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| NV reserve; marina considered

THE _BURRARD (Tsleil’waututh) Indian Band has teamed
up. with Asian partners to develop close to a third of its
262-acre Reserve No. 3 located on the Burrard Inlet
waterfront in North Vancouver District.

On Friday, Abbey Woods De-
velopments Ltd. president Lim
Loong Keng and Burrard Chief
Leonard George announced an in-
iial plan to build up to 100
townhouses on five acres of land
located in the northeastern corner
of the parcel, near the Seymour
Golf and Country Club.

The developers anticipate that
construction will start on the pro-
ject’ within three months. The
townhouses are expected to sell in
the $200,000 to $300,000 range.

Leases to the properties would
cover a 99-year period.

According to George, the band
is also considering the develop-
ment of a marina on the site.

“Maybe that will be our next
development,” he said.

A golf driving range and a gas
and convenience store are also
planned for the site.

Said George, ‘‘The driving
range and the gas and convenience
store will be small-type projects
that didn't need a big developer
like this, but will just be sort of
done on the side, and they'll be
workhorses for the band.

“We have a (band) construction
company that is doing our own
housing this year for the first
time. And when that’s finished,
they'll move into the driving range
and then over to the five acres.

“And as we go we'll accumulate
machinery az.1 expand. Sc when
we're net doing our projects, we'll
do others.”’

Lim . and George declined to
release dollar ‘‘igures for the pro-
posed joint-ven ‘ire developments.

The projects to be developed
over the next dvzade, will benefit
from tax advaniages and federal
funding made available to devel-
opments built on reserve land.

The partners say they are con-
sidering residential, industrial and
coramercial projects.

Said Lim, “We're not ruling

By Michael Becker
News Reporter

out anything at this point in time.
What fits the community, what
fits the needs of the market as
well as the natives is what we will
do.”

Presently 136 of a total band
membership of 245 live on the
reserve.

An overall concept plan for the
area to be developed has yet to be
firmed up. Each project will be
subject to approval by voting
band members.

Abbey Woods is connected with
Shangri-La International, a hotel
group controlled by Asian devel-
oper Robert Kuok.

Previous Abbey Woods devecl-
opments in the Vancouver area
include a residential development
on southeast Marine Drive and a
26-unit condominium highrise
block in downtown Vancouver.

Meanwhile the partners have
asked North Vancouver District
Officials for access to municipal
services.

Said assistant municipal manag-
er Fred Sigurionsson, ‘‘In general
terms we have discussed servicing
in the past, and there is no dif-
ficulty from our point of view.
We would provide a full slate of
services.

“YI understand the development
would be occupied by non-band
members so they would be subject
to taxation and would receive the
same bundle of municipal services
as anywhere else in the
municipality. In this event we
would be sharing some of the
costs into the northeast corner.
We can make use of them
ourselves in extending into Roche
Point Drive.”

The band could collect taxes for
the services and pay the district.

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NEWS photo Nail Lucente

BURRARD BAND chief Len George points to proposed residential development on reserve lands
during a press conference held with Hong Kong partners at the Pacific Palisades Hote! in Van-

couver.

Constitutional assembly needed to deal
with issues concerning nation - Manning

From page 1

such programs asked Manning
how the Reform party’s approach
could do better.

Manning said his policy of
limited government involvement in
a small businessman’s life would
be better than artificially subsidiz-
ing businesses with government
handouts.

If there was marketplace de-
mand for a product or service and
if the marketplace was free of

government regulation and inter-
ference, Manning said there would
be no need for government
bailouts.

On the issue of the current con-
stitutional mess, Manning said
Canadians need to form a Na-
tional Constitutional Assembly
made up of people concerned
about Canada’s future not the
future of their own political party.

“In other words, we advocate
removing the Constitution from

LGH employees vote in favor of strike

Union holdmg province-wide strike votes to back demands

HEU members in the lowest-
paid clerical and patient-care

HOSPITAL Employees

Union (HEU) members

employed at Lions Gate Hospital have voted in favor of
strike action to back contract demands with the Health
Labor Relations Association of B.C. (HLRA), which

represents B.C. hospitals.

HEU strike votes are currently
being held province-wide.

Carmela Allevato, HEIVJ secre-
tary-business manager, said the
1,100 HEU members who work
at LGH have voted in favor of
strike action if no contract set-
tlement is reached.

Alflevato said the union wiil
release the outcome of ail of
HEU’s strike votes on Feb. 14.

‘“‘We'’re geiting very strong
support in favor of strike action
from all across the province,”
said Allevato.

Clark Gardner, chairman of
the LGH local of the HEU, said
the HEU represents LGH
employees who work ‘‘in virtual-
ly every department in the hospi-
‘tal from maintenance, to office
staff to nursing.”

Allevato said major issues in-
volved in the contract talks in-
clude work load and _ staffing
levels.

By Surj Rattan
News Reporter

She said that ‘between 1980
and 1990, $50 million had to be
paid in Workers’ Compensation
Board assessments and long-
term disability benefits because
HEU members were getting in-
jured on the job.

“If the (health care) industry
as a whole implements adequate
staffing levels then that will
reduce those injuries,’’ said
Allevato. She added that wages
are another key issue in the
dispute.

“The money offered to our
members is less than half of
what the (former) Social Credit

government paid to the B.C.”

Government Employees’ Union
to cover a smaller group of
women,’’ said Allevato. ‘‘At the
end of HLRA’s process, our ex-

perienced licensed practical
nurses would be making the
same amount after several years
that a general laborer does on
his first day on the job. Care
aides would make far less.’’

She added that pay equity was
a major problem with the HLRA
offer. She said the HLRA has
offered $5.4 million in first-year
adjustments for the more than .
23,000 HEU women members
working in HLRA facilities.

Allevato said $11 million,
much of it conditional money,
has been promised for subse-
quent years.

The average HEU wage is
$13.67 per hour.

HEU negotiators have
demanded a $6-per-hour in-
crease over two years, but have
said this week that HEU wage
demands will take into con-
sideration the increases awarded
other public-sector workers.

But HLRA president Gordon
Austin said he was disappointed
that the HEU did sot accept a
$16.2 million pay equity pro-
posal it tabled recently.

He added that under the
HLRA’s pay equity proposal,

categories would receive pay.
equity adjustments over three
years retroactive to April 1,
1991.

*“‘The four-point program
HLRA proposed would provide
successive pay equity increases to
select categories of working
women,’’ said Austin. ‘‘It could
have been the first step towards
a comprehensive pay equity pro-
gram in the health care in-
dustry.’

LGH president Bob Smith said
the hospital was currently
operating as normal, but in the
event of a strike, he hoped to
have discussions beforehand with
the union concerning essential
services provisions.

“In a strike situation, we typ-
ically eliminate elective pro-
cedures such as elective surgery
and work on an urgent or.
emergency basis,” said Smith.

“We truly would like to see
negotiations resolved as soon as
possible,’’ said Smith.

The last strike at LGH occur-
red in the summer of 1989 and
lasted 17 days.

the centre of the political stage,
allowing the government to con-
centrate on the more pressing de-
mands such as the economy and
getting their spending under con-
trol,’’ he offered.

The proposal was met with loud
applause.

Manning said the constitutional
assembly would listen to expert
opinion and draw up a proposal
for referendum for every citizen
of the country to vote on. °

The outcome, he said, would be
the basis for Canada’s new con-
stitution.

When asked what he thought of
the protest taking place outside,

' Manning replied, ‘I’m more con-

cerned with the crowds inside than
the crowds outside.’’

Manning said the federal gov-
ernment must be pressured to cut
public spending to head off an
economic catasirophe in Canada. ~

He sees the Reform party as the
only party willing, if not consider- -
ing, to apply such pressure.

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@ Frugal Gourmet .....49
M Lifestyles ...........47
WW North Shore Now....42 .
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