2 fori EVERYDAY SAVER’S OPTICAL Co. Ltd. 300 Victoria Street - comer of 3rd & Victoria 563-5811 14 - The Prince George Citizen - Tuesday, May 27, 2003 Canada Toronto back on WHO ‘blacklist’ NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING BYLAW No. 2106 Notice is hereby given that a public hearing into proposed Zoning Amendment Bylaw No. 2106 will be held: 7:30 pm Tuesday, June 3. 2003 Columbus Community Centre 7201 Domano Blvd. Prince George, B.C. The purpose of proposed Zoning Amendment Bylaw No. 2106 is to allow liquor sales in the form of an agency liquor store to operate from the existing Petro Canada gas station convenience store located at 11480 Carmel Drive in Beaverley. The parcel is legally described as Lot 1, District Lot 618, Cariboo District Plan 30644. This amendment is proposed on a site specific basis only and does not affect other parcels of land with the same zone. The owner is Day & Night Stores (1996) Ltd. 'At the public hearing, all those who deem their interest in land to be affected by proposed Bylaw No. 2106 shall be afforded on opportunity to be heard or to present written submissions. Any material received before or at the public hearing will become public information. The public hearing will be chaired by Director Clark as a delegate of the Board. Copies of the resolution making the delegation, the proposed Bylaw and relevant background documents may be examined at the office of the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George at 155 George Street between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. May 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, June 2, and 3, 2003. f Gordon Simmons Prince George, B.C. « Planning Department Fax: (250) 960-4466 * 155 George Street, Prince George, B.C. V2L 1 P8 Telephone: (250) 960 4400, Toll Free 1-800-667-1959 Fax: (250) 563-7520, Web: www.rdffg.bc.ca TORONTO (CP) — As expected, the World Health Organization put Toronto back on its SARS-affected areas list Monday after officials here admitted the dty had eight new probable cases, part of a large new cluster which has sent more than 2,000 people into quarantine. But the WHO said the nature of the outbreak doesn’t require it to issue a new travel advisory, which would urge international travellers to steer clear of the city. “Certainly Toronto is far from that,” said Dr. David Heymann, director of communicable diseases for the Geneva-based organization. In fact, the WHO expressed confidence that officials in Toronto have a good handle on the problem and will be able once again to snuff out the spread of the disease. “Toronto has experience, unfortunately, in dealing with this kind of event,” communications director Dick Thompson said in an interview. “They’ve done it in the past. We’re confident they can do it now.” Ontario’s health minister tried to put a brave face on what was obviously a devastating setback for the dty and for the health-care system. Soldiers suing Canadian Forces QUEBEC (CP) — A group of soldiers is launching what may be the largest-ever legal assault on Canada’s military, filing at least $60 million in lawsuits over stress they claim to have suffered while on duty, The Canadian Press has learned. About 25 soldiers have filed or will file individual lawsuits, daiming they suffered post-traumatic stress because the Canadian Armed Forces ignored their psychological problems. The growing list of plaintiffs indudes former and current members of the military, most of them former peacekeepers. Four are Albertans, three are from Ontario and the rest are from Quebec. “This has never been done before,” Jacques Ferron, the Quebec City lawyer organizing the legal bid, said Monday. “It’s the first time such a group of soldiers joins to sue the military.” A group of soldiers will announce details of their legal challenge at a news conference Hiesday in Quebec City. They will also unveil a letter they’re sending to Prime Minister Jean Chretien. “The silver lining around the grey cloud is that once we were aware of this situation, this flare-up, our infection-control procedures and our ' new normal’ protocols kicked in quite quickly,” Tony Clement said. “We didn’t have to build it from scratch this time, which is what we had to do two months ago. We actually have a system in place and it is working well and it will save lives.” Ontario health officials reported no new probable SARS cases Monday. There are currently 11 active probable cases of SARS in the province — five from the original outbreak and six from the clusters that came to light late last week. TWo of the people listed in the new batch of eight probable cases have died. To date, SARS has claimed 27 lives in the Toronto area and at least 725 worldwide. Officials did not provide a breakdown of probable and suspect cases in this new outbreak alone, saying only that 29 active cases are hospitalized, 18 are in isolation at home and five people are under investigation as possible SARS cases. Six of these people are in critical condition. The number of people told to go into quar- antine spiked wildly Monday, from 822 on Sunday to about 2,200 as public health officials worked feverishly to identify people who had been in affected hospitals, either as patients, visitors or workers, during key periods of transmission. Only 1,400 of those are people living in the greater Toronto area, officials said. And 141 are health-care workers, Dr. Colin D’Cunha, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, told a briefing. The number of sick health-care workers in the new cluster is “in the teens,” said Dr. Donald Low, the infectious disease expert who is heading the team trying to figure out what sparked the latest outbreak and how it went undetected for several weeks. The revelation that a new wave of disease was spreading and had originated from the orthopedic ward at North York General Hospital in the city’s north end was devastating for a hospital where staff had been slaving for weeks, under high-stress conditions, to care for SARS patients. “It’s been exceedingly disappointing for everyone,” said hospital CEO Bonnie Adamson. A Closer look at yellow pages Here's what a recent local survey conducted on behalf of the Prince George Citizen discovered. Approximately how many times per month do you use the Yellow Pages? One Two None Three Four Six Ten Five Twenty Eight Fifteen Thirty Twelve Seven Twenty Five 2 Times Per Year 6 Times Per Year Fifty 21.20% 15.60% 12.80% 11.00% 7.00% 6.60% 6.00% 4.60% 3.00% 2.60% 2.40% 2.00% 2.00% 1.60% 0.80% 0.40% 0.203 0.21 Call a Citizen advertising consultant w today for more information 562-2441 PRINCE GEORGE Citizen www.princegeorgecitizen.com CP photo A Canadian CF-18 fighter aircraft Is refuelled by a French KC-135 aircraft in this photo. It is the same type of jet fighter that went down In northeastern Alberta Monday. CF-18 down, pilot ejects but dies COLD LAKE, Alta. (CP) — A Canadian Forces pilot was found dead in his parachute Monday after his CF-18 jet went down in poor weather. The experienced pilot, from 416 Tactical Fighter Squadron based in Cold Lake, Alta., was on an international training exercise involving pilots from several countries. His plane crashed in mid-afternoon about 50 kilometres north of Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake in northeastern Alberta. Investigators were unsure if overcast skies and rain showers in the area were a factor. “We don’t really know what caused the accident,” said Capt. Leah Gillespie, public affairs officer at the military base. One possibility is fuel contamination. “We’re looking at fuel... oxygen within the actual aircraft,” she said. The pilot’s body was found about 200 metres from his plane, which crashed near Burnt Lake on the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range. The crash came in the midst of Operation Maple Flag, an international air combat exercise. About 50 aircraft were flying over the range when the plane went down, Gillespie said. She couldn’t say what exercise the pilot was taking part in. Pilots participating in Operation Maple Flag practise such exercises as dropping bombs and supplies. The six-week operation is held annually at CFB Cold Lake. It attracts top-gun pilots from around the world. About 3,000 pilots are expected to take part this year from Canada, the United States, France, Belgium and other countries. In 2000, a U.S. F-16 pilot ejected safely during Operation Maple Flag when his jet went down after a bird hit the aircraft’s canopy. Provincial premiers will demand more QUEBEC (CP) — Premiers will team up to demand a permanent boost in federal transfers — not just cash for health care — when they meet for their annual conference this summer, P.E.I. Premier Pat Binns suggested Monday. The federal government’s recent boost in health transfers falls short of what the provinces will need to sustain medicare while balancing their own budgets, said Binns, who will host this summer’s meeting from July 9 to 11 in Charlottetown. What’s needed is a long-term change in the fiscal arrangement between Ottawa and the provinces, Binns said after meeting with Quebec Premier Jean Charest. “We’re struggling to balance our budgets while we see the federal government enjoying a nice surplus, year after year after year,” he told reporters. “This came on the backs of the provinces. We’re being asked to deliver the programs without the money. “We don’t mind delivering the programs if they’re properly funded, but Ottawa has its role and it should be providing its share of the money.” Binns said current fiscal arrangements between Ottawa and the provinces are “outdated.” He said he supports Quebec’s attempt to build two interprovincial committees that will act as bargaining units against Ottawa. After his recent election win, Charest said he planned to quickly establish a Negotiating Office on the Fiscal Imbalance to lobby Ottawa to hand over additional tax revenue. He also plans to create a Council of the Federation, which would act as a mouthpiece for premiers on other federal-provincial issues. Health tax in works? OTTAWA (CP) — Canada should consider creating an income-based tax specifically to bolster the health-care system as it copes with an aging population, Finance Minister John Manley said Monday. A tax that would vary with income could be used for future health-care needs, said Manley, who is campaigning to become the next prime minister. “Over the longer term, we’re going to need to deal with what will be inevitably increased pressure on health-care budgets because of the aging of the population,” Manley suggested as he left a late afternoon meeting of the federal cabinet. The idea of an income-based health-care premium was proposed last fall by Senator Michael Kirby in a report on the future of Canada’s health care system. But the idea has been very controversial. Some fear it could erode the current universal health system where care, at least in principle, shouldn’t be based on the patient’s ability to pay. Feds probe 200 stolen SINs OTTAWA (CP) — Security safeguards at the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency are being reviewed after police probing the electronic theft of up to 200 social insurance numbers homed in on a former agency employee. National Revenue Minister Elinor Caplan confirmed Monday that up to 200 taxpayers have been exposed to potential fraud. An RCMP investigation is ongoing. Caplan would not say whether a suspected former agency staffer was fired or quit, but said data protections are being assessed. “We are monitoring all of our security systems and our monitoring systems to ensure that people can have confidence that we’re doing everything we can,” she said outside the House of Commons. Victims will receive new social insurance numbers where necessary, Caplan said. Her agency was alerted last fall to a potential problem, but only began notifying those affected last week. Asked about the delay, Caplan said police executed a search warrant last Hiesday to seize the former employee’s computer. The agency then gathered the necessary information to contact those whose names, addresses and SINs had been improperly accessed, the minister said. “1 want to be clear: no financial information, no tax data was inappropriately accessed.” Caplan refused to comment on whether the information had been sold to a third party. “I will not say anything that will jeopardize the ongoing RCMP investigation." Social insurance numbers are lucrative on the black market. They allow access to databases that include employment records. Criminals can use such knowledge to steal identities and fraudulently apply for everything from employment insurance and credit cards to welfare.