Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 23, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press thursday april 23, 1981 3 a of anticipates staff space shortages three quitting Hospital Board Over secrecy by Gregg Shilliday at least three members of the seven Oaks Hospital Board Are resigning to protest a recent vote on the establish ment of an abortion committee at the North end Hospital. Former City councillors Harry la Zarenko Olga Fuga and Joe Cropo charged last night that the 21-member Board is being run by a select group Loyal to chairman Joe Zuken who they claim is ignoring Normal Board proce dures. Zuken was unavailable for comment last night. Citing the use of a secret ballot on the abortion vote and Cavalier decision making by Zuken the three maintain they Are not resigning because the abortion vote was passed but because i trustees raise own salaries Transcona Springfield school trustees have voted themselves pay raises of up to 17.2 per cent. A motion passed at last week s Board meeting raises the chairman s annual salary to from a 17.2-per cent increase. The vice chairman s Sal Ary was raised 14.7 per cent to from other trustees salaries were in creased 11.3 per cent to from taxes in the Urban portion of the school division will increase More this year than in any other greater Winni Peg division. Board chairman Jim Ilchyshyn said yesterday the raises were approved to bring Transcona Springfield trustees More in line with others in greater Winnipeg. He said the increases were proposed last december along with other budget proposals and approved last week with out debate. They Are retroactive to the first of this year Ilchyshyn said. The Board has ceased to be democratic. In letters of resignation addressed to Zuken and health minister l. R. Bud Sherman Lazurenko said the Board acted illegally and improperly Dur ing its March 16 vote on the abortion Issue by casting secret ballots. He also states that he could not accept a subsequent decision by Zuken to merely read a Legal opinion prepared by Board lawyer Nathan Nur Gitz on the Board s voting procedure that night. In interviews yesterday All three Board members expressed outrage that the lawyer s opinion was not circulated to Board members and suggested this was indicative of the unnecessary secrecy rampant on the Board. Fuga said her reason for resigning was primarily due to the secret ballot during the March 16 meeting. I find it abhorrent. We re spending Public Money so we have to be account Able to the Public. But it seems some of the Board does t feel that Way. Can t stand the heat All i can say is if you can t stand the heat you better get out of the kit Fuga said she has been a member of several boards in the past but she said she could not remember any where a single member could ask for a secret ballot and get it. S it s just not the three were unanimous is stating that the abortion Issue was extraneous to the real problem Board Secre Cropo said the abortion vote was the final Straw. It appears that a Given few Are running this Board. It s supposed to be a Community Hospital which we All worked for. But you would t know that now. There s just too much of this unneeded Zuken was quoted earlier As saying the work of the Board is going to proceed and no one single member of the Board is going to succeed in impeding the services and work that seven Oaks was planned to Lazarenko said he is considering court action against the Board but added that he did t have the financial resources for an extended court fight. Gas company workers return greater Winnipeg Gas co. Service and maintenance workers began re turning to their jobs this morning after ratifying a 25-month agreement ending their 79-Day strike. The contract which expires feb. 28, 1983, was approved by 95 per cent of the 230 members of Energy and chemical workers Union local 681, at a ratification meeting yesterday. It Calls for a 15 per cent wage in crease in the first year and another 13 per cent on feb. A Cost of living clause also will be included in the second year of the contract Union president Arnie Makinson said. The workers also will receive a signing Bonus plus improved pension benefits and vacations. At the end of the previous contract workers earned a net weighted average of an hour. Operations Are expected to return to . City smooths Way for tourists Urand Forks is easing problems for canadians stopped for speeding while visiting the North Dakota City mayor h. C. Wessman said yesterday. He told a Winnipeg rotary club Lun Cheon that canadians can now pay tickets through the mail instead of having to go to the grand Forks police station and formally Post Bond. The grand Forks mayor also said the City plans to Post signs giving Speed limits in Kilometres per hour and Miles per hour. He told a press conference the Low value of the Canadian Dollar has Defini Tely Hurt his City s tourist Trade. Wessman was in Winnipeg on a two Day promotional trip. Grand Forks 250 Kilometres South of Winni Peg has a population of on the controversial Garrison diver Sion project Wessman said Man to bans should not be concerned about possible Adverse effects. We understand that you simply do not dump on your neighbors and we Are proud to say you Are our neighbors. And i can t believe that North Dakota will dump anything on you that you Don t want from Normal within a few Days. The workers walked out in an Effort to achieve wage parity with their Saskatchewan counterparts. Makinson said parity has been achieved in about 70 per cent of the Union s Job classifications. However tradesmen who will get a 30-cent an hour differential beginning in 1983, will still be about an hour behind. The Union initially sought a 35 per cent increase Over two years but later dropped its demand to 32 per cent. You never get what you Hope Makinson said. Under the Circum stances we did pretty Good. By the size of the vote our membership must have thought the company had offered 24 per cent before the strike began and increased it to 26 per cent when the workers walked out. The University of Manitoba could be faced with staffing and space problems if enrolment in undergraduate science courses continues to increase. Or. C. C. Bigelow Dean of science at the University said yesterday applications for undergraduate science courses Are already up 20 per cent Over 1980 and Are considerably higher than we had the baby Boom is definitely Over and universities in fact were expecting a drop in enrolment during the begin Ning of the Bigelow said. As far As the sciences Are concerned this is definitely not happening As we Are beginning to see in september Bigelow said an equiv Alent of at least full time science students will take courses in 10 science departments. He said the two most Likely explanations for the jump in enrolment Are an increased participation among High school graduates and Young people resuming their education after being employed and the continuing Bright Job picture for science graduates. While the student influx is expected to continue Bigelow said there is no longer any doubt computer science As Well As other science departments will need More space and facilities provided for them by government education planners. It s an investment in the future that s All. I think Well soon need a computer science building possibly by combining it with this University s administrative computer increasing sophistication and expansion in the Field of computer science and the burgeoning demand for Educa Tion in the Field May not leave too much time before facilities must expand the Dean said. Bigelow also noted the higher enrol ment May present problems in class size and finding the professors Neces sary to teach extra classes. Compared with 200 students graduating with doctorates in computer science in North America annually Bigelow said there Are now no fewer than unfilled professorships advertised in the professional literature and in daily newspapers. The average Bachelor s salary in computer science in business and Industry now is the first year and in the Vicinity of or if the employee has a master s degree. If a person goes on earns a pad in computer science and returns to us to be a professor we d offer no More than that goes to show you be got to be pretty dedicated to want to be an academic in computer science and put up with that kind of income differ almost All science students take at least one or two computer science courses and half the 500 to 600 science honors program students major in computer science the Dean said. If full time equivalent students in science increases to from in the fall Bigelow said it will bring us major problems As far As sections Are concerned and Well have to Divide Many of them because they become rather unwieldy and you can t provide the teaching intensity you d want when you get beyond 50 students per Sec Ken Winnipeg free press for seats Sake Norm Kemp of Royal Stewart Ltd. Works on the installation of new aluminium seating at Winnipeg stadium. A total of linear feet of seating is being installed in both East and West stands replacing wooden Bench seats. The East stands Are currently under construction and will be ready for pre season games which Start in june. Training Camp starts in May. Alcan could save megabucks part interest in Hydro Plant constitutes substantial tax break experts say by Cecil Rosner Alcan aluminium Ltd s proposal for minority ownership of a Manitoba Hydro Plant would give the company substantial tax advantages it could not receive As a regular Power customer economists interviewed yesterday said. By becoming part owner of a generating station which would Power its proposed smelter the company would be Able to claim its portion of the Plant As an asset and deduct depreciation charges said prof. Norman Cameron of the University of Manitoba. The move could open new avenues for the firm to defer payment of income taxes producing Short term savings which could be used for immediate reinvestment he said. Tax deferral is the name of the game As far As Many Large corporations Are concerned he said. If ways can be found of speeding up the rate of depreciation charges the savings can translate into he said. The aluminium company has signed a letter of intent with the provincial government which would allow it to acquire part ownership of a Hydro station if agreement is reached to build a smelter. The letter also proposes to Grant Alcan water rights for 35 years with an additional 15-year renewal option. Alcan president and chief executive officer Patrick Rich said the joint ownership proposal was a pre condition for the company which it required before further consideration could be Given to the smelter plan. Rich acknowledged the arrangement would give Alcan the ability to write off its investment which would be unavailable to it As a regular Hydro Cus Tomer. Cameron said the company will Likely try to attain As great a rate of depreciation As possible on its generating station assets. Balancing Factor prof. John Mccallum of the University of Manitoba said the balancing fac Tor in Alcan s proposal is the Large initial investment it must make to pay for its share of the station which could total More than million. But he said the ownership arrangement is important for a company which feels it needs a Long term Power commit ment. Mccallum said a Maxim which is generally followed by corporations in this regard is if possible be the Alcan owns six major Hydro installations which Power its smelters and associated operations in Quebec. It also owns outright a Hydro Complex to Power its smelter in Kitimat . In All the company owns generating facilities with a total installed capacity of megawatts of which about megawatts Are firm Power capacity. Its Hydro holdings almost equal the total capacity of the entire Manitoba Hydro system. Financial notes accompanying Mani Toba Hydro s annual report show the Utility calculates depreciation of its hydroelectric generating stations using an estimated service life of 67 years. But for its own accounting purposes Alcan writes off a Power Plant in As Little As 20 years while even faster depreciation timetables Are available for tax purposes. Alcan s latest annual report shows Wilson s Appeal for Legal Aid to fight eviction Law delayed Wessman won t dump on you convicted la Bob Wilson is in for another month s wait before he knows if Legal Aid Manitoba will support his Challenge of the Laws that evicted him from the legislature. The Appeal Board of the Legal Aid society deferred its decision on Wil son s request for Legal assistance until May 21. Executive director Robert Freedman had previously recommended the application be denied because there was no Merit to Wilson s Case. The la for Wolseley applied on dec. 16 for Aid to fight Section 682 of the criminal code and Bill 3 of the Manitoba legislature. Wilson said he suspected the Board was hoping his upcoming criminal a peal would divert attention from the civil Challenge. The Wolseley la s criminal proceedings Are to come before the Mani Toba court of Appeal on May 19 and 20. Wilson has been sentenced to seven years in jail on charges of conspiracy to import and traffic in marijuana. He was released on bail pending the outcome of his Appeal. They Are involving my criminal action in what is clearly a parliamentary he said. Maybe they want to keep it going until after the Freedman said yesterday Wilson was Reading too much into the Board s Deci Sion to delay. Claims pressure it certainly is in or. Wilson s favor because it shows the Board recognizes the importance of the said Freedman. If the Board wanted to decide unfairly it would have denied it off Wilson has claimed the government pressured Legal Aid to turn Down his application because the conservative administration does t want its Legisla Tion tested in the courts. However Wilson said it was essential for the two month old retroactive legis lation to be tested. As a result of the Bill tailor made for Wilson the la technically stands As the member for the Riding. However he is not Able to step into the House attend committee meetings or collect his 000 annual salary. Wilson s lawyer Jerrold Gunn agreed the principle of the legislation must be tested to determine whether governments have a right to pass Retro Active Laws. We should put it to a court on a matter of he said. Gunn said he believed Wilson had grounds on which to defend his Case. The criminal code specifically leaves the jurisdiction of eligibility to the Legislatures he said. And it can be argued that the Manitoba elections act takes precedence Over the Legisla Tive Assembly act. Gunn said the initial review by the Legal Aid society probably assumed the Powers of the legislature Are supreme. That it claimed depreciation costs of million which was deducted from its income before taxes in its world wide operations. The company s total pre tax income last year was million its total corporate income taxes were assessed at million based on a 51-per-cent tax rate. But the company reduced its taxes by million As a result of investment and depletion and deferred payment of another million to end ii paying million in taxes. In 1979 and 1978, the company deferred More taxes in Canada than it paid. Purchase of land explored mayor Bill Norrie said yesterday the City and provincial government will approach Shoal Lake Indian band no. 40 to explore the Purchase of land around Winnipeg s Shoal Lake water intake site. He said the approach will be made just As soon As we get an idea of value hopefully within a couple of or although no exact timetable can be set. He said the City s real estate depart ment is now studying the acreage required and probable Cost. The Indian band wants to build a 350-lot cottage development on the Manitoba Side of Shoal Lake and the City is concerned the purity of its water Supply May be affected. Although City and provincial officials have been looking at buying the land for the last three weeks it s not an agreement to go for a but simply to explore the possibility Norrie said. Buying the land around the intake pipe to prevent cottage development there would be my personal prefer the mayor added. Norrie noted the City and Indian band have hired consultants to advise them on the Issue at a combined Cost Proba Bly approaching a Federal environmental assessment review officer also is expected to con duct hearings Likely at Kenora ;