Penticton Western News, March 20, 2013

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NEWS PENTICTON WESTERN

Apex Freestyle Club members and alumni perform well during junior nationals

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Trail network proposed to connect Okanagan

VOL. 47 ISSUE 23

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013

Beer store robber sentenced to three years in jail

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NEWS Joe Fries

Western News Staff

Mark Brett/Western News

EGGCELLENT WORK — Grade 9 leadership program students Nicole Joostema and Riley Kascak help fill some of the 10,000 Easter Eggs with chocolate at Penticton Secondary School in preparation for the annual LocoLanding Easter Egg Hunt that takes place April 1 at the amusement park. The OSNS Child Development Centre has again been chosen as the beneficiary of the money raised from the hunt.

Community leaders who are pressuring the B.C. government to fund a new $300-million hospital tower in Penticton might want to borrow a page from their Vernon counterparts’ prescription pads and hire some lobbyists. In August 2011, Vernon doctors retained a pair of lobbyists to help secure the funding necessary to finish two floors at the new hospital tower in that city. The hired guns’ work paid off with a government funding announcement just eight months later. At the time, the $29-million project was ranked seventh on Interior Health’s capital wish-list. At the top was, and still is, the proposed ambulatory care tower at Penticton Regional Hospital. Doctors here are asking the B.C. government to fund a $160-million share of the project and are following the example set in Vernon by first attempting to rally public sentiment. They’ve also discussed the possibility of hiring lobbyists to work on their behalf in Victoria. “We’ve talked about it, but it hasn’t come to that as of yet,” said Dr. David Paisley, president of the Penticton Medical Staff Society. According to records contained in the B.C. lobbyist registry, two groups of Vernon doctors each hired a lobbyist to work on their

behalf. Dr. Chris Cunningham, the only physician mentioned by name in the records, did not respond to requests for comment. One of the Vernon lobbyists, Bruce Young of Earnscliffe Strategy Group, said he was unable to discuss the arrangement, while his colleague, Michael Drummond, did not respond to a request for comment. According to the registry documents, the intended outcome of Drummond’s efforts was “arranging a meeting between an individual and a public office holder” regarding “completion of upper floors of the new Vernon Jubilee Hospital.” Young’s intended outcome was to arrange the same type of meeting and “articulate community support for the upgrades to Vernon Jubilee Hospital and gain support from the Ministry of Health.” Both lobbyists’ target was then-health minister Mike de Jong, but it’s unclear if the meetings actually took place. De Jong declined an interview request. Michael Geoghegan, a lobbyist who runs a self-titled consulting firm in Victoria, said he, like others in his field, doesn’t twist arms in back rooms. Rather, he is “essentially an advocate for hire.” “It’s like having someone represent you in court. (Lawyers) know the procedures, they know the ins

and outs, so therefore you end up saving yourself a lot of time and grief,” Geoghegan said. A lobbyist, he continued, is no different than a mechanic or an accountant who’s an expert in a particular field. In his case, it’s government relations. “The one thing I want to emphasize is it’s not a dark science,” Geoghegan said. Penticton city councillor Garry Litke, who’s helping organize the bid to get funding for the hospital tower here, said he’d be uneasy spending tax dollars on a lobbyist to influence a government decision that should be based on need alone. “But I guess that’s the way of the world, and if lobbying is required, then so be it. If that’s the way the government wants to make those decisions, then we have to play by those rules.” Litke is trying to round up $20,000 through the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen to match funds put forward by local doctors and supplement cash already spent on the campaign by the City of Penticton. ****** The Western News was informed at press time Tuesday that Premier Christy Clark is scheduled to make an announcement “benefitting families” this morning at Penticton Regional Hospital.

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