Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 22, 2000 ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. © V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 « FAX: (250) 638-8432 TERRACE PUBLISHER: ROD LINK EMAIL: standard@kermede.net The family THE CRIPPLING tax regime of the past decade . has made a two-income family a virtual necessity in order to make ends meet. And that’s lead to a bizarre set of circumstances. As the number of two-income families rose, so did the need for more state-supported programs to support those families, such as subsidized day care. And as these costs grew, so did the need for more taxa- tion to pay for them and when that happened, there was even more pressure for both parents to work to pay for the increased tax burden. In this election, there is one party which has a platform to address this - the Christian Heritage Party. It suggests the creation of a family-friendly tax credit of $1,000 a month provided one parent stays at home to raise their own children. This would not only strengthen the family, says the Christian Heritage Party, but make available a large number of jobs, typically those of the entry level variety, to help solve the high level of youth unemployment. With more young people work- ing, there would be more economic activity gen- erated to help pay for the tax credit as well as a re- duction in the amount of money the state has to. make available for family support programs. Those suspicious of the Christian Heritage Party will point out that this sets in motion a ra- ther male-dominated societal structure in that most of the pressure will be on women to be-— come the stay-at-home parent. In doing so, the - Christian Heritage Party will stand accused of de- nying the role that women can play outside of the home. But at least such a proposal places the role of | the family at the forefront of today’s society and it is one which deserves a thorough airing. Go Green THEY’RE CALLED fringe parties and are often | treated as slightly wacko. Without the worry of . gathering a large number of voters or the fear of losing a large amount of support, the candidates of these parties can speak freely and plainly. In happened in Skeena in 1993 when Dr. Isaac , Sobol, running for the now-defunct National | party was eloquent in his vision of Canada. This time, it’s Green candidate Roger Benham. At last week’s all candidates meeting here, Mr. Benham cut through the mush of promises and platitudes from other political parties of more money for health care with two simple state- ments. One is that preventative medicine is far better | than curing an illness. The other is that there should not only be more nurses, they should take some of the workload off of doctors. Simple stuff, really. Perhaps that’s the pro- blem. It’s too simple for the major parties to comprehend. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS Jeff Nagel * NEWS/SPORTS: Keith Freeman NEWS/COMMUNITY: Jennifer Lang FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Carole Kirkaldy ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: | Sam Bedford, Mark Beaupre & Stacy Swetlikoff TELEMARKETER: Stacy Swetlikoff DARKROOM/COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik & Clate Hallock SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $54.88(+$3.85GST) per year; Seniors $48.62 (+$3.40GST); Out of Province $61.69 (+$4,32GST) Outside of Canada (6 months) $151.60 (4+$10.61GST) MEMBER OF B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION AN ip BC, PRESS COUNCIL Gea 2000 - BLUE: RIBBON CNA « Sarving the Tarace and Thombill area, Published on Wednesday of each week at 3210 Clinton Slree!, Tarace, British Columbia, VeG §R2. ‘, \. . whogpée... Nomore problems. . »- We vote for Chretien, Warttil hes in... and then we Select 2 fob from the many employment opportunityes he promised: + 7 YOU CWO deserve each other Thailand has its own Bill Gates CHIANG MAI -- After smog- bound Bangkok, this northem city of Thailand feels like Victoria after visiting Los An- geles. While Bangkok is literally choking on its smog that hangs over the megalopolis like a brown cloud, the skies in - Chiang Mai are clear, the air is clean and breathable. The favourite mode of transportation is the scooter, thousands of which are driven "with great bravado by mostly young people. Girl passengers ride mostly side-saddle and it isn't uncom- mon to see a young dad driv- ing, his wife in the back and two kids between them. The bureaucrats at the B.C. Motor Vehicle Branch would have a heyday with all here is to re- gulate in Thailand. _ ‘We arrived in Chiang. Mai after a nine-hour bus ride from Bangkok. The journey led through mostly agricultural land, dominated by rice fields, interrupted by small towns * every so often. The temperature in the north is decidedly cooler than in southern or central Thai- land, but still reaches a com- fortable 28 degrees during the day. In the mountains that rise up to the north of the city to- wards Burma and Laos, tem- peratures dip already to zero during the night at this time of year. On our second day in Chiang Mai, we took a temple THE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER tour. Our guide, Lino Apiside, showed us five of the city's more than 100 Buddhist tem- ples, oases of incomparable beauty. The eldest of the tem- ples dates back about 700 years, Under Lino's gentle exper- tise, we made an offering of " ineense, a lit candle: and’a lots flower. On he way dut,* we released nine tiny birds from a wooden cage which, according to Buddhist tradi- tion, will bring us health and happiness in return, Forever the logical one in our marriage, Eleonore asked Lino whether it wouldn't be better if the little creatures weren't caged up in the first place. He agreed, but we didn't pursue the matter any further. In conversations with Lino, it became clear to me that Canada as a multi-cultural country has nothing to offer Thailand in terms of tolerance and acceptance of others. Throughout her long history, Thailand has gently absorbed immigrants. Today's Thais share one of the richest ethnic diversities to be found any- where. The population consists of Thais, Mon, Khmer, Lao- tian, Chinese, Malay, Persian and Indian stock. As a result, there is no typi- cal Thai. There are petite Thais and statuesque Thais, round-faced Thais, dark-skin-~ ned Thais and light-sinned Thais. Buddhism, which first made its appearance in Thailand some 2,300 years ago, is the religion of 90 per cent of all Thais, but religious freedom has always been a hallmark of Thailand, with the result that sizable minorities of Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Sikhs free pursue, their faiths, There .are, -for ;instance, numerous Chinese temps to be found in- any major city. The relative absence of strife in modern Thailand his- tory is usually ascribed to the fact that, unlike its neighbours, Thailand was never colonized. Through adroit diplomacy, the king of the time managed to keep Europeans out of his country. Modern Thai politics, on the other hand, is not quite as easy to explain. The country is gearing up for the election of a new prime minister, and one of the contenders, Thaksin Shina- wata, leader of the Thai Rak Thai Party, is given a good Taking stock of Bruce JESSE VENTURA, the WWF wrestler currently governor of Minnesota, believes govern- ment would work better if we did away with political parties. That way elected representa- tives wouldn’t park their brains when they take office, One candidate in our fed- eral election who has no in- tention of checking his brains at the door to parliament is Bruce Hallsor, an Alliance candidate in Victoria trying to unseat Liberal cabinet mini- ster David Anderson. Hailsor, who grew up in Terrace while his father was city administrator, attended Caledonia high school at the : same time as our daughters. During the long teachers’ ‘| strike in the early 80’s, when- ever the public clashed with _ the school board, as a student representative, Hallsor was . ’ front and center, calmly and _ Sensibly saying his piece. He said then his ambition THROUGH. BIFOCAES. CLAUDETTE SANDECKI was to become Prime Minister of Canada one day. He’s well on his way, No doubt he plan- ned his moves to Ottawa; now he’s working his plan, Except for one hitch: I don’t believe he’s moving toward prime minister of Canada as an Al- liance member under Stock- well Day. Hallsor began his trek to Stories, photographs, illustrations, dasigns and fypastyles in the Terrace Standard are the property of ho | (Ea copyright holdars, including Cariboo Press (1969) Lid., ls illustration repro services and advertising Reproduction in whole of in part, without written permission, Is speciiically prohibited, Authorized as second-class mall pending the Post Offica Dapartmant, for payment of postage in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for their time and talents TMA SPRUCE SEED Mm DRIETING DOWN A m VALLEY! T7ELLAND mee ON THE MOIST SRADY Me NORTH FACING SLOPE oe SL LE! ByT No! ONTHE DRY SouTH FACING SLOPE AND DEEEE! 3? lt A GONWA LAND] Ottawa while in high school, participating in an annual par- liamentary visit where selec- ted students occupied the seats of elected members and pre- tended to do their work for several days. Aware that a law degree hastens the move to cabinet, Hallsor has acquired lawyer credentials. He has a politician’s fond- hess — and knowhow -— for at- tracting media attention. Al- ready in this campaign he has appeared twice on BCTV’s evening news. He’s taking on the fight for financial compen- sation for leaky condo owners. As I understand it, Alliance party policy would leave leaky condo owners to deal with their own financial dilemma. The Liberals, too, blame the leaky condo crisis on B.C.’s building code, designed and regulated by the NDP. Nonetheless, Hallsor stated clearly on the BCTV news that "fel f >, chance to win, The problem is that -he is~ under investigation by the Na-— tional Counter Corruption Commission for some shady business practices, Shinawata is the richest man in Thailand, not quite in Bill Gates’ league, but catch- ing up. What got him into hot water with the anti-corruption people was that he “forgot” to declare his controlling interest in 17 companies. , The commission also wants to know how come his driver and house maid are holding the shares that should be in his name. Quite obviously this guy is operating on a different level than Canadian politicians who have had to resign over conflict of interest. ‘ What mostly concerns Thais wis that should. the: commission bar him from politics after he gets elected, the political va- cuum might trigger an econo- mic crisis. And by the way, if the Thai newspapers are as good as the two English-language papers, the Bangkok Post and The Na- tion, Thais are well served, in- deed, by their print media. What I've seen in the Nation and the Post would do any Ca- nadian and American paper proud, when it comes to rooting out and reporting on scandal. Beyer can be reached at: E-mail: hubert@coolcom.com; Tel (250) 381-6900; Web hitp:/lwww.hubertbeyer,com Hallsor if elected, he intends to try for some federal compensation for the people who trusted govern- ment regulations to give them their money’s worth. Halisor's departure from party policy is similar to that which prevented David Hull from running for the Liberal no- mination. The kind of individ- ual spirit I look for in a candi- date. When I want sheep, [1 visit a farm. I wonder, though, if Alliance candidates are aware of Day’s scientific beliefs, According to a CBC news report, during a speech several years ago to a select Alberta audience, Stockwell Day said the earth is only 6000 years old and man walked the earth with dino- saurs. . I commend Bruce Hallsor for his individual stand. I regret he chose to run for a leader whose thinking is likely to park him in opposition.