NEEDLE EXCHANGE PLAN DRAWS MLA'S FIRE

Clinic's New Home Now Under Review

The Vancouver Island Health Authority may be forced to rethink plans
to relocate a controversial downtown Nanaimo health clinic.

MLA Ron Cantelon said on Thursday there is now talk of "stepping back"
from the new location after he disclosed to the Ministry of Health
Services how VIHA failed to consult the community about moving the
service from Cavan Street to Franklyn Street, where it is set to open
in the new year. Cantelon said that senior ministry staff will meet
today with VIHA CEO Howard Waldner today about the issue.

Jane Templeman, spokeswoman for the Nanaimo and Area Resource Services
for Families, which will run the clinic, was unaware Cantelon had
asked the ministry to step in. She said they met with the Safer
Nanaimo committee on Wednesday, including about 15 neighbours of the
proposed Franklyn Street location, and they were moving toward
initiating a Good Neighbour Agreement.

Cantelon, who met with the Old City Quarter Association this week,
said there is consensus the service is important, but said it is also
vital that the community be involved in the final decision.

"Let's rethink this. Is this the right spot?" asked
Cantelon.

The clinic is in the riding of NDP MLA Leonard Krog, and Cantelon said
he was approached as a Liberal backbencher about the matter. Krog also
said there is a real need for more consultation.

"This is a necessary program, it's an important public health issue.
It's always better if there can be -- and should be --
consultation."

Cantelon is angry and frustrated with this and other experiences he
has had with VIHA over similar issues. The MLA said that VIHA has
failed the residents it is mandated to serve.

"What I resent is they tell us there was a plan, they tell us there
was consultation, and there wasn't," said Cantelon.

He said that he has tried in the past to contact VIHA board members
and received no response.

The board, he said, appears to be under the thumb of the
administration in Victoria.

"I've been told 'you can't talk to a board member, we give them a
briefing,'" said Cantelon.

"They totally lack sensitivity to communities and to
individuals."

If the relocation of the clinic has to be halted, he said, the
responsibility belongs alone with VIHA for failing to have a plan or
do any community consultation.

"It means persuading VIHA to reconsider what they've done and absorb
the cost of relocating," he said. "Maybe we just need to provide a
comfortable level of security."

Coun. Merv Unger, chairman of the Safer Nanaimo working group, on
Thursday had not spoken with Cantelon.

Unger said they will continue working to create a Good Neighbour
Agreement.

"We as a city committee will facilitate the sides getting together to
negotiate a Good Neighbour Agreement, there's nothing we can do beyond
that."