Friday, December 4, 1992 — North Shore News - 3 reactions to mini-budget UI benefit changes, sexual harassment claims THE FEDERAL government’s mini-budget delivered jobs. are being created for small Wednesday by Finance Minister Don Mazankowski has business.” received mixed reaction from the North Shore’s two Pro- Rom Vancouver MP Chuck Sechelt Inlet on Saturday. NEWS photo Mike Wakefield NV LAWYER and Artificial Reef Society president Jay Straith inside the HMCS Chaudiere, which Is scheduled to be sunk in Sechelt destroyer sinking faces one final challenge BARRING THE last-minute lifting of a provincial ‘permit, the destroyer HMCS Chaudiere will sink in Sechelt Inlet on Saturday at noon. North Vancouver lawyer and Artificial Reef Society (ARS) president Jay Straith has found the challenge of scuttling a 364-foot ship in B.C. waters a voyage through ‘tempestuous bureaucratic seas. Coastwatch Sechelt, a group of Sechelt environmentalists, is asking the provincial govern- “ment. to suspend the permit allowing the ARS to sink the ship. Diving enthusiasts had origi- nally plauned to sink the ship in the spring just south of Gabriola Pass, near Ladysmith on Vancouver Island. ’ The proposal foundercd. ‘ Straith. said the Islands ‘Trust, which administers land use on 13 major Gulf Islands, opposed the sinking. “One of the interesting things is the government really . didn’t know where the jurisdic- tion of the Islands Trust began and ended,” Straith said. ““We sat down one day with B.C. Lands and their idea of the jurisdiction is according to the - Municipal Act, which is 350 . metres (1,148 feet) off shore. INDIAN ARES: PAGE 5 But the Islands Trust think they have jurisdiction including all of the bottom of the Gulf Islands within 350 metres of downtown Vancouver. “So we thought this is crazy: we don’t want to end up in a major lawsuit over this.”’ The group shifted its atten- tion to Sidney or Sechelt as possible locations for the final resting ground, Said Straith, ‘‘We decided to give Sechelt a shot because we like the idea of diverting diving traffic to the Sunshine Coast. “Also it would be more of an isolated community that didn’t really have a huge diving background tc begin with so you'd realiy be able to trace the economic impact of how this would work.’” He said the group secured letters of support from the Sunshine Coast regional district and Sechelt natives. ‘Everything was going fine, and then somebody said, ‘Well what about our fand claim?’ Apparently when they had done their land claim, the Sechelt Band had taken the Sunshine Coast and put a circle around it, and as far as they were concerned that included By Michael Becker News Reporter the ocean. And we were going, ‘Say what?’ *“We diplomatically ap- proached them and said tradi- tionally aboriginal land claims included areas where you could go to to hunt and fish and so on, but barring a transporta- tion accident, nobody ends up going to the bottom of the Sechelt Inlet deliberately,’’ he said. The ARS turned the plan, barnacles and all, over to the B.C. Ministry of Lands for consideration. The proposal to sink the ship has had to satisfy conditions of the Fisheries Act, the Canadian Environmental, Protection Act, the B.C. Land Act, the Navigable Waters Protection Act and municipal regulations. While ARS counterparts in -the United States have a na- tional fisheries enhancement act to work with to allow for the process of placing artificial reefs in U.S. waters, Straith says his group has had to ‘‘r invent the wheel’’ in Canada. Along the way, Straith said the ARS signed a lease with the provincial government that in- cludes a_ liability condition stipulating the !and on which the ship will come to rest is not susceptible to flooding or ero- sion. The group also had to insuse the ship. “First we looked at this and asked what are you going to insure a ship that’s going to become an artificial reef against? Floating? “So we finally settled on getting third-party liability in- surance, and it's a temporary permit. It expires as soon as we sink the ship, and then virtual- ly it’s a gift to the Crown, and that’s the end of it.” Earlier this year the ship was stripped of its brass, copper, zinc, lead, lubricants and salvageable fixtures. Among its objections to the sinking of the Chaudiere on the Sunshine Coast, Coastwatch Sechelt points out that the ship contains large quantities of asbestos. But said Straith, ‘Fisheries and Oceans did a calculation that if the entire ship was made of asbestos, (it) wouldn’t equal the amount of asbestos coming down the. Fraser River.”’ gressive Conservative MPs. Capilano-Howe Sound MP Mary Collins: ‘Tl think it’s a very sensible plan. We're dealing with a very difficult time. “Some of the changes will cer- tainly be controversial. “I thought a lot of people al- ready thought that (being termi- nated from a job and not being eligible for unemployment in- surance benefits) was already the case. “I think it’s appropriate that if By Surj Rattan News Reporter you get fired from a job that you are not entitled to unemployment insurance benefits. “Some people said to just spend your way out of the deficit. We don't believe in doing that. “It’s enabling us to keep the deficit under control.”’ “For B.C., the smail business stimulus is really interesting. More “They’re doing a great deal in the Maritimes, but I don’t see it as a great deal for British Colum- bia.” “It’s about what you could ex- . There’s not much there. , ‘“‘What is the definition of leav- ing a job with cause? That’s going to cause me the most difficulty.”* “ would expect to see a huge increase in sexual harassment claims by women. “I don’t believe you should get unemployment insurance benefits if you quit your job.”’ Federal mini-budget highlights @ Over the balance of this fiscal year and the next two fiscal years almost $8 billion will be cut in a broadly-based expenditure restraint program. @ The spending reduction pro- gram will reduce the estimated deficit for the 1992-93 fiscal year to $34.4 billion. Further savings in 1993-94 should reduce the deficit to $32.6 billion. @ People who quit their jobs without just cause or who lose their jobs because of their own misconduct will no longer be eli- gible for unemployment insurance benefits. © Average unemployment in- surance benefits will be frozen. In April 1993, the unemployment in- surance rate will be cut from the current 60% to 57% of wages earned. @ Grants and subsidies to most osganizations and interest groups will be cut by 10% in each of the next two years. @ For two years, starting when current contracts expire, salaries will be frozen for public servants and employees of non-commercial Crown corporations. © Salaries will be frozen for two years for the prime ni:nister, cab- inet ministers, MPs, senators, the Governor General, the lieutenant-governor ari the fed- eral judiciary. @ The operating budgets of fed- eral government departments will be cut by 3% in 1993-94. Com- bined with the government: wage freeze, this means that federal operating budgets will be 5% lower than planned levels over the next two fiscal years. @ Over the next five years an estimated investment of $2 billion in national infrastructure projects will create between 4,000 and 5,000 direct jobs annually. @ Economic growth should average 2.5% next year. e Inflation should remain below 2.5% in 1993. B.C. Infants Act changes outrage N. Shore parents AN AMENDMENT to the provincial Infants Act has prompted a North Shore parents’ group to send a repre- sentative with 2,000 signed letters opposing the proposed legislation to Victoria. Legislation is about to be enacted into B.C. law that would allow children of all ages to have access to medical treatment without parental consent. The Concerned North Shore Parents group held a meeting last Friday in Nerth Vancouver to ral- ly opposition to the act's changes and to explain the legislation and its potential ramifications. The Infants Act governs all children under the age of 19. . Amendments io the act changes the curreni legislation in two ways: - @ If a child seeks medical treat- ment of any kind, ‘a health-care provider no longer has to obtain consent of the parent or guardian of that child. @ The current term = ‘‘medical practitioner’’ (defined as a ticens- ed medical doctor or dentist) is replaced with ‘health-care pro- vider’’ (defined as a person licens- ed, certified or registered in B.C. to provide health care). ‘*By referring to the amend- ment’s definition of ‘health care,”’ it follows that social workers, psychologists, nurses and pharmacists are oniy a few of 8 Editorial Page @ Home & Garden By A.P. McCredie News Reporter those who would, under the amendment, ‘health care’ to children of any age without the knowledge or consent of parents,’’ said North Vancouver lawyer Joseph Broom. - Under the current Infant Act legislation a 16- to 18-year-old can receive medical treatment without parental or guardian con- sent if a doctor makes a reason- able effort to obtain parental con- sent or gets a second opinion from another medical practitioner that confirms the treatisent is in the best interests of the continued health and well-being of the child. The current legislation could be deemed illegal under the Charter of Freedom and Rights, because it discriminates on the basis of age. During the third and final reading of the amendinent in the B.C. legislature on July 2, At- torney General Colin Gabelmann said the changes to the act were designed so that “youngsters of this age who may require medical intervention should not be spook- Printed on 10% recycled newsprint be able to dispense” ed into not securing that medical intervention by a fear of, in some case, having to receive parental . approval.’’ The third reading of the amendment was passed with little debate. Al! that is required now to enact che proposed law is the ap- proval of the lieutenant-general and a proclamation by council. Broom agrees that the current Infart Act must be changed, but he says the proposed amendment is too open to interpretation and provides no safeguards that the interests of the child will be ade- quately protected. “In the final analysis, it is the health-care provider that is vir- tually the sole judge of not only what kind of health care the child should receive, but siss of whether the child has consented,” said Broom. Under the proposed law, a health-care provider must satisify two requirements to proceed with the child’s request: @ explain to the child and be satisfied that the child understands the nature and consequences of the treatment; @ conclude that the treatment is in the child's best interest. Broom said the criteria for con- sent take the final decision out of the hands of the parent and the child and puts it into the hands of the health-care provider. Weather Saturday, showers, Sunday, rain. 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