FRIDAY October
9 2015
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Local News . Local Matters
INTERACT WITH THE NEWS at N S N E W S .C O M
Candidates promise health-care fixes
Parties present their platforms for a system stressed by aging population BRENT RICHTER brichter@nsnews.com
It’s one of the biggest of big-ticket items in the federal budget. Healthcare costs are high and expected to climb higher as the system faces new
demands from an aging population. The Canada Health Accord, a major 10-year health funding deal between the feds and provinces expired in 2014, leaving a wide-open field for Canada’s four major parties to
VOTE 2015 establish their platforms for a system in stress. The NDP’s plan is to increase the corporate tax rate for large businesses by
two per cent in order to fund more front-line health-care providers. “Three hundred million dollars for 200 clinics… 7,000 doctors and nurses. We’re going to target communities with shortages and we’re going to enable five million more people to access a family doctor, which of course is an ongoing problem,” said Carol Baird Ellan, NDP candidate for
Burnaby North-Seymour. The party also plans to spend $2.6 billion to establish a national pharmacare program, thereby completing the health-care system Tommy Douglas once envisioned. “There are lots of old people and new people who can’t afford their prescriptions and are simply not taking them and that’s just not acceptable,” Baird
Ellan said. The Green Party also supports a national pharmacare plan, which West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country candidate Ken Melamed said would cost about $300 million per year in the federal budget, but end up saving $11 billion for Canadians. See NDP page 5
Enrolment up in NV and WV school districts JANE SEYD jseyd@nsnews.com
NET WORTH Adam Thodos (in front), Ryan Gowe and Fernando Cabranes of the Handsworth senior soccer team celebrate a goal against the Argyle Pipers during a North Shore league game Tuesday at Cleveland Park. Argyle had the last laugh though, scoring a 2-1 shootout win. The first-place Pipers will take on West Vancouver Oct. 13, 4 p.m. at Boulevard Park. PHOTO CINDY GOODMAN
The popularity of specialty sports academies plus programs like French Immersion and International Baccalaureate are continuing to boost school enrolment figures across the North Shore. Enrolment is up in both North Vancouver and West Vancouver school districts for the second year in a row. In North Vancouver schools, about 250 more students than expected registered this fall, bringing the total number of students to 15,260, compared to just under 15,200 last year. That number doesn’t include a number of students who are completing courses online, which will add another 130 students to the count. It also doesn’t include over 700 fee-paying international students. The story is similar in West Vancouver, where numbers are up about 200 students to 6,790 this year. The West Vancouver School District also has about 600 additional fee-paying international students. Enrolment figures are important for school districts because a large portion of provincial education funding is tied to those numbers. School districts receive $7,390 for each full-time student enrolled. Administrators in both school districts See more page 3
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