* peamAce = -. Daye Parker i ‘is
» headed back to-the Private sec-
~ tor following his election loss to

. Ee Heloet
: ie

echt. a

orester, Parker. has: worked ‘for ~:
Timber (now: cealled
a

The. defeated: ‘Skeena : Mi)
grand. parks. iinister
a 1¢.'lias the same oppor:
an ‘as do graduating high .
: {gehigol students i in ‘Terrace and -
“Hin: Kitimat. >

'There:are. so many oppor:
tunities. ‘Which ones are ‘YOu go-

sing.to séize..A short-term-under ~

ithe: Reds won’t make much dif
4 ference,” said Parker, * +
ve He: told: ‘workers ‘at his cam:
paign office to: retain their: op--
~}timisni ‘and to’ keep: positive ‘as.
tie,: during his Speech, : ‘ques-
jonned’. how many: -Oppor-
ities: there! would-be.
‘Our -team-did a good job, ”
|. (Parker: said. “The recipe. was
“followed, but it didn’t cook uP
well.” ;
.. S He. predicted ihe new NDP.
“government will do ‘not
‘much’ for the well-being of the
; ‘province. _
:“[t’s going to be very dif.”
"ficult for this province for the
“next few years,”’ he‘said, “But
“we'll be back.” Do
- Welll:mark time for a few
“years, -andcome back. and, do it |
Fight,’ ‘Parker added, -
He said he wishes Giesbrecht
- well, adding: “He fought a
* good fight,’’ ‘
He said he wouldn't miss the
“+ Tong days and six-day weeks of
~chis job, ‘I’m going back'to the
“private sector and less strenuous
ee days” he said.

regitered, profeaicnal

* “The next candidate might be
a young lady and 1. -might ‘be
looking ‘at her ‘right now,”

seats’ provincially surprising, ‘I

t,”? he said; ‘He's a very
: bright young man. Someday I

hope to call him: Premier

Wilson. ad

“candid remarks that. often

: resulted i in calls. for his resigna- .

thon,”

Es. AS: foreds minister between
1987-1989, critics said Parker
“was: too friendly - with-” ‘large:

‘timber. companies wheriever the
'. debate. swung around to logging
versus preserving forests lands.

~ Parker was elected as Skeena
_ MLA in the provincial election

. Of October 1986. as part ‘of the |

‘Vander. Zalm sweep. by
‘defeating: two-term. ‘NDPer
’ Frank Howard.

“He: became” ‘parliaitientary
‘secretary. to ‘forests and ‘lands
» minister: : Jack Kempf. and in
1987, was. named forests

minister when the-latter resign- ff

ed because of ministerial spen-
» ding irregularities.

Also in 1987, Parker became

‘the. North Coast ‘development
Tegion minister of state. That
- position and’ others like it
around ‘the | province are now
‘defunct, . -

"Parker | retained his forests

‘portfolio i in 1988 but the lands
portfolio was taken away,
. That exact opposite happened.

“a. year later when the forests

portfolio was taken away and
he became lands minister once
again,’ In 1991, Parker also

became responsible for parks.
Other. public sector ex-
perience included stints as a
school trustee in Golden and in
Terrace, :

: DYNAMIC Duo. Federal Skeena NDP MP Jim Fulton shares a hap.
py Moment with Helmut Glesbrecht at his victory party, With Dan

Be Miller’ re-elected in North Coast and Jackie Pement elected In .
Bulkley Nalley-Stikine, the NDP has a solld federal and provincial ,

he northwest,

with its large industrial
orkforce, swing solidly behind

tations, NDPer.- Helmut
lesbrecht.had picked up 2,099

a cee gee

hen: all the votes had’ been .
allied at .Kitimat’s, 26 -polling _-

tes. to Socred: Dave Parker's:
and Liberal Juanita’ Hat- °

C Although: Parker: took’ Kits.
_-wanga : and: squeaked. by in in Gi-

13969 son for; the iiding: oD

5; ane votes ta 5 Parker's 8 4, soa

and Hatton's 1,515. All-told, :

there Were M490 valid . votes
cast. an

“In Terrace — ‘the home ‘of ‘all :

three: candidates. om Ite was
Parker.coming: out on,top with:
2,108... votes. to ‘Giesbrecht’s
1 947. and Hatton's 453, °°

An ‘the ‘native comntunities, 1 f

‘was’ ‘Glesbrecht’s ‘tan

fe MED ga gant Spe fet BARE ga eater tptiones

Parker. fold those. a at. his. Same

That MED My ;

ti wah Gordon: Wilson all, the .."§

“Parker became knéivn for his

cent for Liberal Bill Hayes. A
: independent candidate recelved

BEAR HUG: Defeated Skeena MLA Dave Parker receives a consoling embrace from a supporter at his

Terrace campaign office election night. Parker's headed off ta the private sector, saying he's looking

forward to less strenuous days.

for what’ 5 next

TERRACE ~— ‘“‘We've waited
16 years for this. night,”
declared newly-elected Helmut
Giesbrecht as Terrace campaign
workers celebrated Thursday
night’s election results,

Most had been at past NDP
victory parties in. Terrace, of
course. But those occasions had
been ones of mixed emotions:
delight their local candidate —
Frank Howard or Jim Fulton —
had triumphed, dismay and

despair the provincial or federal -

party had once again gone down
to defeat.

Not this time. Election °91
had seen the New Democrats
take it all and party workers
were savouring the moment.

However, while admitting he
was obviously happy with the
outcome, Giesbrecht added,
“Tve. still got my feet on the
ground.”

While the NDP had been
swept into power with a healthy
majority, he cautioned it could
take nothing for granted once in

“government,

“People are giving us a trial,
now we have to live up to it," he
said, And. if ‘this-election was

Won. because the voters: were

prepared to give the NDP a

_ » chance,“he pointed, out ‘the next

same o palls,
Finally, Thornhill produced a

near dead-heat with Parker edg-

“| ing out Giesbrecht 747-736 and .

Hatton: picking up the remain-—
ing 215 votes.
Giesbrecht ‘received 47 per

cent and Hatton 13 per cent. In.
1986; Parker won with 48 per
cent of the vote compared t
NDP. candidate Fran
Howard's 42 per cent and 5 pe

one would have to be won on its -
record,

Nor. did. Giesbrecht
underestimate the task facing
his party. Maintaining the
Secreds. had been too preoc-

cupied with internal party pro- -

biems to deal with the real
issues, he said the incoming
government had a big. backlog
ta deal with.

The settlement of land claims
and taking action on en-
vironmental issués were key ob-
jectives, there had to be a:turn-
around in forestry and the 16
years of neglect suffered by
“the most vulnerable members
of saciety’? would have to end.

Given’ the number - of pro-
blems and: issues the new
government would have to deal
with, Giesbrecht: said it. would
not necessarily be able to
achieve all its goals in a single
term,

One thing | was certain,
however. “We. committed to a
balanced’ "budget and we better

‘live up to it,” he-warned.

And his own role as MLA for
Skeena? ‘‘My job is to make

‘sure the government never loses
ssight of the need to listen to
people," he sald. -

~-Magnanimous | in _ victory,

“ophere was a 7 per cent turnout
‘across the province,

“counted next Wednesday. Final’

> figures:in 1986 had‘a 76.2 per”
! eent'turn: out in Skeena with a:
Sent of the vote, Parker 39 per.

Things:
Bulkley “Valley-Stikine where
NDP ‘candidate Jackie Pement

ware ‘much ‘ closer’ in
“North Coast riding where NDP -

Giesbrecht sent ‘his regards to
defeated incumbent Dave
Parker, adding, ‘‘I know what
it's like to lose. It’s no fun!”

- As for the strong perfor-
mance. of Liberal candidate
Juanita Hatton, he attributed it
to a combination of an anti-
socialist vote and reaction to the

leaders’ TV debate.

Campaign worker and local
teacher Frank Rowe said the
NDP provincial victory signaled
the end of Bill 82 — the Com-
pensation Fairness Act that re-
quires public sector pay hikes be
less than 4.9 per cent,

_ Wage commissioner Ed Lien
had blocked the contract reach-
ed by the local teachers and the
school district which called for a
seven per cent increase in each
of two years.

“It means .my. contract
negotiation ‘is. finally ‘ over,”
said Rowe, bargaining commit-
tee chairman for the Terrace
District Teacher’s Union.
“Retroactive | pay - _ that's what
it means:””. -

And the ‘following day

“premicr-elect ‘upheld | Rowe's

prediction by ° confirming
teachers. would: get. the’ -full
amount. of the’ negotiated. ‘in-
creases, wo eee

2, 767 votes while Herb George,

mon another’ “independent, received
The figures ‘will rise when o “ :
. absentee and’ other ballots are -

916.

- Pement received 33.4 per cent |:

of. the’ votes. ‘compared to

Maitland’s 31.8 per cent and —
: Remot's262 per cent. So
orl total of 77 per cent. —

‘There was no y surprise i in 1 the

incumbent Dan. Miller received |

9,015: of: ‘the 15,157 ‘Votes cast :§
59.5 p t¢

hardly: any money, did't: ,
have.a campaign team and
did no advertising. . .

Yet Liberal candidate
Juanita Hatton did’ receive’
1,515 votes’ last Thursday, -

“For a person who. has
never before tried to ‘be
elected to anything; ' that’s
not bad,’” said Hatton the
morning afier, .- :

“T could have done better.
if I hadn't been afraid ‘to
put too much: money isto
the campaign,’ she added::

Hatton watched the elec:
tion results at home alone,
declining an offer by a cou-
ple of people to throw her a
party.

Her campaign expen-
ditures are estimated. at
$1,000. _

Hatton’s vote count.
translates into 13 per -cent
of ballots cast, a. figure
substantially ‘ahead of the
Liberal who ran here in the
1986 provincial election.
Except for a couple of in-
dividuals who helped gut on
_occasion, Hatton was pretty
well left to her own devices
during the campaign.

“The Liberals in Terrace
and in Kitimat absolutely
wrote me off altogether,”"
she said. :

iii SG Ha A ios i. eratteht? Wap pe wterael
qe Ss ra Ain] “Bf ne ; icetrongcbhowing:of a Igibdral:

candidate. in'- the- jAb-
- botsford area. ee

“1 recruited him. He
didn’t win’ but he did quite
well. [ expect him to rum
federally,”’ she said, ;

And now that the provin-
cial Liberal party forms the
official opposition, Hatton
says it will be an effective
voice in Victoria.

“If we don’t start raking
care of the environment:
pretty soon there won't bé
an environment left,”’ she
said. - .

“Mr. Harcourt will, do
OK if the Liberals keep an
eye on him, That's the-way
it should work, to keep peo-
ple on their toes,” Hatton
added,

“] don’t like him, but I
can tolerate him,’’ added
Hatton of Harcourt.

Haiton’s met -Liberal
leader Gordon. Wilson
several times at party func-
tions and found him to be a
nice person.

“People didn't expect us
to surface this scon. They
said there wasn’t a Liberal
party, but we've, always
been active. in our .own
ways,”’ she said.

- Final —
Oct. 30.

TERRACE — And.’ you
thought the vote counting i is
over. Wrong, . ,
Returning officers will be
spending next . ‘Wednesday:
: counting | envelope ballots...
B-c'That’s: ‘the: term ; for:
ballots cast by people not at -
their: . polling . stations, by
: people voting’ outside of
their home ridings, people

“Who voted by mail and peo-'

ple who received Voter ‘cards
a weren't on; ai any voters,
st oe