6 - Friday, January 6, 1989 - North Shore News More immigrants needed to keep gran and gramp THE TOUGH NEW TORY IMMIGRATION Iaw may assure MPs Chuck Cook, Mary Collins and colleagues of the redneck vote — but it’s irrelevant to Canada’s REAL immigration problem, which remains untouched. The problem being simply this. Who, 15 to 20 years down the road, is going to keep the future grandmas and grandpas belonging to the huge 1945-65 baby boom generation — more and more of them already into middle age? Today, in varying degree and in some cases almost entirely, our over-65s are supported by the working population, who continue to pay into the Old Age Security and Canada Pension Plan funds to which the seniors themselves no longer contribute. As well, a good many seniors also enjoy tax-sub- sidized accommodation, medica- ments and health care far above the national average, plus tax breaks, extra GAIN income for the needy and you-name-what-else. The total bill is already steep for the tax-paying toilers aged between 20 and 64, At the moment the system still works because the ratio CHUCK COOK, MP vote irrelevant. between the latter and the seniors — both hitherto growing in numbers — has so far held fairly even. In 1961, at the height of the baby boom, eight per cent of the populztion was over 65 compared to $0 per cent of working age. By 1986 these two figures respectively had sisen to I per cent and 60 per cent. But without a much bigger pop- ulation the balance between the employed and the retired isn’t go- ing to last many years longer. The scary statistic for today’s baby boomers is that of children and young people up to age 19. Between 1961 and 1986 the birth rate stumped by almost one half and annual immigration dropped by a third. As a result, only 29 per cent of the population in 1986 was under 20 years old, compared to 42 per cent a quarter of a century earlier. Given the declining yearly death rate of about 7.3 per thou- sand, the future prospect is alarm- ing if things don’t soon change quite drastically. By around the year 2005 we could be facing a situation where a relatively tiny work force compos- ed of today’s 29 per cent or so of youngsters is struggling to keep its own head above water while sup- porting a considerably GREATER number of non-working seniors — i.e., the surviving majority of to- day’s 60 per cent work force who by then will have retired. Neither the social nor the economic conse- quences are pretty to contemplate. Even if the birth rate rises again moderately, it takes 18 to 20 years before the newborn can be “harvested’’ as wage-earners. Housing health Te NORTH Shore is in dire need of new health department facilities. the department’s 90 employees Currently, work out of four inadequate locations scattered around the North Shore. The main North Vancouver office is located in a cramped, decades-old building distinguished primarily by its bleak, dated design. The North Shore Union Board of Health (NSUBH), Meanwhile, the ONLY options are to increase immigration or else shed our ‘‘caring society’’ label and prepare to eventually let gran and gramp starve in the dark. Neces- sary as it may have become, a $100 million blitz on bogus refugees does nothing to solve Canada’s looming need for more taxpayers to share the mounting burden of the aged. But what sort of immigrants? Where from? With what creden- tials? And at what rate? These are the emotion-laden questions we'll look at on Sunday. tet TAILPIECE: A reminder about North Van Youth Band’s 50th an- niversary party May 20-21, in- cluding a gala concert in the Or- pheum. If you were a member from 1939 onward, call Keith Er- ington, 929-3975, to get in on the fun ... It’s not too early for you ethnic Brits to book your table for the next St. George’s Day bauquet, April 23 — a sellout last year. Info from Dong Rogers, 922-3796, or Rosemary Wallace, 984-7387 ... And if you still want to practise your French, a $®-year-old Swiss geat in Beacon Hill Lodge would love to chat with you in his native tongue. The number is 925-3722. eee WRIGHT OR WRONG — the old _ Chinese proverb: Be patient in one moment of anger and escape 100 days of sorrow. NEWS prote Cindy Botamwy Celebrity Borieaders event held by the Trolley Pub, Horseshoe Bay. Other local personalities donating thelr 15-mimate ‘‘take’’ to charity included Ald. Pat Boname, Dong Collins, Berry Beck and Don Rose. therefore, is currently advertising to lease approx- imately 20,000 square feet of office space to con- solidate in a single building the health department’s invaluable community services. In addition to home care and long-term care, NSUBH services include public health nursing, speech pathology, nutrition, dental and mental health pro- grams and public health inspection. To operate such vital services from sub-standard fa- cilities benefits neither the public nor the health department and its staff. Even though the move from municipally-owned of- fices to more spacious, private facilities will result in increased health department costs, mainly due to higher rent, the present NSUBH funding partners — North and West Vancouver districts, North Vancouver City and North Vancouver's District 44 School Board — should make the unification of health department " VIM Ha operations a high priority in 1989. spersenenn anand est vores ce vt eo The efficient maintenance of the North Share’s good sencutne Dut we Cannot accept | ’ - health depends upon it. Lhe Entire contents © 1989 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. 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