Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 2, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba O it of y Fri i2 3 k a i Winnipeg free press saturday. May 2. Selkirk Counci Lotesto sue Over red River pollution Ion Campbell up saw in so Vitic int Quai a a by Ron Campbell angered by Winnipeg s refusal to clean up its upstream pollution of the red River Selkirk town Council has unanimously voted to consider suing its big Southern neighbor. A letter will be sent to Winnipeg mayor Bill Nome works and operations committee chairman John Angus and municipal affairs minister Doug Gourlay warning of the suit Patrick Joyce Selkirk s waterworks committee chairman said yesterday. However the feasibility of a lawsuit has not yet been discussed with Jack Walker the town s lawyer Joyce said. Safety report ready by Gregg Shilliday preliminary inspections indicate at least five townhouse developments in Winnipeg share design and construction faults similar to those in the fair Lane Meadows Complex that was Des troyed by a Flash fire last Spring. City officials refuse to identify the developments at least until a report on townhouse safety by the Winnipeg building commission is submitted to the civic environment committee Mon Day. At that time the committee is expected to approve the report s recommendations which largely support ear Lier proposals from the provincial building standards Board. The provincial Board found several design and construction faults in the Fairlane Meadows Complex and con firmed that these faults contributed to the rapid spread of the fire May 20. Bill before House labor minister Ken Macmaster has said he will Force the owners of at least 104 townhouse apartments to upgrade their structures to eliminate fire Haz Ards. A Bill designed to give the provincial fire commissioner More Power in these matters is currently before the Legisla Ture. Macmaster said this week that he was still intent on upgrading the developments and that he had the necessary authority through the fire prevention act to Force unwilling owners to comply with the new recommendations. In matters like this the Buck stops right Here in my office. I have the Power to Force them if i have environment committee chairman Jim Ernst said yesterday he expected the committee to very Likely act on the City commission s recommendations. One City official said however that the recommendations will be taken with a Grain of these recommendations Are Basi Cally tailored to one specific building Fairlane Meadows. They re not applicable to everything. There s no ques Tion that Well have to use some discretion when implementing he said the City has t had any discussions with townhouse owners. Nome favors Marus stance the mayor s advisory committee on race relations should contain peo ple who have been exposed to racial problems mayor Bill Norrie said thursday in agreement with the views of a delegation from the Manitoba association for rights and liberties. According to a Marl statement Norrie was very responsive to the concerns expressed by members of the delegation and stated that representatives of various communities and Community groups in Winnipeg should be represented on the advisory commit tee. The Marl delegation was headed by or. Ralph James president and Abraham Arnold executive director and included officials of seven other Community organizations. He said no specific monetary amount has been decided on because it s hot off the thoughts of the if the suit does go ahead the town would charge that the human sewage Winnipeg dumps into the River up Stream damages its portability and recreational potential when it reaches Selkirk said. A environment Canada study published last july found a focal Coli form count in Winnipeg s Section of the River to be As High As per 100 Millilitres of water and to average about per 100 Millilitres. The Federal Standard Calls for 200 per 100 Millilitres. These bacteria enter the River from Winnipeg s South end water pollution control Centre and the North end sew age treatment Plant and affect the River from the South perimeter High Way Bridge downstream to Selkirk. The study found 57 per cent of these bacteria were resistant to three com Mon penicillin derived antibiotics ampicillin oxytetracycline and chloramphenicol. But Winnipeg officials have Down played the significance of these find Ings. Harold Lacey head of Winnipeg s Laboratory services told the provincial clean environment commission in february that the same coi form counts Are obtainable in a shovel of Earth from your Back Selkirk officials Are so concerned about the pollution however that last summer following release of the report they took the town off red River water for drinking purposes. The town now gets All its drinking water from two Wells located within the town limits and is planning another Well drilled into a new aquifer North of town to replace another Well which has been capped because of deterioration. Joyce said the town is trying to get Federal and provincial financing for the new Well. Before last summer Selkirk s residents were drinking blended water from the red River partly from the Wells. The decision to abandon the River for drinking purposes has been an expensive one. Within the last decade the town had spent More than building a pumping facility and piping to take water from the red to the civic water treatment Plant to make the River water potable. It was less expensive to treat the soft River water than the hard Well water with its higher Mineral Content Joyce said. The standards imposed by the provincial clean Emi Rosment act on the town s sewage and water treatment methods have been a big Burden for the town s relatively Small tax base Joyce said. But As a Resuli our sewage treat ment is one of the Best in North Ameri but Winnipeg unlike any other municipality in Manitoba is exempted from the clean environment act in this respect since under the City of Winni Peg act it is empowered to Monitor its own sewage treatment standards. Thai is what we take exception to said Joyce. Hidden features Geri Birdsall uses her head while playing with a Ball in Assiniboine Park on her 27th birthday. Piece of paper a expense until six months ago Home buyers paid for land Survey certificate by Brian Cole a Legal technicality is forcing Many Winnipeg Home buyers to pay up to for a land Survey certificate that used to Cost about Alex Worster a City zoning officer said yesterday. Since 1972, a Home buyer who could t obtain a certificate from the seller or the original owner could get a copy of the document from the City for Between and but the practice ended about six months ago after the association of Manitoba land surveyors convinced the City that the Sale was illegal. They claimed they had a sort of copyright on it and our lawyers had to Worster said yesterday in an interview. As a result Worster said quite a few people requesting copies of certificates registered with the City have been turned Down and forced to approach the land Survey companies. The Issue was raised in the Legisla Ture yesterday by progressive la Sidney Green who asked attorney general Gerry Mercier to investigate the matter and determine whether the fee could be eliminated. Rip off Green Inkster said the fee was unnecessarily put on purchasers for something that could be copied for a Penny and a it s a Green said. The fee is a Complete waste of Money for something that has Al ready been Green charged. Meanwhile Barrie Flower of Flower and Beattie land surveyors said the fee protects the interests of the consumer As Well As the Surveyor. Flower a former executive of the Manitoba association of land Survey ors said the certificate is part of a contract Between the Surveyor and his client and should t be available to just anybody. It s no different than going into a doctor s office and demanding to see files of a he said. An old certificate May not detail recent changes to the property there by giving the purchaser a misleading picture of what is being bought he said. Occasionally a purchaser May Dis cover an alteration to the property such As the construction of a garage which encroaches on the Homeowner s land that was t on the certificate. He May then try to sue the Surveyor even though the Surveyor May not have had anything to do with the property for 20 years said Flower. Some people assume the certificate is valid but there is nobody to fall Back on if something goes he said. Copying machines also make it easier for people to tamper with Origi Nal certificates he said. Flower said members of the association were concerned when they discovered the City was Selling copies of the certificates and subsequently decided to have the practice halted. But Green rejected the arguments saying that if a person acquired a copy of the certificate and then noticed there was another building on his land or encroached on his land he could then decide to get a updated Survey. Like Legal decision Green said the certificate could be More closely compared to a Legal decision than a doctor s file. A client May pay thousands of Dol Lars during a court Case but that does not give him a copyright on the judge s decision he said. Green said the association has also requested that the cily of Brandon halt a similar practice. Seen As by Ann Fitzgerald Manitoba May have to lower its Stan Dards for anaesthetists by training people who aran t doctors to perform the task in an Effort to ease the current acute shortage of this Type of medical personnel health minister . Bud Sherman said yesterday. The free press yesterday reported the shortage of anaesthetists was be coming More acute in Winnipeg endangering patient safety and forcing some hospitals to Cut Back on surgery. Training of paramedical is one of five Steps which have to be examined in an attempt to overcome the problem Sherman told reporters. We would want to ensure the qualifications and standards for the parame decals were very Sherman said. Particularly in his risk situations the paramedical anaesthetists would work under the supervision of a fully qualified anaesthetist Yho could serve three operating theatres at once he said. Two year course it would probably be about a two year training course in a Community College or a University he said. Specialist anaesthetists receive four years training after their medical courses and internship. Genera practitioners with six months further train ing can also give aesthetics. But any move to implement a plan to have paramedic is give aesthetics could Lead to a clash with specialists in the Field and possibly with the Manitoba College of physicians and surgeons. For the safety of the patient an anaesthetist can devote time to Only one patient at one time. He can t ride Herd on a stable of or. Peter Duncan head of the Manitoba anaesthetist society said yesterday. Tile College of physicians and surgeons would have to take a Strong look at any such proposal which would be a pretty major or. Jim Morison College registrar said in an interview. National shortage both Morison and Duncan said the United states some years ago had trained nurse anaesthetists but were now returning to doctor anaesthetists. In the legislature Sherman told progressive party Leader Sidney Green there is a National shortage of Anes theists and Manitoba certainly shares in that experience strenuous efforts Are being made by my office and by other health ministers across the country to recruit and obtain More he said All methods of alleviating the shortage Are being considered including reduced length of courses and possible use of outside he House Sherman told re porters there is no evidence that any emergency surgery is being affected in any Way but there is no question some elective surgery would be rescheduled on the basis of what Ane the arc Sherman filed among the other possibilities for increasing the number of anaesthetists expansion of he current plan of giving general practitioners .1 six month course in anaesthesia having medical schools set aside a certain number of student spaces for training anaesthetists and monetary incentives which Are part of current negotiations with the Manitoba medical association. Ads dispute claim fee boost pact close health minister . Bud Sherman is hopeful the government and the Manitoba medical association Are just hours away from a fee increase for this year but doctors Are less optimistic. The two sides have reached a com Mon Sherman told reporters yesterday. I m hopeful we re just hours away from a new fee schedule but a spokesman for the Mma said i Don t think there is any reason for great optimism at the he added it would t be wrong to say a Resolution is in doctors want 49.3% the doctors who exercised the option to re open a two year contract in its second year were seeking a 49.3 per cent general fee increase instead of the near 10 per cent for this year. Sherman said his estimates had made provision for a reasonable increase. He defined reasonable As the 10 to 15 per cent increases doctors were receiving in other provinces. Sherman said the two sides Are scheduled to meet again monday. Claiming spiralling costs of a Ray film overhead and salaries almost half of the province s -10 radiologists opted out of medicare yesterday meaning Price increases of -10 to 50 per cent for their patients. Sherman said their problem was re cognized in the negotiations and was at the Centre of discussions on the fee Sherman noted that 19 radiologists had opted out of medicare while Origi Nally 28 had said they would. The Mma spokesman vehemently denied a suggestion that the radiologists had opted out to pressure the government in negotiations. Radiologists feel it is a Long term solution to regain control Over their he said. He said radiologists were Only one group of specialist medical practitioners facing problems. Anaesthetists in Short Supply in Manitoba also need special attention he said. Or. Peter Duncan head of the Mani Toba anaesthetist society said govern ment offers arc far lower than offers in neighbouring provinces each year we Are stumbling farther per mile fare boost proposed taxi fares in Winnipeg will Rise 20c per mile if the provincial taxicab Board approves a proposed increase three weeks from today. Board Secretary . Leech said the proposal which comes from the greater Winnipeg taxicab association will be discussed at a Public forum where anyone May make a submission. The taxicab association representing owners of Winnipeg s 400 cabs wants to charge for the first of a mile instead of for the first of a mile. They also want 20e for each additional of a mile instead of i of for each of a mile. The owners want to charge 20 for each 48 seconds of waiting time up from for each 30 seconds. Ken Chadwell managing director of uni City taxi said yesterday the rate increase is necessary to cover in creased gasoline prices car repair and Cost of living. The Tii Uicab Board hearing will be hold at a.m., May 20 in room 202, 301 Ruslon sired. I ;