ATTENTION
Vancouver voters:
mayor Derrick Humphreys
is chairing six public meet-
ings to help you decide

° Katherine Whittred, MLA
North: Vancouver ~ Lonsdale

“303 -. 126 East 15th Street

North. Vancouver, BC V7L 2P9

* Tel: 988: 3885" Fax: 981-0022

- Constituency Report

On ‘July -15, 1999,. the 3rd Session of the
36th Parliament came to ani i end. At 161

mnsidering politicians di

the neverending veotgntenione: and
, festructuring that have become a pattern

will do sasthine the now defunct’:
Ministry:of Human Resources did and
somie. It takes ‘over the disability
“issues and skill development programs
_ that used to be the responsibility of the -
& Ministry of Advanced Education, Training

West
former

. $n the air put the taxpayei
| Sor $530. million. In early July, talks

-between the provincial government and

which way to cast your vote
in the municipal elections.
Candidates for the posi-
tions of school trustee, coun- p.m.
cillor, and mayor are sched-

and Technology and the Ministry of
Intergovernmental Relations. It also takes
over the childcare services of the Ministry
for Children and Families. There is more!
From the Ministry of Employment and
luvestment it takes away the BC Housing
Management Commission and from the
Ministry of Municipal Affairs, the
Building Code Appeal Board and the
housing policy. This is one huge ministry,
the third largest behind the health and
the education ministries. The other new
ministry is called the Ménzstry of
community Development, Co-operatives
and Volunteers. \t will govern the British
Columbia Community Financial Services
corporation which used. to be under the
umbrella of the Ministry of Employment
and Investment. That.is it! Did we really
need a whole new ministry for this?

A New Convention Centre- This is a
perfect example of how lack of planning
and project mismanagement could put an
end — a temporary one I hope~to a good

concept. It is obvious that if we are to

compete with world class convention

destinations and enjoy the economic spin- -

offs, we need-to build bigger facilities:
Large scale, international events are
planned and booked years in advance, The
Official Opposition supported the

’_- Vancouver convention centre expansion

project, as did the government. What we
differed on was the ie methodology and

implementation. Tis government had no -
business plan and an original pledge of —

no-cost-to-the-taxpayers became all-costs-

- to-the-taxpayers. On top of that, it was

confirmed that the contracts would only
be offered to firms that were represented
‘by trade union. The latest figure thrown
on the hook

Greystone, Properties (Greystones new.

_ name is Concert Properties) broke down
-and the project was put on hold. We’ ,

should be thankful for that. Judging by’
the fast ferries cost overrans, I shudder ©

Pa cpevelgrosent peeks ai veal
' the recent changes in government, there.

are indications that the project may be:

. revived. There is no telling how much
iow pepmeabiemtche eet Aneel :

- Good News Item = : Cast hi int: ‘his
ministerial statement, the Minister for
Small Business,. Tourisra, and Culture, ages

advised che‘ House that fike and
éelevision production in BC weuld ©:
reach a record high of $1 billion this
year. He went on to say that this was |

largely due to the File Incentive BC tax

credit program and the Production.
Services tax credit program, \egislation
that was introduced and.passed last year. .
The critic for the Official Oppesition
started his response by saying “Ié’s.
amazing tax breaks uvorvk!”

Absurd Regulations - In carly July,

the Official Opposition took the

uled to attend the meetings,
which start at 7:30 p.m. and
run until 10 p.m. or 10:30

Humphreys said cach

a

meeting will represent

kick at the cat to answer.”

government to task over its antiquated
tax regulations for school supplies. Last
revised in May of 1994, a consumer
Taxation Branch Bulletin details the tax
regulation in all its absurdity. Here are
some examples of things that are or aren't
taxable: whiteboard pens and markers
are exempt, whiteboard erasers and
cleaners aren't; chalks and crayons are
exempt, chalkboards aren't; computer
software is exempt, computer hardware
isn’t And the list goes on. It is bad
enough that these regulations were
allowed io remain in effect at the time of
the last revision. It is even worse that in
the last five years nobody has bothered to
reform them. Responding to the
relentless criticism from the Official
Opposition, the government promised to
review these mindless regulations. =~

Auditor General’s Report — In his
annual report on the government's
financial accountability for the ‘97-'98

whole night for people to
shoot questions at (candi-
dates) and give them a good

He was inspired to chair
his own mectings because of
what he perceives as the chaos
of previous attempts, where
there were “25 poor bloody
candidates on stage. It’s net
been a good thing for people
before.”

Meetings at West
Vancouver High Schoo! will
take place as follows:

@ school trustees Tues, Nov.
>.

councillars Wed. Nov. 3;
@ mayor Thurs. Nov. 4.

A second set of mectings
will take place at Rockridge
Middle School:

@ school trustees Tues. Nov.

B councillors Wed. Nov. 10;
@ mayor Fri. Nov. 12.

— Katharine Hamer

Chestnut
trees in.
trouble —

THE chestnut trees |.
lining the boulevards ~~
of 17th Street’ - :
between Marine. .
Drive and Inglewood :

fiscal year, the Auditor General: noted that - Peck

the government altered its plans for:
managing the provincial debt too often.
He says, “When plans are frequently
modified to a substantial extent the.
purpose of having them in the Sire
place is defeated”...

The Auditor General also expresses.
concern over the inconsistencies that:
currently exist in che accounting oa
principles‘and standards of firiancial
statement reporting by school districts.

» He submits that the lack of a ‘uniform

into question'the usefulness of the

information provided.
The Auditor General's. report on thie
bungled: fast ony Project is

In the Constituency

‘There has been s some publicity recently

about:the widening, ¢ or rather: not

widening; of the. causeway as part of the:
upgrade to the Lions Gate Bridge. This

issue, however, is nothing new. When

was first poo: to e that the:

wider bridge lane i into ‘the. narrow

causeway lane is fike‘an. accident waiting:
to happen. Unfortunately, i it all fell‘on:.
deaf ears as the government went along:

more traffic and. that was to be avoided at .
any cost! The media, to a large extent, ©.”
ignored. this issue at the time. As if it: |

-weren't bad enough: that we got a Band-.
“Aid solution to the aging bridge problem: a

the government is giving us a second,

a more * dangerous, be bottleneck’ to deal with, - a

: originally planted in"1936 b
the ‘poy Scout
: 1998

rr expectedly’
nto. the’street and

* municipal’ arboris
BC, Hydro jai
state agree.that pr

_ with the Vancouver Parks Beard which, in. |
~. its wisdom, decided thax cars had 1 no ’
_ business driving through the causeway to
~ begin with. Widening it would encourage. :

: ing towards a:

"> implemente

~ prior to-an
or replacemer t.