Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 07, 2008, Winnipeg, Manitoba C m y k Page b1 City & business City editor Paul Samyn 697 7292 City. Desk free press. My. Ca i Winnipeg repress. Com tuesday october 7, 2008 b 1 Send news tips and photos to tips free press. My. Ca for breaking news go to Winnipeg repress. Com patients battling cancer can expect Shorter wait times with the arrival of seven additional cancer specialists health officials said monday. Cancer care Manitoba recruited seven oncologists including two paediatric oncologists two hem apologists and a radiation specialist to fill the void left by retirements and ongoing specialist turnover in oncology. Five of the new specialists started work Over summer and two More Are expected to be on staff shortly. As of april the latest available data cancer care Manitoba was Short four full time cancer specialists and childrens Hospital was Short two full time paediatric cancer oncologists. Cancer care ceo or. Dhali Dhaliwal said the additional specialists Are still not enough to meet the demand but will decrease wait times. Dhaliwal specify How much wait times could drop and the province does not track How Long it takes for a patient to see a cancer specialist after they ave been referred by a family doctor. Some of them Are filling vacancies created by retirements and others Are filling vacancies that existed Dhaliwal said. We still need to recruit More because the demand is More than the funded positions. Manitoba has struggled to recruit and retain cancer specialists in the last decade As they Are in High demand across North America. Premier Gary doer said the province increased oncologist salaries Over the last year to stay competitive but that there is still More work to do. He confirm How much the province spent to lure the seven oncologists to Manitoba but said the funds were built into the annual budget. There Are now the equivalent of 46 full time oncologists up from 39 in 1999. We know there will be some turnover with oncologists and that were in a very competitive situation doer said. Certainly we Are in better shape today than we were before this announcement. Jen. Skerritt free press. My. Ca f ind it too convenient to pay for bus fare with a Toonie and a Quarter then get ready for $ 2.30 rides in 2009. One year after Winnipeg transit raised the Price of a regular bus fare by 25 cents its asking City Council to approve another five cent increase. The rising Price of diesel fuel and higher wages for Winnipeg transit workers have forced the Utility to request fare increases of a Nickel for All full fares and Handi transit fares As Well As Cash fares for students and seniors. Student and senior bus tickets will go up three cents while bus passes will also go up pending approval by City councillors. A report recommending the fare increases was released monday afternoon and was a last minute addition to this mornings Public works committee meeting. To be honest the bump should be substantially higher said Charleswood coun. Bill Clement the committees chairman. Every Penny increase in the Price of diesel fuel costs Winnipeg transit $ 150,000, he said. So even though More people Are taking the bus Winnipeg transit has enjoyed six straight years of increased ridership the Utility has no Choice but to raise its rates Clement said. I know this hurts people who dont have a lot of Money. At the same time the users must absorb part of the Cost of the increase he said. A spokesman for Winnipeg mayor Sam Katz said the fare increase remains below the rate of inflation. Winnipeg transit fares continue to remain among the lowest in Canada Brad Salon said in a statement. Last year Council also expanded the age of free ridership from four to five to Lessen the financial Burden for families with Young children. But not All members of City Council agree with the fare increases especially As the Price of fuel fluctuates but bus fares Only increase. Bus fares never go Down muttered Daniel Mcintyre coun. Harvey Smith. If approved today the fare increases go before City Council on oct. 22. Bartley. Kives free press. My. Ca s ome say you can Tell a lot about a person by the friends they choose. If thatus True ism not sure what my longtime friendships with Lesley Hughes and Trevor Kennerd say about me. Lesley and Trevor Are Polar opposites politically. Sheds Way out their on the left and hers about As far out on the right. I Only share this with you because the two of them have been the subject of controversy of late As a result of views they put to paper Long before they became candidates in the current Federal election. The gotcha Story about Hughes has been hanging around the headlines for two weeks. Her six year old Community newspapers column that referred to a 9 11 conspiracy theory and israelis intelligence service warning israeli business in the twin towers got the attention of the Canadian jewish Congress and ultimately got her fired As the Liberal candidate in Kildonan St. Paul. Sheds running As an Independent now. As for Kennerd the conservative candidate in Winnipeg South Centre his gotcha moment arrived monday morning when the Csc reported that nine years ago Kennerd wrote a letter to the Winnipeg school division angrily denouncing the divisions attempts to use the classroom to Deal with discrimination against Gay and lesbian students. In the letter dated april 22, 1999, the Csc quotes Kennerd As charging that the divisions diversity education committee was driven by a Radical social Agenda not an educational one and that it had an infatuation with social engineering. The human resources wasted on researching developing and teaching this Type of information is incalculable he wrote. Kennerd added that schools should focus on academics and skills not on some minority groups social Agenda. But the letter written on behalf of himself and his wife also said this As for the diversity education committee we applaud the Overall objective to curb verbal or physical abuse of All people. However there already exists a centuries old saying that covers the committees goals in every Way the Golden Rule. Treat people the Way you would want to be treated. The letter was discovered by someone researching a Book on the local Gay and lesbian Community. Ism shocked that this sort of Point of View still existed in 1999, researcher Ryan Schultz was quoted As telling the Csc. My personal question to the candidate would be do you still espouse these views and if so Why i called trevors Campaign office to get a comment. Instead the conservative party e mailed me his prepared response like most families in Winnipeg South Centre my children attended local Public schools. My two eldest sons Are graduates of the Winnipeg Public school system and my youngest just started Grade 11. I have Long Felt that the local school system should devote More resources to teaching math Reading music and physical education. In april 1999, when music education was being eliminated physical education classes were being scaled Back and my sons were being forced to share math textbooks with their classmates because the school did not have enough for everybody i decided to speak up. I wrote to the local school Board and expressed my concern As a Parent that math Reading physical education and music were no longer being treated As priorities by the Public school Board. More than nine years later As a Parent with a son still in the Winnipeg Public school system i continue to believe this is the Case. Today however i am running for election As a Federal member of parliament. The issues i am focused on Are the Economy taxes and crime. That was the entire comment. There was no reference to the Gay and lesbian Issue of nearly a decade ago. Late monday Trevor did return my Call but he said his statement would have to do. So what does a newspaper columnist do when two friends wind up in a couple of political pickles Well he can say nothing. Or he can Tell his readers that his friends Lesley Hughes and Trevor Kennerd Are Good people. Very Good people with very different views of the world. The problem is when it comes to the vicious world of gotcha politics Good Isnit Good enough. You better be perfect. Any takers Gordon. Sinclair free press. My. Ca introducing cancer cares super seven new oncologists hired to ease shortage by Jen Skerritt from left the new oncologists with Premier Gary doer and cancer care my ceo and president or. Dhali Dahl Wal Centre include paediatric oncologist or. Donna Wall from Texas radiation oncologist or. Ethan Lyn from England surgical oncologist or. Debrah Wirtzfeld from Newfoundland University of Manitoba graduate and medical oncologist or. Marshall Pitz from Maryland Rhem apologist or. Ade Cluj Ogungbe paediatric oncologist or. Geoff Cuvelier from Vancouver and hem apologist or. Rajat Kumar from new Delhi. Bus fares up in 2009 transit asks City for five cent hike by Bartley Kives the rising Price of diesel fuel and higher wages for Winnipeg transit workers have forced it to request fare increases in a world of gotcha stories you need a perfect record Gordon Sinclair or. New flyers new bus saves Gas / b8 Ken Gigliotti / Winnipeg free press Mike Aporius / Winnipeg free press archives Kennerd old letter resurfaced Ken Gigliotti / Winnipeg free press archives a 01_ oct 07 08. Ind b1 1 0/ 6/ 08 9 06 03 pm ;