed Ald. Barbara
Sharp.

She said that because council
already has the right to judge the
merit of new positions before they
are filled, a freeze is unnecessary. |

‘*The motion is very
premature,’’ said Ald. John
Braithwaite, adding that until the
finance committee has met for the
first time, the motion is inappro-
priate.

NEWS photo Stuart Davis

HARRY BLOY protested Saturday morning in front of a discount
cigarette shop on the Squamish Band Mission Reserve in North
Vancouver. Smokers pay about $8 per carton less at the store
than the average cost charged at non-reserve stores.

New BC. system ‘licenses’
reserve cigarette sellers

From page 1

Natives who ostensibly purchase
cigarettes for status-Indians living
on reserves do not pay the 7%
GST. or the $20.48-per-carton
provincial consumer tax..

A spokesman with the consumer
taxation branch in Victoria linked
the local appearance of native dis-
count cigarette stores to a B.C.
Supreme Court decision made in
June 1991.

The Tseshaht band from Port
Alberni challenged a_ provincial
system of agreements limiting the
amount of tax-exempt cigarettes
available for reserve purchase.

Between 1986 and 1989, the
province had agreements with ap-
proximately 120 B.C. native
bands. For their own consump-

tion, bands could purchase a
quantity of tax-exempt cigarettes
directly from a wholesaler. The
tax-exempt cigarette quota was
based on reserve population
numbers.

But the Tseshaht were suc-
cessful in their court challenge.

The court ruled that the pro-
vince could not limit the quantity
of tax-exempt cigarettes natives
may buy.

{n October the province set up a
mew system that in effect licenses
reserve cigarette sellers.

Meanwhile the province has ap-
pealed the Tseshaht decision. The
Appeal Court of B.C. considered
the appeal case in February. A
decision is pending.

Residents
call for
referendum
on middle
school move

Fi!
WEST VANCOUVER
SCHOOL BOARD

WEST VANCOUVER resi-
dents openly questioned the
integrity Monday night of
the West Vancouver District
45 School Board and the
validity of facts presented
to the public over the pro-
posed construction of a new
middle schoo! on the
Caulfeild Plateau site.

By A.P. McCredie
Contributing Writer

Catherine Szibbo of the Con-
cerned Taxpayers for Public Ac-
countability in School Administra-
tion presented the board with a
letter containing 147 signatures
that has been sent to provincial
Education Minister Anita Hagen
requesting that the fate of. Hillside
Middle School and the school’s
site be put to a district-wide ref-
erendum,

The letter also stated, ‘It is
essential that this proposal (the
Caulfeitd site) be fully reviewed in
public immediately and that the
public have access to any financial
data which the West Van School
Board has or will acquire to
evaluate the feasibility of the pro-
ject.”

Opponents of the plan to close
Hillside and build a new middle
school at the Caulfeild site are
especially concerned that, accord-
ing to school board policy, the
board does not make public the
contents of a land evaluation of
the Hillside property that is cur-
rently being prepared by Moody
Consultants.

Trustee Margot Furk, the sole
board member opposed to the
Caulfeild site, made an unsuc-
cessful motion to have the Moody
report released to the public once
it has been received by the board.

There was, however, seme au-
dience support for the board's ac-
tions.

See Motion poze 114

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from the North Vancouver Drama
Festival who are advancing to the
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to the many committed volunteers in
the community for their hard work
and dedication to the arts.

Supported by tha Province of British
Columbia through the B.C. Lottery Fund

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