A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, Jul 23, 2003 TERRAC E q STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. *« V8G 5R2 - JELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 « FAX: (250) 638-8432 WEB: www.terracestandard.com ‘EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard.com The big O THE OLYMPICS are coming. And like a train that can’t be stopped, it’s time to jump on or get off the tracks. This month’s announcement that Vancouver will host the 2010 Winter Olympics came as a somewhat bittersweet victory for some British Columbians beyond Hope. - Many northerners doubt the Olympics will bring them much, except a diversion of more money, effort and attention from the hinterland - — whoops, the Heartland — to the urban south. ~ Those who secretly wished the games would go to Austria or Korea can be forgiven. The hype both pro and con is, like everything in the Olympic arena, out of proportion to mortal reality. Although built up to be a kick-start to the pro- vince’s lagging economy, the Olympics are not as big a factor as suggested by the collective hyper- ventilating over whether Vancouver would get the bid. The rosiest projections suggest $10 billion in extra economic activity. Spread out over years that’s not actually that much in an economy of around $140 billion. Already the provincial government is injecting an extra $2 billion per year back into the econ- omy — through the proyince’s dramatic tax cuts — to little effect so far in prodding the economy. back to life or attracting new investment. What the Olympics will do, to some extent, is distract attention from the meat and potatoes bu- siness of good, accountable governance and the provision of the services people need. ~The Games will shine the-global spotlight on Vancouver-Whistler. And it’s difficult to see how either city needs the plug. Already fixer-upper. houses start at $500,000 in Vancouver. One re-: ‘sort home in Whistler was listed for sale at $13 million — before the Games had been won. No matter how successful we in the sticks are at getting our turn at the table — and we should: push hard for the Kermode bear as a symbol and’ any other crumbs we can get — the money, atten- tion, investment and boost will be inordinately concentrated in what is already the richest, most populous part of B.C. Meanwhile northern B.C. remains mired in what looks like terminal rot. Already B.C. is a province of haves and have ‘hots. A prosperous south is virtually immune to - the unemployment and depopulation ravaging the | north. The province desperately needs a strategy to begin to draw the money, people and talent that now overflows in Vancouver out to the regions. And we in the north ought to bang southern heads every moment of the march to 2010 until: we get one. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link — ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Jeff Nagel NEWS /SPORTS Sarah A. Zimmerman 2002 WINNER NEWS/COMMUNITY: Jennifer Lang CCNA BETTER FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping & Carol McKay NEWSPAPERS CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Terri Gordon COMPETITION ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Bert Husband & Denise Young TELEMARKETER: C.J. Bailey COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $57.94 (+$4.06 GST)=62.00 per year; Seniors $50.98 (+$3.87 GST)=54,55; Out of Province $65.17 (4+$4.56 GST)=69.73 * Outside of Canada (6 months) $156.91(+10.98 GST)=167.89 MEMBER OF a "B.C, AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION K ~ CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION fae COINLAL comer tremens AND mpeeoti triad B.C, PRESS COUNCIL (www.bepresscouncil.org) “ene Serving tha Terrace and Thomhill area. Published en Wednesday of each week at 4210 Clinton Street, Tarrate, British Cotumbla, V8G 5R2. "Stories, photographs, Ifustrations, dasigns and typestylas in the Tertace Standard are the property of he re holders, including Cartboo Press (1969) Ltd,, its illustration repro services and advertising Pope in whole or in part, without written permission, is specifically prohibited. Authorized as second-class mail panding tha Post Office Department, for payment of postage in cash. - - Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondenis ; for thelr time and talents HOw LONG AM | GONNA HAFTA WAIT FoR A THAT 6020 TO PUTA RING ON MY FINGER? Ca ie Fat ees rf we OA Ney, FOR THAT 60Z0 TO PUT A RING ON MY FINGER? /S 7 GAY WEDDINGS BECOME BIG THE LEGALIZATION OF SAME SEX MARRIAGES PRESENTS A NEW COMPLICATION IN SAME SEX RELATIONSHIFS Province should not sell B.C. Rail VICTORIA - “An American bid for B.C. Rail would keep the company's head office in B.C. and save more jobs than putting it in the hands of Ca- nadian operators, confidential government briefing notes ob- tained by The Vancouver Sun indicate.” Thus reported the Vancou- ver Sun last weekend regard- ing the Liberal government's attempts to put B.C. Rail on the auction block. If the impli- cations in the opening para- graph don’t sound all that alarming, it’s because while it mentions the American bid would “save more jobs” than its two Canadian competitors, it omits to say how many jobs would be eliminated. Here's the alarming picture: The three companies inter- ested in buying B.C. Rail are CN Rail, CP Rail and US- based OmniTRAX partnership with Burlington Northern Santa Fe. According the confidential internal B.C. Rail briefing do- cuments obtained by ‘the Van-~ couver Sun, a private takeover’ of the crown corporation would result in estimated job losses of between 758 and 1,232 union and non-union positions. The total work force is about 1,700. OmniTRAX would cut the fewest jobs of the three, namely about 758 or half the B.C. Rail work force. A CP ta- keover would cut 1,115 jobs Time with MY favourite vacations have always been to visit family, don blue jeans and T-shirt or whatever garb suited the day’s task, and chat while sorting saskatoons, picking raspberries or shelling peas. Quiet industry encourages thoughtful sharing of mun- dane happenings, reminis- cences, regrets, good times, and funny incidents. Even fa- mily members who live in ci- ties retain much of the steady, slow-paced lifestyle we took with us from the Farm. After several days of prairie sun- shine, listening to coyotes at dawn, owls at midnight, and poplar leaves rustling within inches of my pillow. I feel re- connected. This summer, though, I’m apprehensive about going to my sister’s farm. Several weeks ago she attended a lun- cheon with Queen Eliza- beth’s youngest son, Prince Edward, when he visited Lloydminister. She paid $40 each for two of the 450 tick- ets that went on sale, and 7. MACUIN s Ba ing HUB ERT BEYER and CN 1,232 jobs. Needless to say, the unions at B.C. Rail are up in arms. Come to think of it, so am I. Bob Sharpe, chairman of the Council of Trade Unions on B.C. Rail, called on the gov- ernment last weekend to can- cel its plans to sell the railway company. Choosing between the three bidders, he said, “is like deci- ding between the electric ‘chair; ‘the' gas ehgmber and the“ firing squad.” ~>'""* “Workers at B,C. Rail say it’s time the Liberal govern- ment woke up and cancelled this disastrous privatization before it’s too late;” Sharpé said. “Unless they’re crazy the government should obviously choose none of the above,” he added. “B.C. Rail is a profitable company with the lowest operating ratio in the business that serves northern communi- ties and resource companies. Why would you sell that to an eastern or US-based railway company with no loyalty to British Columbia that would cut most of the jobs, reduce service and increase freight rates?” Sharpe asked. He said losing about half of the 1,700 employees, which is the best-case scenario, would still destroy B.C. Rail and its ability to serve resource com- munities and companies. BC Rail is Canada's third- largest railway, with 2,315 route kilometres and 740 kilo- metres of industrial, yard and track sidings. In public hands since 1918, the service owns 125 locomotives and has an- nual revenues of close to $300 million. The railway has assets of nearly $1 billion and moves about $10 billion worth of B.C. products annually. Sharpe said the provincial government should now ser- ously look .at an innovative - ‘eéntract settlement’ ‘offer ‘the " ‘unions tabled in late-June with B.C. Rail that would keep the ‘railroad publicly-owned, re- store passenger rail service, improve freight service and provide B.C, Rail with over $150 million to invest in the railway over three years. The collective agreement settlement proposal includes a three-year collective agree- ment with no wage increases and no bonus payments, with savings going to the restoration of passenger rail ‘service. There would be no layoffs under the unions’ proposal. Have Gordon Campbell, the premier and his first henchman, Finance Minister Gary Collins even looked at the union pro- posal? To me it sounds like a serious proposition from serious people interested in the future of the company for which they work, Where are the so-called representatives of the people who sent to Victoria to. serve them, not be subservient to a premier bent on selling every- thing that’s not nailed down, It’s time that someone in this monstrous Liberal caucus has the courage to say, “enough is enough.” The communities served by B.C. Rail are the same ones that have already been disastr- ously affected by economic setbacks, Unlike the high rollers in Vancouver, the people living in British Columbia’s central and “northern ‘regions, didn’t “get much"in’the way of a tax re- fund. They cannot and must not be subjected to another econo- mic blow. : I hope the premier will come to his senses and an- nounce at the earliest- possible moment that B.C. Rail i is not for sale. Beyer can be reached at: E-mail; hubert@cooicom.com. Or phone him at (250) 381-6900 family a vacation favourite THROUGH BIFOCALS: CLAUDETTE SANDECKI took along her husband. Each ticket came with a protocol to guide attendees, Doors to the dining venue were to open at 11 am. Everyone was to be seated before Prince Edward ar- tived, Likewise, no one was to leave before he exited the building, even if they had to wear Depends to comply. I’m worried how this brush - with high society may have warped her humble self. Will meals now consist more of pomp and polish than coun- try cooking? Will we be ex- pected to drape laps with star- ched linen instead of tissue? One of the delights of fa- mily visits is the return to food like what mom served us daily. Except for one bro- ther accustomed to foreign dishes, we favour Mom's style of cooking — saskatoon pie, fresh corn on the cob, leaf lettuce wrung into bite sized chunks stirred in a dressing of cream, sugar and white vinegar. A bale of let- tuce eaten that way wouldn't approach the calories lurking in any salad topped by a com- mercial dressing, The flavour is deliciously distinct. As with any older group, we have menu limitations dictated by infirmities. The diabetics drink water heated in the microwave instead of coffee, Dessert is fresh fruit, not apple pie smothered in whipped cream. Either before or after the meal, depending upon our medical needs, we count out our pills, some to combat gout, some to control AVERAGE YUPPIE?! a thyroid deficiency, some to ease arthritis pain. In the evenings we swap generational stories, study fa- mily photo albums, or com- pare the diagnostic astuteness of our G.P.s. Other evenings we gather around the piano, as many musical instruments and musicians as we can as- semble, and hasten bedtime playing old time jigs and reels dad always requested. Then one by one, like Snowbirds breaking forma- tion, we totter off to bed, leav- ing the diehards to pack fid- dles, guitars and accordions in their cases. Two special op- portunities of family get-toge- thers are the chance to applaud the good health of the older generation, to savour the antics of the younger ones, and point out how they resem- ble their parents. No doubt my sister while lunching with Prince Edward remarked upon his likeness to King George VI and Prince Charles. a SHOULD'VE : ng wD Be | S J ' dit i ERS: CARER pee B) GEER ? HANES a 8 : ; SNUSE? al is fom vem Me ae (lh WY the _ e ¥ A“ a ‘er 1G aa asi Gore = “gf Oi . ey ipo s.r. BUT Not For Yours) ACE