Don’t forget Fluffy this Christmas
Seahawks, Breakers are B.C. champs
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Tuesday December 6, 2011 Serving Surrey and North Delta www.surreyleader.com
2011 Fraser Health plan still under wraps Victoria sitting on document eight months into fiscal year by Jeff Nagel THE YEAR is almost over but Fraser Health has yet to release its 2011 service plan that details its priorities and spending – information critics say is needed to scrutinize the authority’s $2.5 billion budget and hold its appointed board to account. Service plans previously were released in early fall – already months late for a fiscal year that begins April 1 – but this year all health authority service plans remain stuck in Victoria, where provincial government officials say more work continues to finalize them. “The ministry has been busy Adrian Dix working with health authorities to ensure the information and the data is accurate,” a ministry spokesman said. “This work is important because these plans lay out a complex, three-year operational plan.” He said the reports should be released within a few weeks. See PLANS / Page 3
FILE PHOTO / THE LEADER
Transit Police won’t need to focus as much on fare evasion once the smart card payment system and turnstiles take effect.
Transit Police: Still needed? Turnstiles, smart cards expected to shift officers’ duties by Jeff Nagel TRANSLINK CEO Ian Jarvis is defending the need to keep the Transit Police service even though a big part of the force’s job – enforcing fare payment – should all but vanish when fare gates and smart cards come to the transit system. The officers that patrol SkyTrain and its stations issued nearly 31,000 tickets last year, mostly for fare evasion. “There’s still going to be a need for a police presence on the system,” Jarvis said in an interview. “Regardless of fare gates, you’ve got an element on the system and
unwanted activities that require police resources.” TransLink is spending $180 million to install fare gates in SkyTrain stations over the next year and Compass smart cards will replace other payment methods in 2013. But fare evaders will still find ways to board, Jarvis predicted, and fare checks will still be needed, though they’d be done electronically rather than checking paper tickets. He agreed, however, fare check duties for officers should drop to a small fraction of what they perform today. See TRANSIT POLICE / Page 5
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