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STANDARD

Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 1, 1995

TERRACE

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

ADDRESS: 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, B.C.  VBG 188
TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 + FAX: (604) 638-8432
_MODEM: (604) 638-7247

Plain wrong

PREMIER MIKE Harcourt has been telling

_ people for more than a week how -his govern-

_ ment openly and honestly made the decision to

‘ ice Alcan’s Kemano Completion Project. Noth-
ing could be further from the truth.

The government says it made the decision
based on the findings of the B.C. Utilities Com-
mission report stemming from a labourious and
extensive public hearing into the project. So far
so good.

But the government had the report for more
than a month before releasing it. And it released
the report the very same morning Mr. Harcourt
read out the Kemano Completion obituary.

In this fashion the public did not have the op-
portunity to examine and ponder the report to be
better prepared for the government’s decision.
Instead, Mr. Harcourt and his government made
up their minds in secret in full possession of the
teport and with plenty of time to concoct a
suitable public relations offensive.

A public that didn’t have the opportunity to ex- |

amine the utilities commission report and form
its own opinions is more open to clever and
sophisticated manipulation,

That’s why, for instance, Mr. Harcourt spent
more time insisting the federal government
should compensate Alcan for the Kemano pro-
ject’s loss than he did in explaining the utilities
commission report and his government’s deci-
sion. He apparently hoped the public would
switch from wondering about the reasons for
killing the project to support yet another provin-
cial vs. federal fight over tax money. |
And that’s also why the Premier travelled to
Kitimat last week to face a hostile crowd. His ad-
visors may very well have. been banking on a
fairly ugly reception, thus leaving the impression

with the rest of the province he was dealing with _

a bunch of northern yahoos. Make a decision,
take the hit, look like a guy who can face the
music and then move on to other business.

Public relations manipulations aside, it’s simply
wrong for the government to keep such impor-
tant reports to itself for so long. If that’s the kind
of thing this government does, what can the
north look forward to when land claims agree-
ments in principle are signed? Will we be subject
to more secrecy and more manipulation?

‘How about it?.

NOW THAT council has swung its cost cutting
axe — and is apparently on the hunt for more
victims — it’s puzzling why something else
hasn’t been immediately and decisively ad-
dressed, We’re referring to the salaries of the
mayor and council.

Just last November council voted itself a three
per cent increase retroactive to Jan. 1, 1994. The
mayor now receives $20,256 of which one-third
is for expenses and councillors receive $8,830 of
which one-third is tax deductible.

Council likes to wait until after it settles union
contracts before considering its own wages. In
the spirit of what’s happening now, council
should forego an increase for 1995 — and do it

right away.

o) ccna
Gon'5 PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link wees

ADVERTISING MANAGER: Mike L. Hamm petite
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur
NEWS COMMUNITY: Jeff Nagel « NEWS SPORTS: Malcolm Baxter
OFFICE MANAGER: Rose Fisher, Terry Miller
DARKROOM: Susan Credgeur
ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS:
Sam Collier, Janet Viveiros, Tracey Tomas

CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Karen Brunette

MEMBEROF 5,C. PRESS COUNCIL
Serving the Tefraca and Thornhill area. Published on Wednesday of each week by Cariboo Press (1969)
“Ud. at 4647 Lazella Ava., Terrace, British Colum bla.
Stories, photographs, Illustrations; designs and tynestyles in the Terrace Standard are the property of the

Copyright holders, including Cariboo Prass (1969) Ltd., ils iiiustation repro services and adveriising .

encies. : *
Renraduction in whole of In part, without written permission, Is specifically prohibited.
Authorized as second-class mall pending the Pos! Office Departmen, for payment af postage in cash.

Special thanks to all our contributars and correspondente
“os - for theif time and talents

cag eny

ban
or yn bs

ON

WONG

REMEMBER THE TIME.
| ASMALLTIN CUP
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Drug words too predictable

VICTORIA ~— In the 32 years
I've spent on the fringes of
politics, reporting and com-

menting on the our society’s _

highs and lows, I've never
ceased to be amazed by the
predictability with which the
so-called right and the left
respond to issues of the day.
The left, represented in Can-
ada by the New Democrats and
many Liberals is invariably
more open to change, while the
right remains firmly
entrenched in the slatus quo.
The opposition’s knee-jerk
reaction to the task force report
on drug-related deaths by Brit-

‘ish Columbia’s chief coroner

Vince Cain was as predictable
as it was asinine,

One of Cain's recommenda-
tions was the decriminalization
of drug use, Cain points out
that ‘society has . been ‘spec-

| lacularly unsuccessful in fight-

ing drug use through incarcera-

- tion and punishment, That

solulion, he says, ‘‘is founded
on negatives; resentment,
hostility and despair,”’

Instead, Cain recommends
‘that drug users are ‘‘dealt with
through a medical model, not a
criminal model, even to the
point where I’m suggesting the
possibility of providing heroin
to seriousl y-addicted people,”

’

FROM THE CAPITAL |
HUBERT BEYER

Cain also recommends that a
commission inquire into the
merits of legalizing the posses-
sion of some of the so-called
soit drugs, such as marijuana.

If Cain shows compassion
for drug addicts, he has none
for dealers, to whom he refers
as “the merchants of misery”
and ‘‘distributora: of death.’
The justice system, he says,
Should focus more on dealers,
mete out mandatory life
sentences with no parole for
large-volume dealers,
Recovered dmg money, he
says, Should be used for pre-
vention and treatment | pro-
grams.

And how did our politicians
respond to Cain’s suggestion

that drug use be decriminal-
ized? Attommey General Colin
Gabelmann said the recom-
mendation bears consideration.
And since the federal govern-
ment would have to take the
lead on any such move, he
would place it on the agenda
for the next meeting of at-
tomeys general. In other
words, he js open-minded,

No such Juck with the leaders
of British Columbia’s two op-
position parties. Reformer Jack
Weisgerber said it was
“appalling that the govern-
ment would add currency to
the idea by putting it on the
agenda.” .

Liberal Leader Gordon
Campbell also rejected the idea
of decriminalization, saying
most people would see it as
legalizing an evil.

That’s what I mean by being
firmly entrenched inthe slatus
quo. Fearing public reaction to
an unpopular move, these two
august gentlemen wrap them-
Selves in the mantle of
righteousness and reject out of
hand an alternative to society’s
ulter failure to win the war on
drugs. —

It should be clear to anyone
that not only aren’t we winning
the war on drugs, we’re losing
it, And unless we come up

with a different way of dealing
with the problem, it will get
wore,

And when someone dares to:

suggest a different way, our
esteemed Neanderthal
polilicians heap abuse on him.
Cain’s recommendation to
decriminalize drug use is all
the more significant, consider-
ing his background. He's had a
distinguished career in the
RCMP and speaks, therefore,
from experience. And when
did you last hear a police of-
ficer say something like this?
*“We have to disabuse our-
selves of the notion that jail 1s
the answer for users. Neither
short
sentences, nor uniformily of
sentencing mean anything to
the user. We have to establish
alternatives to imprisonment.
"We can no longer pour vast
amounis of money into jails
and prisons, all to no effect,

_ When an available remedy. is,

present to restrain, correct, and
treat in the original instance.”’

Cain’s report is one of the .

most progressive and. far-
sighted documents I have read

in a long time, and rather than -
rejecting it out of hand, as.
Campbell and Weisgerber have .
done, we'd be well-advised ta -

heed it.

His cartoons are skookum

FOR ALMOST seven years
Tve wondered about Doug Ur-
quhart who draws the PAWS
cartoon below this column.
Then, just before Christmas,
CBC Momingside interviewed
Doug Urquhart about his book,
“Skookum’s North’, a ten-
year collection of PAWS pub-
lished in Whitehorse by Lone
Moose Publishing.

Cartooning is Doug Ur-
quhart’s hobby. PAWS comes
from his experience. He was
born in Toronto but has always
worked in the north. In the
1960s he worked in northem

THROUGH BIFOCALS
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

Quebec and Ontario, assisting
a geologist. Later he moved to
Allin, B.C. and lived there 20
years, three years as a bushrat.
He worked as a Northwest Ter-
titories wildlife biologist and,
for 15 years, drove dog teams,
He and his wife took several
years off to travel around the
world. When he settled down,
he decided to try a comic strip.
He had been drawing’ the
editorial] cartoon for the Yukon
News but wanted more panels |

so he could tell a story,

It took a year of trial and er-
tor to develop PAWS, The
strip began in 1983 while he
was working as wildlife con-
sultant, drafting management
plans for big game species,
Today the strip appcars in 20
hewspapers, mostly in the
north. ,

A map on the back cover of
his book charts the newspapers
carrying his comic strip, They
range from Alaska to Lynn
Lake, Manitoba, the northern

most town with a newspaper.
Lynn Johnston, creator of For
Better or For Worse, lived in
Lynn Luke for years but the
newspaper never published her
comic, Today she’s syndicated
in over 400 newspapers,

Urquhart and his wife Judith,
substitute teacher, have a 12-
year-old-son, and a 10-year-
old-daughter who won bronze
in local figure skating competi-
tion the Saturday I phoned,

For the past eight years he’s
been secretary-dreasurer of the
Porcupine Cariboo Manage-
ment Board, a body represent-
ing 18 native communities sct
up to protect the cariboo herd
Canada shares with Alaska.

Urquhart’s cartooning comes
in handy on the job, While on
Capitol Hill lobbying Wash-
ington on behalf of ihe Yukon
cariboo, each day he would
select a politician’s quote and
draw iwo cartoons -——~ one
representing the political side
and another giving the natives’
point of view. His cartoons
snagged the attention of

WERE WE Go J
IN OUR ob x +

Moose WONTING|

Magsé. HUNTING-1

bureaucrats ahead of faxes and
computer printouts,

Urquhart’s cartoons depict —
from, -
everyday hinterland life. “I re-

universal __ situations

member the time...’’ stories

from readers often inspire fu-
He can be.
reached at 61-131h Avenue,
Whiteharse Y.T., Y1A 4K6 or

ture cartoons.

by phone at 403-633-2493,
Since his interview - with
Peter Gzowski in December,

CBC Radio is considering hay-
ing him create a comic strip for
radio, if such a hybrid is pos- —
sible. Urquhart’s not new to.

radio writing; in the carly

1970s he wrote a play for CBC -
Radio in Vancouver but the’ -

play was never produced,
Misty River Books has sold

out its fizst order of

“*Skookum’s North’? and E'm

now wailing for the next ship-

ment lo arrive.
Reading is always more en-

joyable when you know some- :’
thing about the author. Now, as . °.
I read PAWS, I can picture.
Doug Urquhart. ee

IN OUR uxt o

CARIBOU HUNTING! /

CAR; BOY HUNTING-<

sentences, long |