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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011
W E S T M I N S T E R
INSIDE FEATURE: Church joins art scene ◗P13
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Walia loses lawsuit Judge says city was not negligent in its dealings over a pub and liquor store BY ANDREW FLEMING REPORTER afleming@royalcityrecord.com
Acivil lawsuit brought against the City of New Westminster citing gross negligence and misrepresentation has been dismissed by the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Nirmal Walia, the president of P.S.D. Enterprises Ltd. and the former owner of the Windsor Hotel on Columbia Street, launched the lawsuit against the city. He claimed that Tim Whitehead, the city’s former director of development services, assured him that if he sold the Windsor Hotel property to a developer, the city would undertake any necessary rezoning to enable him to relocate his private liquor store to a new location on 12th Street. Walia sold the property to Ballenas Project Management, who then demolished the building to build the new Downtown Interurban condominium tower, for $2 million but never received approval from the city to relocate his liquor store. He later lost both his provincial pub and liquor store licences and was seeking up to $2 million in damages. In a ruling released on April 8, Judge Miriam Gropper said: “P.S.D. has not satisfied me that ◗Lawsuit Page 8
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Nursing complaints: Janice Buchanan, vice-president of the B.C. Nurses’ Union, speaks at a rally at Sherbrooke and Columbia streets, outside Royal Columbian Hospital, to raise the union’s concerns about “hallway health care.”
Nurses raise ruckus at rally BY BRENT RICHTER REPORTER brichter@royalcityrecord.com
Seizing on the federal election campaign, the B.C. Nurses’ Union held a rally outside Royal Columbian Hospital Monday afternoon to demand an end to “hallway health care.” “There’s 54 patients admitted that have no beds to go to, and that is outrageous,” said Janice Buchanan, union vice-president, gesturing to the hospital. “We’re going to be out there to hold our politicians accountable.” Helen Roberts, a New Westminster resident and pediatric care nurse at Royal Columbian, said she sees that kind of overcrowding daily.
“If you go on any of the wards, there’s anywhere between three to five beds in the hallways. The hospital has gone off and bought privacy screens by the dozen to create these beds,” she said. Roberts said treating patients in hallways is unsafe for both the patients and hospital staff trying to treat them. She said her daughter-in-law was recently a patient at Royal Columbian and was forced to use a hallway bed for hours without access to a bathroom. Roberts said Royal Columbian’s beds are often taken up by seniors who could be treated at home, but home-care services don’t have the funding or staffing to be effective. She said an expansion of Royal Columbian would also go a long way to
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eliminating crowded hallways. Roberts said concerns over overcrowding shouldn’t be limited to the hospital staff and patients who have been forced to deal with it, as everyone has a stake in health care. “With the election coming up, it should be on the forefront for everybody because it concerns everybody. Our health care is really going downhill,” she said. New Westminster-Coquitlam New Democrat Fin Donnelly was the only local candidate to appear at the rally. Green Party candidate Rebecca Helps was working at the time, according to the union. Liberal candidate Ken Lee didn’t respond to the union’s invitation, and Conservative candidate Diana Dilworth’s campaign told the
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