A6 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 8, 1995 | will not be exposed to double jeopardy” An open letter to: Mr. David Anderson Federal revenue minister Dear Sir: This notice isto advise you that I am in abject.and utter disagree- ment. with: Premier Harcourt’s unilateral . cancellation of the Kemane . Completion Project. This most clearly is breach of ” contractual terms which goes ta the root essence of integrity of business principles. Public hearings were extensive in their exploration of this topic, Their : side Dear Sir: While we. understand the frustration of those who may lose employment from the termination of KCP, we would .ask them to consider this termination from the per- spective of our community. While your loss is for a peri- od of two or three years, ours _ would be forever. - , Our river, our economy, our recreation, agriculture, wild- | . life, in short the heart and soul of our community. . Overstated, maybe. But” keep-in mind that we have lived for many years with the hollow promises of the golden voice orator. Our community has been badly wounded because of those romises. Community © dissension, suspicion, frustra- tion, anger, not to mention the physical deterioration of the _ Fiver, So we speak with a _ Certain amount of experience. As a community, we have had to pull together, to heal the wounds, Now, hopefully, ' we have saved all these things that are of value to us. We trust. you will try to under- Stand. Bob Mumford, Vanderhoof, B.C. but the two salient other parties to this contract, that being your fed- eral ministry of fisheries and oceans and the Aluminium Com- pany of Canada were not consul- ted on the key document findings of the B.C. Utilities Commission report before this . provincial government blatantly and faol- hardily . cancelled a: bonafide agreement, a This being the case, and know- ing that Harcourt, Ramsey et al, actually celebrated their ‘deci- sion’ with opponents prior to their announcement here in Kitimat, and knowing that NDP party campaign organizer, Brian Gardiner went on record (C.B.C. radio) stating that because of their decision they were now ‘‘riding a wave crest of popularity’? and would now look at an imminent provincial election with all this acclaim, I must inform you that the very essences of democracy and proper, acceptable represen- tation by a provincial government have been irrevocably violated beyond reparation. I hereby advise io all con- cemed, that as a citizen of this country, as a resident of the Kitimat Valley and as a business person of this community that I will not be exposed to double jeopardy. That is, we have Jost a phenomenal economic op- portunity through the demise of KCP and we have Jost many hydro-electrically dependent fu- ture business proposals including Alcan’s very possible future ex- pansion of smelting out-put in the northwest of B,C, Now we as innocent and trust- ing taxpayers are being asked to [riter vows Kemano tax protest — contribute a proportion of our taxes toward the inevitable mas- sive Herculean compensation setilement package. In my mind this should principally come to bear on the indiscretions, the ar- rogance and the effrontery of this N.D.P. premier and his cabinet. I intend not to pay the pro-rata provincial portions of my 1994 ‘and 1995 income taxes. or until such time as this NDP provincial government of B.C, is buried for all time. Gerry James Bloomer, Kitimat, B.C. Gov't can’t break Kitimat Dear Sir: . January 23, 1995 will probably be remembered in B.C.'s history - as the day the female David (Pat Moss) slew the mighty Goliath (Alcan), albeit with the help of a lot of others also: holding sling- shots. Premier Harcourt’s announce- ment that KCP was dead brought shock and disbelief to the people of Kitimat and Terrace, followed by anger and deflation. When Bill: Rich announced to the Kitimat and Tesrace councils and chambers of commerce that KCP was indeed dead with no hope of being resurrected, it was almost like the project had been killed twice. I was personally astounded that Alcan would give up so easily on a project which was economically viable, environmentally friendly, upheld.by the Supreme Court of Canada and one which had stood up to the scrutiny of a very leng- thy and thorough provincial pub- lic review. However, on reflecting upon the past two years and having had the opportunity to attend com- munity hearings in Vanderhoof and Prince George I remembered thinking at the time why doesn’t Alcan just throw up their hands and call a halt to this right now. Is anything worth all the bashing and name calling they are being ‘Subjected to? I guess in the final analysis it wasn’t. Alcan’s reputation had been fairly damaged in the events of the past two years. They have been portrayed in the media as having no regard for anything other than their own material gains, I believe we can help to undo this damage by continuing to hammer out the message that: Al- can is indeed a good corporate citizen, concerned with their em- ployees, concerned with the en- vironment, munities of Kemano, Kitimat, and Terrace. They are continuing to honour their part of the 1950 agreement with regard to developing and supporting the northern part of British Columbia in spite of the fact that our government feels no such responsibility. Those who attended community and/or technical bearings of the KCP public review by the British Columbia Utilities Commission would have to agree they were conducted with patience, in- tegrity, and intelligence. I wonder now how the commission must feel to know they have been used Skeena Mall Terrace, B.C. $L49 A&W Double Cheeseburger Sale Here’ 8 something that'll catch your eye. The A&W Double’ Cheeseburger. a Two specially seasoned patties topped with processed cheddar, me allon a toasted sesame seed bun. And all for just $1.49, ~ Or a Double Cheese Burger Combo for $3.99. So come to A&W and feast your eyes on the tastiest deal in town. . But hurry, because it’s only on sale until March 5th, ©1995 A&W Faod Services of Canada Ltd, - 4616 Keith Ave. and commilted to their responsibility to the com- . Terrace, B.C, a like pawns in a giant chess game. The BCUC has compiled what appears to he a comprehensive, well-thought-out report and it un- fortunately has been a complete waste of time, enemy, and Money, as the government has chosen to ignore the many recom- mendations put forth. Our government might just as well have commissioned Rafe Mair to conduct the review as it appears they have listened more to his rantings and ravings than to the recommendations of the com- mission, It is my opinion that British Columbians have just paid mil- lions of dollars for a review which was, in actuality, a public opinion poll for the NDF govern- ment. Helmut Giesbrecht has just be- come a sacrificial lamb in this riding, so that more votes and more seats might be obtained elsewhere in any upcoming clec- tion, Not only has ihe government chosen not to honour an agree- ment made decades ago —- they now feel they are not liable for any damages to Alcan because of that decision. You don’t have to be a Jawyer to know that if you break the rules you pay the price, It would now. be interesting to see how many opponents of the EXPRESS project would remain firm in their convictions, if the damages which should be awarded to Alcan, were to come out of their pockets! Mr. Mair wouldn't even need the air waves to broadcast bis loud la- ments if a contract was broken with him and no compensation was forthcoming. The British Columbia govern- ment of the 1940s had the foresight to want the northern part of our province developed. How sad it is that the B.C. government of the 90s wants to see it destroyed. There seems to be an insidiows movement underway to make us a service based province, rather than a resource based one — a movement to make us all hospi- tality industry workers in the’ giant resort known as British Columbia. Well, we in the north have a message for Mr, Harcourt. He can’t break our spirit, and every time he tries to we'll just get back up again stronger and more determined. Perhaps some day soon the premier of our province will be someone who is interested in the good of all British Columbians and not just his or her own politi- cal career. Sheila Reeves Kitimat, B.C. YOUR LOVE WITH LONG STEMMED ROSES | Paint | reply Dear Sir: Re: Mrs. L. Hamilton’s let- ter of Jan. 25, 1995. As the city cowncil’s repre- sentative on the library board, I must correct the impression that the city has not taken the oppartunity to use some volunteer help to paint the Hi- brary addition and has there- fore added cost for the tax- payers. The library board and the city were very appreciative of the offer of volunteer help made by the Skeena Valley Rotary Club, This was a most generous offer since the job is large and time-consuming. I agree with Mrs. Hamilton that we should take advantage of this type of volunteer help whenever possible. In fact, some members of the library board, including myself, were also willing to put in some volunteer time on the project. Unfortunately, when we looked at the logistics of using this help, it turned out to be impractical. The re- quired scheduling of the vari- ous aspects of the construc- tion made it quite impossible to schedule in volunteer paint- ing time. Apart from the fact that it just wouldn't have been pos- sible to coordinate volunteers with construction schedules, the cost of construction delays would probably have more than offset the savings, Incidentally, if there was any ‘‘dithering’? — a rather harsh term for the delays that were essentlally beyond the control of local people — it was not the present city coun- cil that was responsible. We said when we were elected a year ago that we would get this project off the ground as soon as possible, and we did. Val George Councillor, City of Terrace DOZ. CASH & CARRY Fresh Cut Flowers at Wholesale Prices! ‘GROWER DIRECT Fresh cut Flowers | Making fresh cut flowers and affordable, everyday event! GROWER DIRECT 2907 Clark St. (next to Copperside) Tetrace — 635-1863 - hy re, XY FOR OUT.OF TOWN DELIVERY - CANADA WIDE 1-800-251-6888 y, I ae pen dee te a Laila