© AG Terrace Review — Wednesday, July 17, 1991 errace city council Cooper recently. City counci several items of business to attend to. ; At the July 8 meeting, about dozen people sat in the gallery, three of whom wanted make to presentations concerning the chambers is not a political forum, at least that’s the opinion expressed by Terrace alderman Bob 1 met Monday, July 8, with proposed Orenda pulp and paper mill south of Lakelse Lake. First came Rob Brown, who outlined several environmental concerns, criticized council for embracing the project without knowing what it was all about, and asked council to lobby Victoria and assure there would be a full and complete public review process. - The meeting began at three minutes later. Cooper listene 7:30 p.m. and Brown began speaking two or d to Brown for about five minutes ‘and then said he would leave if his presentation was much longer. At 7:47 p.m., Cooper told Brown: "We're not here to argue the pros and cons. If you want a political council chambers. forum this is not the place.” Brown continued, and at 7:48 p.m. Cooper left the table and walked out of This ploy isn’t new for Cooper. Ata council meeting on Aug. 10, 1987, he walked out of a council meeting, leaving council without a quorum to stop a vote on the Halliwell logging truck traffic issue. - Brown wound up his presentation at 7:50 p.m. and Bill Hayes then addressed council. His message was brief, about five minutes in all, Review Process to increase the time allowed for public input from 40 and what he wanted was for council to press the Major Project days to 80 days, In that way, people now on holidays or planning to leave soon would be back in town before the deadline. At 7:55 p.m., it was Bruce Hills turn. given... Certainly has given the appearance, track this proposal," he began. "In essence, the environmental process..." that they want to fast- to circumvent upholding ' - Council has never used the words "fast-track", alderman Sheridan fired back. Hill suggested that perhaps the he had not. Brown interrupted and said he mayor had. Sheridan said had and read a portion of a city press release which he claimed had the implication of fast- tracking. Both Sheridan and acting mayor Ruth Hallock were quick to fire back in unison, "I didn’t hear the fast-track." But Brown retumed, "I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to see what you're aiming for." With this, Sheridan walked out of the room, leaving council without "It seems that this council has BH WOW Love THs NEW UB! TS BACON: PACKED WA EXCTINENT . Are BENS \ Songs Aa i ak \ SN TSH (We rat i i “ope: WANTOG REPAIR CON 4 i Larner “ay CHO _ a quorum. Hallock banged her gavel twice and said, "The meeting is over." The meeting was 26 minutes old and it was over. VICTORIA — For those of you It is little wonder that reservations are being voiced about the Orenda project. A company official said Orenda has received assur- ances from the provincial government that the project will be "expedited" in the new. location, an assertion that no politician has come forward to challenge. City council swallowed tbe project whole without so much as a belch of critical thinking. There is some Oppo- sition to the project itself in the community, but if public misgivings about the approval process are shoved aside in the rush toward completion, Orenda could find itself short of friends here no matter what merits the plant may have. TARAS? J Denon ve_ ZANSTVUW Established May 1, 1985 The Terrace Review is published each Wednesday by Close-Up Business Services Ltd. Publisher: Betty Barton Editor: Michael Kelly we. Staff Reporters: Tod Strachan, Betty Barton National Advertising: . * Marjorie Twyford ~. Local Advertising: oe Jack Beck °° Offlce/Typesetting: * Carrle Olson Production Manager: Jim Hall rn Productlon: °° 6harles Costello, Gurbax Gill, Ranjit Nizar, George Mclean . Accounting: ' Mar] Twyford, Harminder K. Dosanjh “Art and Graphics: Marianne Brorup Weston Mark Twyford, President - Close Up Business Services Ltd. Latters to the editor will be considered tor publication only when signed. Second-class mail registration No. 6896. All matertal (including original art work} appear- Ing in tha Terrace Review la protected under Canadian copyright Registration No. 382775 and cannot legally be reproduced for any reason without permission of the publisher. Errors and omissions, Advertising Is accepied on the condition that In the avent of typographical error, that portion of the advertis- ing space occupied by the erroneous item will not be charged for, but the balance of the adver- tisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. Advertisers must assume responsibility for er- rora In any classified ad which Is supplied to tha Terrace Review In handwriiten lorm. In compliance with the B.C. Human Rights Act, no advertisement will be published which discriminates against a person due to ape, race, raligion, color, 86x, nationality, ancestry or place of origin. 4535 Grelg Avenue, Terrace, 8.6. V8G 1M7 Phone: 635-7840 Fax: 635-7269 One year subscriptions: in Canada $39.00 : Out of Canada $100.00 | Seniors In Terrace and District $230.00 Seniors out of Terrace and District $33.00 GST wilt be added to the above prices. ’ Blase include your telephone number. The editor reserves the right to expressed ate not necessarily condense and edit letters. Opinions those of the Terrace Review. following the build-up to the Social Credit Party leadership convention in Vancouver, where on Saturday yet another Socred Premier will be crowned, you may welcome some tips from the Pifer Primer to this affair. 1. The fate of the Western World does not hang in the bal- ance here. This is just another minor political convention of a party desperately secking, the right formula, and the right per- son, to enable them to cling to power despite their most recent track record. 2. Any talk of "unity" or "united" when referring to the state of the aforementioned party is totally specious and purely window dressing. 3, Most of the people you will see as you watch the "major media event" on TV are casily identifiable. The delegates will be the ones who look bored, haggard and fed up with the whole pro- cess, The candidates will look bored, haggard and fed up with the whole process. And the media representatives will look bored, haggard, fed up with the whole process, and better-fed than all of the others. 4, Friday night’s speeches from the five candidates will count a great deal towards the delegates’ decisions; OR Friday night’s speeches will mean damn-all towards the delegates’ decisions. Remember, at Whistler in 1986, the best speech was delivered by Kim Campbell (now Canada’s justice minister). And she fin- ished last of 12. 5. Always keep in mind that whoever wins on Saturday will The view from Victoria — by John Plfer likely be Premier for all of about 10 weeks. Then comes the elec- tion. (In the case of current Pre- mier, and candidate, Rita John- ston, who has been in the chair for about 15 weeks, it will be an entire half a year, should she win!). Many of you will have seen the BCTV report last week about the "extravagant" press conference held by Premier Rita Johnston at the posh Pan Pacific Hote! to announce her government’s law’n’order campaign. The item showed that Robson Square Media Centre, a few blocks away and owned by gov- ernment, was virtually empty that day, and could have housed the event. The implication was that it might have been cheaper than $17.50 per jog of orange juice, and $1.75 per cup of coffee, cic. Well, I hate to ruin a good story with facts, but... It would appear that the cost for the Pan Pacific room, juice, cof- fee and croissants was $920. According to figures I have obtained, and which I have no reason to doubt, that is nearly $400 cheaper than the same set- up would have cost at Robson Square ($1,300), and $280 less than the Hotel Vancouver ($1,200). Even though govern- ment-operated, charges are levied for use of the facilities at Robson Square, even it if is government using it. You also may not realize, dear readers, that the Pan Pacific is part of the Canada Place com- plex, which houses the Vancouver offices of the B.C. Cabinet, which was meeting that day, so it was not only cheaper, but much more convenient. Anyway, as far as this scribe is: concerned, what should have been at issue about that press conference were its timing — just a few days before the leadership convention — and Johnston’s involvement in it. As one of the candidates, she would have been wiser to have Jeft the announcements to the attorney-general and the solicitor- general, and simply stayed in the Cabinet meeting playing Premier. As it is, her participation in the _ faw’n’order PR shtick smacks of opportunism from someone trying to win the Socred title match, with all the assistance she can get from the establishment. Parting Thought: Another note on spending of taxpayers’ dollars. In response to an editor’s query about the cost of a mini-pamphlet called "B.C. Update" which the government spews out weekly, I came upon some figures which you may find interesting... or even appalling! The single-sheet, two-sided Update (on recycled paper) mere- ly summarizes the various press releases put out that week, at 4 cost of only a couple of hundred dollars per week, or less than $10,000 annually. It is sent to daily and weekly papers, constitu- ency offices and the like. But when it comes to B.C, News, that full-colour tabloid "news"paper you get every month or so that is chock full of govern- ment propaganda, er, news, the figures get much higher. Would you believe that last — Continued on page AS