Aé - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 24, 2002

Referendum half over

Ballots in now
top 500,000

NEARLY a quarter of trea-
ty referendum ballots dis-
tributed had been returned
as of last week.

Elections B.C. officials
said more than 500,000
ballots had been mailed
hack so far of the 2.1-mil-
lion distributed at the be-
ginning of April,

The deadline is 4:30

p.m. May 15 for ballots to -

arrive at Elections B.C. of-
fices to be counted, said
Jennifer Miller: of | Elec-
tions B.C, ,

“That’s actually to our
office -- nat postmarked,”
she said.

But she noted people
can also drop the ballots
off to any government
agent office by the same
deadline.

The counting of ballots
begins May 16, she said,
and the final results should
be released by July 3.

There’s been extensive
debate among groups op-
posed to the referendum on
principle as to whether re-
ferendum opponents should
return their ballots spailed,
with no votes, or not return
ther at all.

That could mean a sig-
nificant number of voters
are wailing until closer ‘to
the deadline to decide
what they’ll do.

Voting in-the the treaty
referendum will-not yet- be
finished before another
vote, of sorts, is underway.

‘An initiative ‘on chan-
ping B.C.’s electoral sys-
icm to one using propor-
tional representation will
begin May 13.

Proponent Adriane Carr,
the leader of the B.C.
Green Party, will have 90
days to gather signatures
of supporters.

Miller said the initia-
tive must collect signa-
tures of at least 10 per
cent of registered voters in
each of B.C.’s 79 electoral

U.S. bombing of our
soldiers angers mom

A LOCAL MOTHER with
a son in the military says
she’s alarmed by last
week’s incident in which
four Canadian soliders
were killed by a U.S. war-
plane in Afghanistan.

Rachel Almer says the
‘friendly fire’ incident
raises troubling questions
about the entire military
operation and Canada’s in-
volvement in it.

“It’s deplorable,” Almer
said. “These guys are tak-
ing the lives of not only
their own side but us.”

The four Canadian
troops were killed and

eight more were injured
when a U.S, F-16 dropped
a 500-pound bomb on
them. The Canadians were
on a live-fire training exer-
cise, but the pilot some-
how believed they were
the enemy,

Almer’s son, 24-year-
old Morgan Bute, has al-
ready served with the Ca-
nadian Armed Forces in
Kosovo and is now under-
going specialized training
in Ontario.

Almer fears he could
see action in Afghanistan.

“My sons and other
people’s sons are in line,”

presentation, the number

districts to succeed and
force the government to
change the voting system.

Under the existing first-
past-the-post system, the
candidate in each consti-
tuency with the most voles
wins the seal.

Under proportional re-

of seals each parly gels is
linked to the percentage of
the popular vote it gets.

In the 1996 election the
Liberals would-have for-
med the government rather
than the NDP under pro-
portional representation.
And in last year’s election
the size of the Liberal ma-
jority would have been
smaller, with the NDP,
Green Party and potential-
ly other smaller parties
getling more seats,

After the initiative
ends, Elections B.C. will
have only a brief respite
before Nov. 18 — the first
day recall petitions may
be launched to remove sit-
ting MLAs.

Rachel Almer

she said. “What is the
government going to do
about protecting its sold-
iers and their families?”

Canada is being used as
a puppet of the U.S., she
said. “The Canadians right
now are being led around
by the nose.”

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Proud to be a
Chamber member

Most Canadian communities have a
Chamber of Commerce and those who belong
lake great pride in their membership. Those
who do nat belong offen ask why do members
put stickers on their cars, certificates on their
walls and pins on their lapels. Why do mem-
bers advertise their involvement in the Chamber
for all to see.

The answer is because they are proud of
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key role in the community. Officially, a
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community and to work for sound legislation
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There are excellent networking opportunities
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