& AT - Sunday, December 18, 1983 - North Shore News

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Let women take over!

Dear Editor

Teachers, their unions, and
sympathizersare still raging
against the provincial govern-
ment’s efforts to restrict
spending in the educational
field, claiming that education
is going down the drain. As
far as a great many members
of the general public —con-
cerned education went down
the drain many moons ago.
Witness the illiterates who
have ‘‘graduated’’ from our
high schools. It’s really too
bad Bill Vander Zalm didn’t
get a chance to put education
back on the track.

The provincial government
knows whereof it speaks with
regard to education expenses.
At one time, not so very long
ago, I worked for a B.C.
municipal government,
which shall remain nameless
for obvious reasons. While
there, I witnessed a confron-
tation between the purchas-
ing agent for the-municipality
and the purchasing agent for

the school board. The
municipal purchasing agent
had the bright idea that, if
they got together and bought
their lumber, et cetera, in
bulk, they could gain quite a
substantial saving. The
school board purchasing
agent disdained this idea and
said, ‘‘We don’t have to
economize, we have plenty of
money!’’ Needless to say,
that comment caused quite
an explosion within the
ranks.

There are several other
areas within the municipality
where a _ substantial sum
could be saved. Streets could
be maintained for much less
by doing the job in proper se-
quence. | almost lost my job,
after a certain road in the
municipality had been
beautifully paved, by asking
the engineer when he was go-
ing to dig it up in order to in-
stall sewer pipes. You guess-
ed.it ... there weeks later, it
was dug up in order to install
sewer pipes!

We have all witnessed half
a dozen men on a two-man
job, some leaning on their
shovels and others working in
slow-motion. These are the
ones who usually go on strike
for higher pay. However, you
will nearly always see an old
codger in the crowd working
his butt off. He is the one
who should have the increase
in salary.

I firmly believe that salaries
should be linked to produc-
tivity but, apparently, pro-
ductivity is a dirty word
nowadays.

I think the time has come
for the women to take over
the running of municipal
governments. After all, they
have been juggling half the
pay and twice the workload
of men for decades, which
has developed their ingenuity
and their ordered minds to a
very high standard.

Miss Eileen M. Scott
West Vancouver

Post Partum pays off

Dear Editor

I am writing in regards to
the letter you published from
the Honourable Grace Mc-
Carthy regarding Post-
Partum Counselling.

As a staff member of Post-
Partum Counselling for the
past eight years, I would like
to point out some errors in
Mrs. McCarthy’s
information:

e Mrs. McCarthy alludes
to post-partum counselling
continuing through district
offices and community
resources. Firstly, district line
social workers have never
been trained in the highly
specialized area of post-
partum depression. We hear
constantly from these
workers who are at a loss as
to how to deal with post-
partum depressed women.
Secondly, we know from ex-
perience that there are no
community resources that
deal with this serious pro-

blem. This has become most
evident in the recent weeks
while we have been winding
down our program. There is
simply no suitable place to
refer these women.

© Mrs. McCarthy has sug-
gested that we are serving the
relatively small area of the
lower mainland. lt must be
kept in mind that we are talk-
ing of a population of over
1% million people and
thousands of women from
this area have been able to
seek help from our program.
Also, we have always acted as
consultants for the entire
province, other parts of
Canada, and even. other
countnes such as the U.S.
and England. We are a uni-
que service and our
knowledge is valued
internationally.

© We are continually being
asked to give workshops in
other areas that are, accor-
ding to Mrs. McCarthy, be-

More letters on
Page A8

draperies
by S. Laursen

Custom Draperies, Bedspreads
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ing served by doctors, the
Ministry of Health and
private societies. Interesting-
ly, it is these very profes-
sionals who are requesting
our expertise and are making
referrals to us.

e if Mrs. McCarthy and
her government is truly in-
terested in the concept of
restraint, then she must take
an honest look at the fact
that Post-Partum Counsell-
ing is a cost-effective pro-
gram. Other forms of treat-
ment include hospitalization,
drug therapy and _ electro-
convulsive shock treatment.
All of these forms of treat-
ment are comparatively very
costly.

Allison Howard
North Vancouver

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