A06 • Wednesday, November 14, 2012 • Burnaby NOW
The Burnaby NOW is a Canadian-owned community newspaper published and distributed in the city of Burnaby every Wednesday and Friday by the Burnaby Now, 201A – 3430 Brighton Avenue, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 3H4, a division of Glacier Media Group.
Brad Alden den Publisherr
Giving applause where and when it’s due Government decision to institute provincewide screening for colorectal cancers is a good decision for province cers that is eminently treatable if it’s Every once in a while, governments detected early enough. And yet, despite do something right. And any time they its treatability, it kills more men and do something that fights cancer, it’s got women each year than just to be right. about any other cancer. That’s why we’re joining Burnaby NOW The Canadian Cancer the Canadian Cancer Society Society estimates that by in applauding the provincial the close of 2012, some 2,850 British government’s announcement of a new Columbians will have been diagnosed screening program to detect colorectal with colorectal cancer, and 1,150 – about cancer to get underway next spring. two of every five – will die from it. Colorectal cancer is one of those can-
OUR VIEW
In May 2011, the society estimated that if 80 per cent of Canadians aged 50 and older were screened every two years, 10,000 to 15,000 colorectal cancer deaths could be prevented over the next 10 years. Most colorectal cancers grow slowly and predictably and do not cause signs or symptoms until the cancer reaches an advanced stage. Consequently, the Cancer Society believes regular screening and detection
are critical. The government’s decision to institute province-wide screening is not rocket science – and it’s not reinventing the wheel: the program builds on a pilot program that has been operating since 2009 in a number of B.C. communities. This is a positive initiative that has the potential to save hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives. What’s not to applaud about that?
Hospital scandal will cost Lib seats F
They make the argument that or a glimpse of how rebuilding the hospital – you manipulative and detached know, the one where the prefrom reality many B.C. Liberals have become, one needs mier was born – is the ticket to winning seats in the municipalto look no further than a threeity. page memo written by party They suggested creating a insiders that deals with the committee chaired by future of Burnaby one Pamela Gardner, a Hospital. doctor who was – get Entitled “A NEW Keith Baldrey this! – born in the hosBurnaby Hospital”, pital as well! Oh, and by the the memo purports to lay out way: Gardner is the former B.C. a strategy for winning three Liberal riding president and a Burnaby ridings and boost co-author of the memo. They the party’s chances in two also suggested putting two B.C. Vancouver ridings. If it didn’t Liberal Burnaby MLAs – argureveal such a crass and phony ably two of the weakest MLAs scheme to whip up public opinin the entire B.C. Liberal caucus: ion over the hospital’s future, it Harry Bloy and Richard Lee – as would be laughable. well as two other potential B.C. And much of it is laughable. Liberal party candidates on the My personal favourite is its committee. emphasis, in bold type, of the The committee has since fact that Premier Christy Clark submitted a report to Health was born in this very hospital! Minister Margaret MacDiarmid, Talk about a game chanbut its credibility now appears to ger. I’m sure public opinion in Burnaby will instantly swing the be completely shot. The memo also reveals the premier’s way once everyone B.C. Liberals seem petrified by realizes which maternity ward Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan she was born in! and his wife Kathy, who of The memo was written back in December 2011, and reveals in course is the NDP MLA for fine detail how utterly politically Burnaby-Deer Lake. They were extremely worried that Kathy partisan a committee created to Corrigan was going to launch plan the hospital’s future really is and how it was created to save a “save Burnaby Hospital campaign” and thus take ownership the hides of B.C. Liberal MLAs of the issue and dooming the and nothing else. B.C. Liberals’ electoral chances, The memo’s authors are B.C. presumably forever. Liberal party insiders, including a former president of a Burnaby Hospital Page 7 riding association for the party.
IN MY OPINION
PUBLISHER Brad Alden EDITOR Pat Tracy ASSISTANT EDITOR Julie MacLellan SPORTS EDITOR Tom Berridge REPORTERS Janaya Fuller-Evans, Christina Myers, Jennifer Moreau PHOTOGRAPHER Larry Wright DIRECTOR, SALES AND MARKETING Lara Graham ADVERTISING REPS Cynthia Hendrix, Cam Northcott, Domenic Crudo, Veronica Wong, Jennifer Kastelein AD CONTROL Ken Wall
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Time for a big change Dear Editor:
It’s time for a change in the politics of British Columbia. For 12 years now, we’ve heard nothing but the vast right wing noise machine telling us of the evils of the NDP, and that we must elect Liberals to prevent the destruction of civilization itself. That dog thankfully does not hunt anymore, crucified as the Liberals are on their decade of economic mismanagement and unprecedented human suffering created through the utter lack of empathy of Campbell, Clark and their caucus. In the aftermath of this decade of broken contracts and the hollowing out of the middle class, British Columbians need a strong, visionary govern-
PRODUCTION MANAGER Doug McMaster PRODUCTION STAFF Ron Beamish,Kevin Behnsen, Lynne Boucher, Nola Bowling, Rona Eastman-Magee, Laura Powell, Tony Sherman GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Helen-Louise Kinton, Gary E. Slavin REGIONAL CLASSIFIED MANAGER Trixi Agrios CLASSIFIED SUPERVISOR Dawn James CLASSIFIED REPS Darla Burns, John Taylor, ACCOUNTING Judy Sharp SALES ADMINISTRATOR Janeen Williams
ment that can restore the prosperity we’ve lost. For New Democrats and progressives, this is not the time for caution. Now is the time for a bold vision that makes a clear choice; more of the same under the government that led us to the dismal place we are now, or a truly progressive government that will alleviate the social ills that the Liberals let fester. The issues before us are great, but not insurmountable. More than just being issues of public policy, the greatest concerns facing British Columbia have an unmistakeable human suffering element that should make them impossible to ignore. As fellow New Democrats, let’s come up with a vision that people can and will truly rally around, instead of resting on the laurels of not being the Liberals. Trevor Ritchie, Burnaby
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