Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 21, 1978, Winnipeg, Manitoba Alice Krueger postmortem on ads pay doctors fat cats perish the thought says Manitoba medical association president or. Joseph crust. Crust is afraid someone May have gotten that impression from wednesday s column therefore he Tel phoned to dispel any such notion. The doctors Are not being offered any bigger percentage increase than some of the civil servants he said. It is True he said the government has offered the doctors a 6.88 fee increase this year. But it s not retroactive to Jan. 1, rather april 1. The Mma president says that brings the effective rate of increase Down to 5.16 per cent for 1978. Of that the doctors calculate that 3.56 percent will go toward covering increased overhead costs such As office expenses and wages for staff. That leaves them with an increase of Only per cent and so we could very Well wind up losing Money Over the crust said. Lie s quite right that it does t leave much but it s still More in actual Dollar terms than the two per cent the government is offering one component of the civil service. And More than the clerical component of the government which has been offered no increase at All. And it s certainly better than a 3.2 per cent Cut in pay which Victoria Hospital staff Are supposed to accept. E e o it s Lough enough at the Best of times for the average person to understand the complexities of government budgeting and finance of matters such As Federal provincial Cost sharing Block funding current account versus capital. But when the politicians gel into the kind of debate that has been raging in the Manitoba legislature Over the provincial deficit it s enough to make your head spin. By now the Public is probably so confused that nobody knows for sure the extent of the As the pcs like to Call it or whether there was a mess at All. The deficit figure that probably Sticks in most peo ple s minds is million mainly because it was repeated so often by the Premier finance minister Don Craik and the Spivak task Force to ensure that it was firmly implanted. Thai a cite Craik s admission in he budget address thai due to improving revenues from Ottawa the mess May be smaller than earlier anticipated Only million. Bui that figure has t received the same expo sure As the million. Adding to the confusion is the change in bookkeeping instituted by the new government which combines current of craving bit decl and capital borrowing. The former nip administration estimated a million deficit and so it sounds liken horrendous jump when the conservatives talk about million. But the first figure is Only current account while the latter is both current and capital combined. Who Lucr the provincial deficit is million million million or any one of the other figures that have been thrown around that won t be known for sure until provincial auditor w. K. Ziprick is finished with the books a couple of months from now. About the Only tiling that can be said with any certainty right now is that the deficit is probably going to be More than the million projected by the nip on current account and probably less than the million combined deficit claimed by the progressive conservative government. Beyond that like who knew what and when about the improving revenues from Ottawa and who is to blame for what portion of the deficit it All gets rather fuzzy. Opposition members have been sceptical of the million figure right from the time it was first made Public by Craik last november. There has been the nagging suspicion that the conservative government changed the bookkeeping and lumped in As much As it could get away with in order to exaggerate the deficit and make the nip look As bad As possible. Not so said Craik at the time. The deficit projection was not an overstatement and the final figure May be even greater than million he said then. That s where Craik ran into trouble in being so definite about the million and not leaving himself an out. Then he got himself in even deeper when he waited for two months before telling the Public that things were not As bad As had been portrayed earlier. That left him open to charges whether fair or otherwise that he attempted to cover up the True picture and that he continued to use the million figure for As Long As he could. Premier Lyon in trying to explain the discrepancy earlier this week said the reason the government had t announced the improved picture sooner was because it was Only a very preliminary indication and the government therefore did t want to place too much Slock in it. For the same reason he said the govern ment had t made Public an indication that the deficit might Rise to million. So Why then was the conservative government so eager to accept the preliminary estimate of a million deficit it was even More preliminary in the sense that it was made about five months before the end of the fiscal year. It is interesting to note that the provincial auditor now dissociates himself from the million figure. Ziprick says he had nothing to do with arriving at last fall s estimate of the deficit. His Only involvement was to verify actual spending up to that time. But he says he s going to be very interested nut the whys and wherefores of the discrepancy be tween estimated and actual whatever it winds up being. If there is a significant variance Between the Esti mated and actual we do look at it to ensure the integrity of the he said in an interview this week. The pc government s decision to Issue quarterly financial statements for the province instead of once a year is a Good one. So Long As the Public understands that the quarterly reports Are Only preliminary Esti mates and that he figures Are Likely to be used by politicians on both sides of the House to score whatever political Points they can. Until the books Are closed off each year end and audited it might be a Good idea to treat it All with a Grain of Salt. Winnipeg free press Friday april 21, 1978 City news 2nd class mail registration number 0286 consider dropping land plan City told by Steve Pona the provincial government has told the City of Winnipeg to consider seriously the abandonment of their joint 991-acre land Assembly pro Gram in fort Garry the Price of which has been estimated at More than million when fully Deve loped. In a letter to mayor Robert Steen of Winnipeg this week Urban affairs minister Gerry Mercier of Manitoba recommends Council minimize costs to the City and provincial govern ments by abandoning the expropriation of those lands in fort Garry not required for essential Public it appears most unlikely that the land will be needed for residential purposes within a time period that would justify the required an Nual investment especially since the Manitoba housing and renewal corporation ready for development immediately South of the Assembly area Mercier says. The letter made Public at a meet ing of civic executive policy commit tee thursday answers a Council re quest that the provincial government review and report on the three year old land Assembly programs in fort Garry and St. Vital. While Mercier insists the City continue with the 333-acre St. Vital pro Gram whose land can be developed fairly quickly for housing he cites escalating costs of Assembly in fort Garry As justification for abandonment. But As councillors noted during debate the minister s carefully worded observations arid suggestions Stop Short of committing the province to any single course of action leaving Council to make the final ruling. Why should we always be the Scapegoat for somebody else s Deci councillor Al Ducharme complained. If it s going to Cost us half a million dollars Why should we get involved. It s Okay for the province to say Okay now you can get out of but Are they willing to pick up their share of the which could in clude moving assessment and Legal expenses mortgage penalties and interest payments Ducharme inde pendent citizens election commit said. Mercier s letter recommends the City offer to abandon expropriation of land not required for the construction of a regional fire Hall or major roadways and then Only if the owners agree to waive All rights to consequential damages. Should councillors decide in favor of continuing the land Assembly pro Gram which has been met with a barrage of criticism and fervent lobbying by affected landowners Mer Cier requests that expropriation proceedings be completed As quickly As committee voted unanimously to have the civic administration report within two weeks on the Legal and financial ramifications of such a move which chief City commissioner d. I. Macdonald likened to the loss of virginity it in t easily re the City s Legal department was also instructed on a motion by Deputy mayor coun. Bill Norrie Tuxedo. Heights to meet witly Law yers representing landowners to de Termine How Many Are willing to waive their rights for a Token one Dollar. City Council is on record As favor ing abandonment which must be endorsed by both partners and most recently raised the Issue with the provincial government in january though neither has been willing to1 Lake the decisive first step which. Could trigger a tangle of Tricky Legal complications. The former new democratic party administration refused a Simi Lair request from the City in 1976, threatening to go it alone if Council decided to opt out of the program. A total of 90 per cent of the project s costs estimated several years ago to be More than million for acquisition and servicing Are being loaned by Central mortgage and housing corporation with the City and province picking up roughly five per cent each in addition to annual interest payments. Nearly 50 of the fort Garry expropriations some of them ready to be arbitrated by the courts for the establishment of Bench Mark land values have been stalled by policy committee order since last january pending the program s review by an inter governmental task Force whose recommendations Are set to be made Public within the next two weeks. Coun. Jim Ernst Mill said after the meeting we went into this when land was priced at to an acre now we re up around we have to bal Ance our philosophical objectives with the rising Mercier rising costs Priolo by Dave Donner Maurice Hebert operates jaws of life Rescue equipment in a demonstration thursday in Selkirk Man. The useful tool was donated to the ramp by the Selkirk rotary club because ramp in the area patrol Miles of Road in the District. The jaws which can exert pounds of pressure a Square Inch can Cut through bus bodies and with another attachment can be used to pry apart cars jammed in accidents. New contract okayed Winnipeg division teachers Settle for six per cent raise hearings criticized milk Price Rise will jeopardize health of poor by Allan Wilson consumer representatives criticized the Manitoba milk control Board thursday for Hie Way it conducts its hear Ings and said further milk Price increases will severely affect the nutritional level of the province s poor. The Hoard heard consumer positions on possible milk Price increases of Between h.5 and cents a litre in Southern Manitoba and an additional five cents in the North. Said James Marrin a director of the citizen s health action committee inc., which runs a clinic and was repro i setting the poor no increase in the Price of milk is affordable by those we represent. In a Community who arc for the most part nutritionally poor increases in the Price of fluid milk May put milk beyond the reach of Many residents. It is our Contention that milk Price increases will result in a deterioration in the health of members and patients of the Centre. The legitimate Cost increases of the producer should be met by he presented a petition with names asking the Board to make every Effort to keep milk prices Down. 1 but control Board lawyer Henry Monk replied we Are considering the lowest possible Price the Industry can survive on not if people can afford to the health committee Brief also outlined the effect of the recent 2.73 cents a litre increase to cover the Cost of going metric and the proposed increase on an aver age i Amily. It said present and proposed increases will have a stagger ing effect on a family of four this family consuming 61.8 litres a month will have to Bear an increase of if the provider is making a minimum wage he will re quire a raise of -1.2 cents an hour or 1.4 per cent simply to cover the increase of Anne Ross representing the mount Carmel clinic said milk prices should at least be held where they Are and the Price of milk should be decreased not increased. If this Board allows an increase you Are looking at an increase of 19 per cent. Milk costs times As much As it did in 1972. How do people manage i la Ell you How. They pay their rent their Gas Bills and what is left is for food that is where they scrimp. Let me assure you Many of the people i Deal with can t afford All by Glen Mackenzie Winnipeg division teachers and the school Board have settled on a 1978 contract calling for a six per cent pay increase and a few improvements in working conditions. Peter Suderman Winnipeg teachers association presi Dent said wednesday the certainty of an anti inflation Board Rollback to six per cent caused teachers to abandon the 18.8 per cent raise they proposed initially. A 1977 arbitration Board gave teachers a pay increase exceeding 10 per cent but the Federal Board reduced this to eight per cent. Suderman said the Only pay increase above the six per cent ceiling was a Bonus for two teachers who will run the summer school program this year one to serve As principal and the other As vice principal. Many proposed improvements in non monetary items were compromised or dropped. Teachers initial proposal said a teaching vice principal should be appointed if a school has 24 to 29 staff members and a supervising vice principal be named if there Are 30 or More staff members. This was dropped in return for a memorandum of under standing which added a vice principal to Aberdeen and Prince Charles schools and an Assurance that vice principals would remain at Earl Grey general Wolfe Isaac Newton and Tyndall Park schools Suderman said. Ernie Unruh principal of Aberdeen school said Early in March he would resign if Winnipeg school Board did t appoint a vice principal. About 50 parents and teach ers showed up at a Board meeting to support him another clause in the proposed contract said teachers should have the right to choose Between receiving pay cheques 10 or 12 times a year depending on whether they want their cheques during summer months or at some other time during the year. The contract provides Only for payment of july s salary at the end of june and also says the Cheque can t be cashed until the end of july Suderman said. A proposal that teachers substituting for principals be paid Evary Day they substitute rather than having to do so for at least five Days before receiving compensation was also dropped. The payment increased to from a Day because of the six per cent pay in crease another item dropped was a proposal that retiring teachers with More than 25 years service to the division receive a retirement gratuity based on unused sick time. The anti inflation Board would have counted this As compensation for teachers As a whole and thus affected pay increases for All Suderman said. The 1977 arbitrated contract gave teachers interest on Back pay but the anti inflation Board said this was subject to the Over All eight per cent package a ruling which made the interest payment completely meaningless. This too was dropped but a precedent of receiving such interest was set Suderman said. A Board member asked Ross what they were sup posed to do about increased costs in the Dairy Industry. Said Ross i m not Here to solve the problems of an ail ing Economy i m Here to defend the Board chairman Paul Phillips said we could bankrupt All the processors in Manitoba by dropping the Price of milk two there was an argument from the Canadian Consunji ers association that Dairy processors should be encouraged to compete resulting in Price cutting to the advantage of the consumer. Phillips said this would probably put the smaller processors out of business and with just one processor Deal with the control Board would have an even harder time getting comprehensive information on processing costs. Ben Hanuschak new democratic party member of the Manitoba legislature for Burrows and Russ Doern nip la for Elmwood made statements to the hearing essentially saying the Price of milk should not be raised. Doern also said there is some possibility people will substitute soft drinks for milk if the Price goes up. Arne Peltz lawyer for the health committee said the Board should make full disclosure of the submissions made to it and should consider allowing Cross examination or some Way of questioning witnesses. As it islands the control Board receives confidential financial submissions from milk processors. It distributes a consolidation of the statements but company and specific information arc withheld. Pella presented Legal arguments that the control Board should make the documents Public. Phillips said the arguments will be considered an d a ruling will be made in the future. The hearings Are now adjourned until ii . Wednesday in the agriculture building at the University of Manitoba. The break was Given at the request of the health committee to allow it to prepare replies to arguments presented by the Dairy Industry wednesday this week ;