A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 19, 1997 PERRACE STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 A Division of Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd. ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 * FAX: (250) 638-8432 EMAIL: standard@kermode.net Money talks IT’S OFTEN said money talks. When the deal to have Avenor swallow up Repap was first an- nounced in December, it screamed. Avenor shareholders who saw the value of their investments being depleted by Repap’s debtload fought the deal. Leading the charge were the institutional in- vestors. These are the mutual fund and pension fund organizations who control billions of do!- lars and command great influence as a result. The job of their managers is to earn big returns with the smaller investments of many ordinary Canadians. And that leads to the somewhat odious conclu- sion that the retirement investments of average northwesterners — those who will now suffer from Repap B.C.’s collapse —- was used by those fund managers as ammunition to force Repap B.C. out of the deal. Now it’s time to make that money yell back in protest. On March 26, the mutual and pension fund managers and other shareholders will vote on the _ revised Repap-Avenor merger. According to a Toronto Globe and Mail colum- nist, one of the most vocal fund companies that persuaded Avenor and Repap executives to amputate Repap B.C. was Investors Group. Northwesterners whose RRSP and other invest- ments are deposited with that organization might wish to make sure the company and the other ones who fought the original Avenor-Repap deal know the consequences of their actions. in fact, anyone who has pension fund or RRSP mutual fund investments should check where that money is invested. A call to the relevant fund manager outlining the situation in northwestern B.C. might be in or- der: And a-threat to:'take your money elsewhere - “after March 26 might provoke a cash-induced twinge of conscience that’ll benefit those of us living in the northwest. One for all HERE’S HOPING at least one attempt by the _ provincial government to cut spending works. And that’s in standardized building designs for ~ new schools, It’s been a mystery for some time as to why each and every new school has to be designed from the ground up with all of the asso- ‘ ciated costs. Witness last year’s announcement of $1 million — since pulled — to plan a re- placement for the sagging and aging Skeena Jun- ior Secondary School. That’s an incredible amount of money. It surely can’t take that much - to plan a new facility. But already there appear to be worries that one type of building in the south won’t work in the north. To be sure there might be structural dif- ferences to take into account snowloads and the like. Yet a standard concept is possible. Consider the annex to the school district office building. It began life years ago as a school. Back then it was a common design adopted all over the pro- . vince. What worked then can work again. ee ee PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Rick Passmore PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS Jeff Nagel » NEWS SPORTS: Dave Taylor COMMUNITY: Cris Leykauf - OFFICE MANAGER: Kathleen Quigley ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Collier, Janet Viveiros TELEMARKETER: Tracey Tomas ADVERTISING ASSISTANT: Emma Law, Kelly Jean , TYPESETTING: Sylvana Broman DARKROOM: Susan Credgeur CIRCULATION MANAGER: Karen Brunette : SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: ‘ $53.50 per year; Seniors $48.15; Out of Province $60.99 " Outs(de of Canada (6 months) $149.80 CALL PRICES INCLUDE GST) MEMBER OF B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, CANADIAN COMMUNITY REWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION AND PrWiFAPRS Atep@uratian Stach Golam ats ped Foden B.C, FRESS COUNCIL * Serving the Tarrace and Thornhill area, Published on Wednesday of each week by Cariboo Press (1969) + — Ltd. at 4240 Clinton Street, Terrace, British Columbia, V8G 5A2, Storias, photographs, illustrations, designs and typestyles in the Terrace Standard are the property of the copyright holders, Including Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd., ite illustration repre services and adverlising agencies. Reproduction In whee or inpari, without written permission, is specifically prohibited. Authorized as second-class mall pending the Post Offica Department, fof payment of postage in cash. Speclal thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for thelr time and tatents ° MY COD!.L DREAMT THEY HAD CLONED MORGENTALER.... Breastfeeding fight a VICTORIA — Ignoriag the old saw of fools rushing in where wise men dare not tread, I would like to go on record that one of the silliest cases in- velving the B.C. Human Rights Council has got to be the six-year battle waged by a woman who wasn’t allowed to breastfced her baby at a public government forum, Let me also go on record in support of breastfecding. It’s good for babies and should be accepted by sociely as a normal, healthy and wonderful thing. I have no problem with Michelle Poirier having wanted to breastfeed her baby at the aforementioned public forum. If it’s all right with her it’s all right with me. But I do wonder about the Priorities of a person who wages a six-year war over something as trivial as this, a war that cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars, occupied the time of government law- yers and even a B.C, Supreme Court judge. Til-equipped as I am by na- ture to breastfeed, If I could, I would certainly not launch a prolonged and costly battle for the right to do so in a place ’ where some people might! have reservations about it. It is government policy to ac- FROM THE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER commiodate breastfeeding mothers at the workplace. Nothing wrong with that. The municipal affairs ministry, where Poirier worked as an in- formation officer, just drew the line at letting -her breastfeed ~ during a public forum. I would not have taken that position. But sometimes people make the wrong call or are simply of a different opinion. The logical thing for Poirier would have been to just let it zo, What about principle, you might ask. I’m all in favour of fighting for important princi- ples, but a law forcing govern- ment to accommodate public breastfeeding is, I submit, does not warrant a prolonged fight. Years ago, when women first rose to fight discrimination based on gender, I wrote a story about a single woman with a considerable income who was denied a mortgage by the bank because she might get pregnant in the future. The bank went as far as to suggest that she would have no prob- lem getting a mortgage if she had a hysterectomy. Now that was an affront to ugly male- human rights, an manifestation of a dominated society. There remain many human rights issues to be addressed, ‘even, in Canada, Fortunately, human rights violations in this country do not involve assas- sination of political opponents at the hands of death squads, — stalc‘sanctioned’’ torture’* “of” 2ue prisoners, children working in’ ” sweat shops, or young girls pressed into prostitution by their families. When | started out in the newspaper business, women reporters were routinely paid less than their male colleagues, In fact, the press gallery, where I hang my hat, wouldn’t allow women in its ranks until the early 70s. That has changed, at least in my rackel, but equal pay for equal work is not yet an ac- waste cepted practice in every place of business, nor is giving women fair and equal access to jobs and promotions. Women choosing to stay at home and raise families in- stead of following a career are still given the short stick by society. Single mothers are not given the resources they need to raise their children with the dignity our society can afford and owes them. To rank someone’s com- plaint about not having been able to breastfeed her child ata ministry-sponsored public forum among the serious is- sucs that need resolving is ludicrous at best. The Human Rights Council is about to decide whether breastfeeding in public is a hu- dn right I can hardly wait for “the outcome. As far as I am concerned, women should be able to breastfeed their babies wherever they want, but J have a big problem with wasting the time of the Human Rights Council and Jaige amounts of public money on an issue such as this when other, far more important problems need ta be dealt with. Beyer can be reached at Tel: 920-9300; Fax: 385-6785; E- Mail: hubert@cooleam.com No cents makes no sense LAST SATURDAY while the president of the National Ac- tion Committee for the status of Women celebrated Interna- tional Women’s Day giving a pep talk at the R.E.M. Lee, one Terrace teenager blushed with the sting of inequality. The 17-year-old had gone for a take-out lunch with only a five dollar bill. Her lunch cost $5.06, What to do? The eatery keops a dish of pennies beside the cash regis- ter. A sign invites customers to help themselves to a penny if they’re short for GST, The teenager dipped six pen- nies from the dish and handed . them to the cashier. Immediately an older staff member bustled over and roundly berated the teenager. “You're not supposed to take out more than one penny. You're supposed to add pen- nics.’” The situation could Come To A Rosie! we've, WATERSHED! SiG! KNEW THIS WAS CoM ing !! have been worse only if RCMP had been called and the young woman arrested for fraud, Cheeks fiery with embarrass- ment, the teenager slunk out of the take-out, Had she been older, ac- companied by an adult, or wearing a wedding band chances are no one would have fussed about the extra pennies. WE CAN'T PUT OFF THIS DECISION |, ANY LONGER -. To ask the policy of other take-outs, I phoned three. The first manager said, “T’d eat it”’ The second said, “I'd take pemnies out of the dish.’ The third ‘‘would ask the customer to give us six cents on her next visit.” This customer may be slow to retum after being made to feel like two cents. By tuming a six cent shortage into a public spec- tacle, this employee neutral- ized untold dollars worth of TV, radio and newspaper ad- vertising. For studies show a happy customer tells three people; an unhappy customer tells eleven people. This teenager’s demeaning experience was energetically discussed in her place of employment Saturday aftemoon. Everyone en- couraged her to confront the waitress and protest her ex- WE MUST TAKE THE NORTH VAL To MUSH LAKE OR THE SOUTH VALLEY TO THE HIGHWAY !! treme behaviour, For regardless of age or at- lire, every customer deserves courteous service. And every employee represents the com- pany’s altitude toward clientele. Teenagers complain they’re Shadowed by clerks fearful they'll shoplift, ignored by check-out clerks, and generally treated by adults in a way grownups wouldn't tolerate. Or return to patronize. Perhaps the chamber of com- merce could benefit from invit- ing a few tecnagers lo relate. their unsatisfactory cxpericn- ces as shoppers and junior citizens in this town. Setting aside one day a year as International Women’s Day is great for publicity. But equality will oaly come when every woman learns to speak up for herself cach and every day. LEY |. a) | ANPTHEYLL DO iT withouT. PROFESSION al COUNSELLING: