2 THE DAILY VOICE, THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2012 EDITOR EMMA CRAWFORD ews & features Putting families first is best The Surrey Board of Trade says child care essential to the economy By ASHLEY VIENS anada ranks among the worst countries in the world for child care policy, based on UNICEF’s international standards, and the Surrey Board of Trade is hoping to change that. By working locally and nationally with other chambers of commerce across Canada, the board aims to dis- cuss how specific government funding can help businesses help families. “We really wanted to take a leader- ship role,” said Anita Huberman, CEO of the Surrey Board of Trade, about its Business and Families Position paper, released Tuesday, calling for a New Deal for Families. Huberman is focusing on helping businesses provide healthy work-life balance for families raising children in an economy that doesn’t allow for sin- gle-income scenarios. “There are nine licensed child care facilities in Surrey for every 100 kids, in comparison with 18 facilities per 100 kids in Vancouver,” said Huberman. “This is just one indication of the changes that the government needs to provide for Surrey’s burgeoning popu- lation.” Projections for Surrey’s population were predicted to surpass Vancouver’s in eight years, with 900 new families settling in Surrey every month. UBC professor Paul Kershaw says the businesses are paying a price for the status quo. “The Surrey Board of Trade is unique in that it is the first that has been very concrete in the policy chang- es that need to happen,” said Kershaw. “As a business leader, they are saying that this is an economic issue in addi- tion to being a social issue.” Kershaw also stated that families in Canada are paying as much as a second mortgage to stay at home for a year with their newborns, whereas coun- tries such as Denmark and Sweden have much more affordable programs for parents. “Tt takes two earners now where it once took one breadwinner to pay for costs of living.” “The policy recommendations in a New Deal [include] giving parents more time at home with their kids and figuring out what the role is in business of supporting that,” added Kershaw. Ruth Bancroft, head teacher of the Langara Child Development Centre, said in an email that Surrey’s New Deal “would mean that families in every Wins of ™s ee os ser ASHLEY VIENS photo Claire Anderson, pictured with her daughter, Lily, has used Langara’s daycare for five years community would be able to send their children to high quality and affordable child care programs.” “Parents are very concerned about how difficult it is to actually find child care spaces for their children,” Ban- croft said. “It is also a shock for parents to find out how expensive child care is, the second highest family expense next to housing.” Has only nine licensed child care facilities for every 100 children in the city CHILD CARE FACILITIES Surrey vs. Vancouver VANCOUVER: Has 18 licensed child care facilities for every 100 children in the city Source: Anita Huberman, Surrey Board of Trade The naked truth: strip searches unfair 66 Strip searches must be considered on a case- by-case basis BRYANT MACKEY Two protesters arrested at U.S. Consulate now seek- ing a class action lawsuit based on their experiences By AUDREY MCKINNON class-action lawsuit is being re- Paes based on two protesters who were arrested in 2003 and are claiming to have been wrongfully strip- searched after being held at a Vancou- ver jail. Lawyer Jason Gratl is representing Christopher Jacob and Elise Thorburn, who were arrested for “mischief” in 2003 for protesting the Iraq war outside the U.S. Consulate. The two protesters were searched at the Vancouver jail without giving consent and are now part of a near 75,000-person class-ac- tion suit. But Bryant Mackey, representing the province of British Columbia, said in B.C. Supreme Court this morning that the two protesters are not a fair representation for the lawsuit. “Strip searches must be considered on a case-by-case basis,” he said add- ing that the experiences of two people does not account for a class-action suit of this size. He also says that because the Van- couver jail is a shared facility, meaning that the jail is both a police lock-up and a criminal rehab centre, strip-searches are necessary to make the prison safer for the different classes of criminals. “The unique nature of the facility only serves to create additional factors that must be assessed,” said Mackey. Mackey said strip-searches were recommended by Judge Bruce in 2004. He quoted from the ruling: “If the pris- oner is not to be released by the police arresting the prisoner, they will be es- corted to the pre-hold search area where the strip-search will be complet- ed.” But according to CBC News, in Janu- ary 2004, Provincial Court judge Cath- erine Bruce ruled that more video cam- eras, metal detectors, improved pat down searches and separate holding cells for new prisoners, were better ways to establish security than strip- searches. Gratl suggested excluding those ar- rested for weapon or drug charges to reduce the number included in the class-action lawsuit. “It will be as simple for the defen- dants to show that no breach occurred as to point to the... sheet and say ar- rested for weapons, arrested for pos- session of cocaine or arrested for pos- session of marijuana or what have you,” he said. Gratl said the general prison popula- tion and short-term prisoners should be eliminated from the list as well. He said it would be mechanical checklist to see what people were ar- rested for, suggesting a series of large- ly document-based “mini-trials” to de- termine the filtered list. “Tt’s just not clear how many of these approximately 75,000 individuals will be left after all of these filters have been [applied],” he said. Small vine- yards may soon rejoice MP has introduced a new bill to change liquor laws to allow transportation of alcohol between provinces By DENNIS PAGE be able to forgo their bootlegging ways and enjoy a wider selection of some of the countries best varietals with greater ease if anew private mem- bers bill passes through Parliament. As the Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act is now, it is illegal for an individual or company to transport al- coholic beverages across provincial borders. Conservative MP for Okanagan-Co- quihalla, Dan Albas has introduced bill C-311, which is a motion to change the law to allow for personal exemp- tions from the Act. Albas is hoping the proposed change will help boost the wine mak- ing industry which in B.C. has grown from about 15 wineries, 20 years ago, to almost 200 today, with 10,000 acres of grapes grown, bringing in $40 mil- lion annually. “Currently, the IILA dictates that all imports of wine from one province into another must be made solely by the provincial liquor board or a pri- vate corporation designated by that province,” said Albas while address- ing Parliament. The practical implication of the law as is now, is that if a winery is large enough and joins a provincial liquor board, it can distribute its wine nation wide, but for smaller wineries hoping to reach the same markets, distribu- tion is illegal. “We have just got ourselves into the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of On- tario), an extremely expensive, very Cre wine connoisseurs may difficult process,” said Leslie D’Andrea, owner of Noble Ridge Vine- yard and Winery. “Tt’s a good thing,” said D’Andrea of the proposed bill, “We know of people in Ontario that are trying desperately to get our wine. I would love to be able to ship our wine directly to them.” Opening up the marketplace for B.C. wine producers also means more competition from other wine produc- ing regions of the country. “T think we would stand side by side with the Ontario wines no problem, they make good wine too, but that is of far lesser concern than the concern I have that I can not access markets in Ontario that I know would buy our wine,” said D’Andrea. D’Andrea notes that some restric- tions on importing of wine, specifically from other countries, are a good thing for Canada and the national wine in- dustry. “Bottom line, it’s a great thing,” said D’ Andrea of the proposed change “but I would add a strong cautionary note that that’s the only thing they do and be very mindful of the others things they could impact.” ‘ _ = t pt ‘ 0) cadena thy i= r Photo: Noble Ridge Vineyard & Winery Noble Ridge Vineyard & Winery owners Leslie and Jim D’Andrea