Green blasts Big Bend boxes

Backrooms column by Dan Hilborn
Published April 27, 2005


Green Party candidate Suzanne Deveau came out swinging in the first week of the election campaign when she called on the NDP and Liberals to reject plans for a big-box shopping complex in the Big Bend neighbourhood.

Deveau, who lives near the proposed development, said the property is part of the Agricultural Land Reserve created by the Dave Barrett NDP government of the 1970s and it deserves to be protected.

"City hall touts Burnaby's status as a green community," Deveau said in a press release. "It puts aside land for parks. It claims to be responsive to city neighbourhoods. Why then is city hall seeking intensive developments which will further degrade the environment of the Big Bend, hamper economic revitalization in Edmonds and increase idling cars and pollution all along the South Slope? This doesn't sound very green to me."

WEBSITES OFFER LAUGHS

Ouch! A Burnaby NOW reader with a taste for irony and a pen full of vinegar has sent along his personal critique of the websites being set up for some of the lesser known political parties running in the May 17 provincial election.

William, who did not provide either a last name or a contact phone number, takes potshots at politicians of every stripe in his e-mail missive.

"The B.C. Party site (www.bcparty.com) can best be described as a fifth-grader's attempt at a website while experimenting with recreational drugs," he wrote. "The Annexation Party of B.C.'s site (www.annexationbc.com) looks like it was done by someone's teenager who would have rather been playing Stars Wars Galaxy.

"The British Columbia Citizens Alliance Now site (www.bccitizensalliancenow.com) looks like it was designed by George Bush Jr. I fully expected to hear duelling banjoes and barking dogs playing as their red, white and blue forever theme blasted my eyes.

"The B.C. Marijuana party site (www.bcmarijuanaparty.com) cleverly suggests how to incorporate pot into every political and society issue. Probably funded by eyedrop, snack and fast food corporations. Its mandate should be 'Forget about it.'

"The Work Less Party (www.worklessparty.org) design solidly reflects its core values and had me ready to order their "Alarm clocks kill dreams" campaign buttons.

"My favourite site? Hands down, it's the Sex Party (www.thesexparty.ca)," he writes. "Central to their strategy is to run candidates in elections. Wow, what a novel idea! This is a 'must visit' site for sure. Why let politicians do to us what we can do to each other."

Errr ... right.

RED CROSS CASH

Burquitlam MLA Harry Bloy was happy to give two grants totalling $500,000 to the Canadian Red Cross Lower Mainland region to help create a new Disaster Response Centre at its Burnaby headquarters last week.

The total $3.5 million project will build a leading edge call centre with state-of-the-art communications and training facilities that can be be fully functional and staffed within four hours of a disaster striking anywhere in B.C. or around the world, said the B.C. government press release announcing the investment.

CHOUHAN TACKLES CARE BEDS

Longer wait lists and cuts to services for seniors and the disabled are the legacy of the B.C. Liberals, said Burnaby-Edmonds NDP candidate Raj Chouhan.

Chouhan, an organizer with the Hospital Employees' Union, pointed to a recent Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives report that indicates a total of 168 assisted living and residential care beds were closed in Burnaby between 2001 and 2004.

"More taxpayer money than ever before is being poured into the system, but a lack of public accountability and consultation combined with an agenda to cater to for-profit companies and increase privatization of our public health-care system by the Campbell Liberals has been a complete failure for ordinary British Columbians," he said in a press release.

According to the CCPA report, Continuing Care: Renewal or Retreat?, the Fraser Health Authority lost a total of 311 residential care and assisted living beds between January 2001 and December 2004, a drop of about 4.2 per cent.

Things were no better on the acute care side of the ledger, according to the report, which indicated Burnaby Hospital lost a total of 58 acute care beds, for a 23.9 per cent reduction over the same period.

The Liberals counter those arguments by pointing to the fact that new beds are opening all the time.

By the way, Chouhan was joined by former B.C. premier Dave Barrett when he opened his campaign office at the corner of Edmonds and Sixth Street on April 15.

MAD COW COVERUP?

Is it time to close the Canadian border to American beef imports?

That's the question from Burnaby-New Westminster MP Peter Julian this week, after the Washington D.C.-based Environment News Service found several former U.S. Department of Agriculture employees who question whether their employee has adequately investigated claims of mad cow disease in American cattle herds.

An April 15 story from ENS quotes retired USDA veterinarian Dr. Masuo Doi as saying at least two 1997 investigations into suspected mad cow disease were not performed properly and the disease may have gotten into the food chain. The allegations are supported by a chief scientist at a USDA laboratory in Georgia, and a former veterinarian and USDA inspector who was fired in 1995.

"Dr. Doi was a veterinarian who said he was haunted by fears the right tests were not done," Julian said. "We've also heard from another inspector who said of there was ever a case of BSE, don't tell anybody."

"This is from insiders who are more familiar with these things than anybody. What I'm saying is we need to close the Canadian border to U.S. beef imports and start an investigation to make sure the beef that comes into Canada is safe.

"I believe the Canadian government has to stand up strongly for Canadian interests, and if there are questions, we need to close our border."

A GAME OF HIDE AND SEEK

What's happening with the billions of dollars that are tied up in government foundations?

That's the $9 billion question coming from Burnaby-New Westminster MP Peter Julian this month, after Auditor General Sheila Fraser's annual report pointed to the lack of scrutiny for government foundations as a major oversight.

"In essence, they're playing hide and seek with these funds," Julian said last month.

In her annual report, Fraser said that most of the 11 government foundations in question have never had a compliance audit, while others have contracts that don't even allow the government to inspect their books.

"Even if they've deliberately misused the funds there's no provision to terminate the agreement," said Julian, the NDP critic for the treasury branch. "This is a huge, huge danger here. ... The public interest is not being respected."

Julian noted that he believes there is a need for foundation, such as the Canada Millennium Scholarship Fund, however, he wants them to fall under the purview of the AG office.