ina November 20th, 1989 ‘the Other Press Page 3 Strachan Wants University in His Riding VANCOUVER (CUP) -- B.C.’s new minister of post-secon- dary education wants the province’s fourth university built in his riding. Bruce Strachan, the Social Credit legislator for Prince George South, became minister of ad- vanced education in last Wednesday’s provincial cabinet shuffle. He said the proposed Prince George university was "very much" a personal and cabinet priority. "I see it as kind of a desperate ew attempt on the part of the govern- ment to retain Mr. Strachan’s seat," NDP education critic Barry Jones said. Jones said the government was yielding to pressure from a group which has been pushing for a university in Prince George. "I think it’s an important issue but certainly there are many other issues in post-secondary education, none of which I’ve seen Mr. Strachan take an interest in the past three years," Jones said. Strachan, said a northern university has always been his goal. "It’s obvious that the Social Credit government selected me for the ministry to demonstrate its sup- port for the northern university," he said. Strachan said Prince George was "a logical location" for a new B.C. university. He said he had helped engineer provincial govern- ment funding for the Interior University Society’s (TUS) studies into the proposal while in the en- vironment portfolio in cabinet. Canadian Federation of Stu- dents Pacific chair Pam Frache said there were other proposals which Proposed Law Under by Chris Lawson OTTAWA (CUP) -- The proposed criminal law on abortion is a dangerous infringement on women’s rights pro-choice leaders say. While the bill, which makes having an abortion without valid "social, psychological or economic cause" punishable by two years in jail, isn’t as limiting as what many observers had expected, Judith Allen said it still "stinks." The spokesperson for the Na- tional Association of Women and the Law said the bill, tabled last week by Justice Minister Doug Lewis, contains provisions similar to the old law struck down in 1988 by the Supreme Court. The old abortion law (authored by then-Minister of Justice John Turner) required women seeking abortions to prove their need to a hospital committee. But standards for what constituted a valid need for an abortion varied wildly from province to province. Allen said the proposed law would have the same problem. "If you’re in Ontario you could say you were stressed out and that might be enough reason to have an abortion," she said. "But if you go to Charlot- tetown, the doctor might say, ’well,_ you’re not suicidal, so you don’t qualify’." “Women in rural areas, in the north, in Nova Scotia, in New- foundland will not have the same kind of access to abortions because the law will be applied differently," she added. This aspect of the old law was found to violate women’s right to security of person, Allen said. The bill would also leave the door open for "ex-boyfriends, family or neighbours” to bring a complaint against a woman they felt was getting an ‘illegal’ abor- tion, Allen said. Allen said the bill could force women who wanted abortions be- cause their birth control failed to have the child or face prosecution. "In effect, it makes them criminally liable for the act of being sexually active,” she said. "In this country, that’s not acrime now, but this bill would make it that way." Canadian Abortion Rights Ac- ‘tion League official Nicole Jasmin said the bill was a move to pacify the anti-choice minority. _ "It’s very difficult to justify this bill to the anti-choice minority," she said. "It makes me wonder what are they promising down the road. All they would have todo is take out the word *psychological’ and abortions would be virtually impossible to perform legally." "It’s very dangerous," she added. Under the proposed bill, it will be up to doctors to decided whether a woman has a valid need for an abortion. Dentists Opposed to by Sherryl Yeager VICTORIA (CUP) -- B.C. dentists oppose a dental plan ap- proved by University of Victoria students. The insurance plan’s sup- porters say the dentists are motivated by profit and lack of in- formation. University of Victoria students approved the plan last spring and the province’s dental association brought its concerns to the UVic student council and the university’s Board of Governors soon after- wards. "The university should cer- tainly know what it is getting into," said Dr. Larry Rossoff, vice presi- dent of the College of Dental Sur- geons of British Columbia. "One of the philosphical problems we have with this kind of program is every time a patient comes in, the more time they spend in the chair, the more the return by the dentist is reduced," Rossoff said. The UVic ’capitation’ plan, run by Future Focus Health Care Systems and offered by the Canadian Federation of Students- Services, gives dentists a fixed rate per client for certain procedures. UVic student council vice- president Brian Menzies said blanket-coverage programs en- courage dentists to do unnecessary work. "The client doesn’t have to pay, the insurance company does," he said. Depending on what dental ser- vices the plan includes, it can cost a student between $28 and $132 per year. Dr. Adrian van Hoek, a Vic- toria dentist, said the plan was like getting 70 per cent in every course, no matter how mucheffort was put in. "Nobody is going to work very hard," van Hoek added. He said dentists will be unwill- ing to spend time on patientsif they are not being paid enough. Norman Landman, president of Future Focus Health Care Systems, said dentists taking part in the program are very Dental Plan happy with it. The plan’s under- writer, Blue Cross, guarantees den- tists $140 per hour for their work. David Jones, executive direc- tor of CFS-Services said dental as- sociations have worked against student and labour organizations in other parts of the country when they tried to institute similar plans. "Their main concern is this will erode the basis of the fee for service programs in existence," Jones said. "It is a dollars and cents issue, because it does reduce the cost for students.". Jones said the plan will mean more money for dentists, because students without insurance don’t normally go to dentists. Graduate students at the University of British Columbia voted to to accept the plan this fall. "The experience we’ve had with these kinds of plans is they run their course for a bit and then they fold up," Rossoff said. There’s just notenough money to make them viable." should be considered, preferably with more public input. "We hope that the fact that (Strachan) was appointed doesn’t mean that the model being put forth for the university of the north is a fait accompli," she said. Strachan, the former environ- ment minister said he is looking forward to his new post. "I’ve been meeting as many people as I can, learning what I can and trying to relearn the vocabulary," he said. Strachan has been an MLA since 1979 and was the chair of the Fire "That’s a terrible imbalance of power,” Jasmin said, "which is demeaning and insulting to women." Allen was optimistic that the bill would be unpopular enough with both pro and anti-choice mem- bers of parliament that it would have difficulty getting out of. the house’s committees. Prince George school board. He was also the public relation’s of- ficer for the Prince George-based College of New Caledonia from 1973 to 1977. UBC student council execu- tive Vanessa Geary hoped Strachan’s appointment did not mean a significant change in policy. : "With Stan Hagan as minister we saw an increase in funding in post-secondary education," Geary said. "It is crucial that the new min- ister realizes that this trend must continue if B.C’s education is to be truly accessible and competitive." Douglas Student Gilena Dar- well at rally held in protest of bill photo by Tamara Gorin Women’s Campus Notes Lose Space Centre to by Tamara Gorin be used for other purposes. one student. The Douglas College Women’s Centre will be one of the next victims of the space crunch happening in the college. The centre, which falls under the jurisdiction of Student Services and Developemental Eduacation, will be losing about 10 square feet of space to make room for a new office for college counsellors and Academic Advisors. The room formerly used by the counsellors, room 2730, will Liz Wilson, the Women’s Centre Co-ordinator, says the cut in space "“won’t have much effect on the centre." Some students have expressed concern, though. : "It seems to me that a dangerous precedent is being set here. One of the first things to go during restraint was the Women’s Studies program. Now, space concerns are seeing a chunk of the Women’s centre being hacked off. If it happens now, later they may decide to take more," stated More Student Unrest Over Strike by Tamara Gorin Douglas College students showed their growing concern over the state of negotiations between striking college ‘faculty and the college administration by holding an impromptu question/answer period in the college Board offices on November 9th. The event was organised by University Transfer Representative Jamie McEvoy and students Shelley Ferley and Victoria Smith from the nursing and psychiatric nursing programs. About 300 students showed up, all wanting answers to their questions about the strike. Bill Bell, the college’s Public Information Officer, Ross Stewart, the Director of Psychiatric Nursing and Joy Homwood, Director of General Nursing, all fielded questions from the angry students for about an hour. Most left the meeting feeling their concerns had not been addressed to the extent they had wished. Commented one student, "They aren’t taking us seriously, and I doubt they will anytime soon. We caught in | the middle here, and we’re the ones who are going to lose the most."