! e a t U i ae continued from cover “Revenue,” Graeme Bowbrick, MLA for New Westminster, explains. “We are living in a time when increased taxes aren't really an option. BC has a growing population as well as an aging popula- tion, and that means increasing demand for both education.and health care. There is a constant pressure for more resources for those two areas in particu- lar, in addition to social services. I believe people support properly funding those things but people don’t support general tax increases'to pay for those things. Gaming at least is voluntary. For the vast majority of people, it’s an activity they choose.” Bowbrick believes in the bogbiliey of responsible gambling just like some people are,socially responsible drinkers. He also believes that individuals have the” right to choose to gamble... ~ “The last thing they want is for other people to dictate to them some morality. A lot of them are seniors, for example. I think they feel that after all of their years of working and contributing they have the right to make degisions for them- selves. If this oppartunity wasn't available to them, they would in all likelihood go down to Reno or Las Vegas. Since we introduced changes by expanding gaming hours and raising bet limits, we have stemmed the flow [of casino patrons] to the US. We are certainly keeping the dollars here.” Bowbrick is aware of the opposition to gambling from,local church groups and citizens’ Committees. “T have a great deal of respect for people who are opposed to gaming on points of high moral principle. They obviously care about people. I disagree with these people but I respectfully disagree with them”. In addition to issues of economics, politics and morality, the environment should be considered. Dr. Michael Healy of Westwater Research Centre at UBC, who was the principal investigator in the Lower Fraser Eco-Research Project, raises some concerns about the casino proposal, — Humbly admitting that he is not an expert in vessel design, Healy points out that the boats by themselves will probably only minimally interfere with the river. “The river is not very deep, so if you have a boat that has a propeller that’s ‘ down on the bottom that will stir up the bottom sediments? [:think that’s” probably much less likely with a... paddlewheeler if they are designed, like the old Mississippi riverboats, with shallow drafts. SoFimagine that these vessels will probably not have a large physical impact on the river environ- ment.” Since the Steamship Act applies to the riverboats, the use of holding tanks for human discharge will be mandatory. However, garbage-such as plastic cups and aluminum éans—thrown overboard by people, may be a problem. The construction of shore installations may also adversely affect the health of the Fraser River. “The fact that they will be onloading, and offloading a lot of people in the New Westminster area greatly increases the problems of traffic congestion and crowding in the waterfront area. It will increase’some of the environmental problems that such an area has already had to deal with. Inevitably, there are going to be consequences of projects like this in terms of local congestion, increased production of greenhouse gases from both the operation of the vessels and automobile traffic, pollutant from brakes, and tires. Just general people activities will all have an impact on the area. However, it would be difficult to put a quantitative measure Completely and utterly Free! Lorenzo Sia cue all talk about the Douglas College Student Society problems and scandal, there is still some glimmer of light coming from this organi- zation. The Student society J has decided to at on free movies at he David Lam Campus. Jack Shehadeh, the Business Program Representative at David Lam Campus, announces that free movies will be held in the Lecture Theater, room A1470 at 3pm every Monday. This event is starting this Monday, 16 February, and will continue until a week before final exams start. Jack says that this program, which also runs at the New Westminster Campus, is designed to “relieve student stress.” He also says “a suggestion box will be made for [Douglas College students] to put in suggestions for movies. Movies will be selected...no porno.” This suggestion box will be Coquitlam cash grab steams student Chris Yu Students at the David Lam Campus enjoy something students at the New Westminster Campus don’. This thing is the parking; it is so easy to find a parking space in Coquitlam. . What ‘you wanna see? A comedy like ‘till there was you? A drama like The Sweet on that at the moment. It’s fairly safe to say that there will be environmental implications for such projects in the area concerned. Whether it will be easy for the City of New Westminster or.the casino proponent to undertake some projects to offset some of the pnpact is very difficult to say at the moment,” said Healy. Apart from siviecpanbsialy concerns, Healy also expresses some personal opinions on gambling. “Tam really disturbed that the provincial government would adopt this approach to generating revenues.” He cites the works of John Ralston Saul, a writer and progressive social thinker, in saying that government organized gambling is often a final desperate act of governments that have become irrelevant. According to Saul, Hereafter, or (what we laughingly call) an action movie like Alien Resurection placed most probably in front of the student society office in the Atrium. Jack also wants to mention that there is not going to be any popcorn or concessions; if you want to bring your own food, you may do so. However, if there is a demand for food concession One of the parking options students have is along Pinetree Way, which is the road leading up to the David Lam Campus. For the longest time it was free to park along Pinetree Way. This now costs money, since the city installed parking service, the student society will put one up. So remember, free movies, free admission, and Jack says, “Enter the adventure!” metres. This is nothing more than an attempt by the city of Coquitlam to exploit Douglas College students at the David Lam Campus. I realize some people may find these statements to be extreme, but I have a lot of reasoning behind them. ments have collaps ; explained Healy. “He recognizes that there has been. a growth of international corporate power which greatly reduced the governments’ capacity to generate revenue from corporate sources. In Canada, the percentage of government revenues that... are provided by the corporate sector over the last thirty years or so has fallen from something around the order of 25-30% down to 6%. So governments have been scrambling to try to replace that revenue.” Healy believes that it is inappropriate for governments to promote gambling despite the reported low rate of problem gamblers in the population. This first thing is that the David Lam Campus was up and running for a whole year before they decided to install parking metres. Some hot head in the city saw an opportunity to make a few bucks. The second thing has to do with the location of the parking metres. The could cause. Even if a person is not a ~ problem gambler, they may still be : tourism be accommodated, and other “Problem gambling is only one facet of thé potential damage such activity putting a lot of resources into gambling that might better go to educating their children or putting better meals on the table. In my opinion, gambling is not a god use of resources, I think that when presented with a development proposal of any sort, particularly in the context off something like,the riverboat proposal, citizens of New Westminster should be asking ‘Who benefits from. this and who pays the costs? How will the increased ofa at irentinn centre fit into the Official Community Plan?” @ parking metres are located right across the street in front of the campus. There are no metres anywhere else in the city; they are only in close proximity to Douglas College. 4 _ February 18, 1998 The Other Press