Passenger rail: killitnow, revive it later If the passenger trains quit running through Terrace this week, would anyone care two years from now? re That is probably the question the federal government is asking itself about the continued existence of VIA Rail’s Skeena run and . many of the other passenger rail services in the country that sur- vived this week’s hatcheting. It would be more appropriate for them to be asking, If fast, comfortable, daily train service were instituted on all the major rail sections in the country, how much =: of the passenger market could VIA Rail capture and how would the return on investment stand? a The Northwest breathed a collective sigh of relief when the Prince Rupert-to-Edmonton train service somehow — apparently through a technicality in the Minister of Transport’s mandate — was allowed to keep running while passenger train schedules throughout Canada were being junked. But our route’s continued survival is certainly still in question, and there is hardly any ‘doubt that the Tories will exterminate it as soon as they have the statutory opportunity to do so. Travelling this region by train could be a major tourism draw if the service was more frequent, more modern and more oriented toward travellers. With " passenger rail being treated like a poor and distant relative by the people who hold the purse strings, however, no tour operator with a trace of brains would build a business around the service. The government’s approach to VIA, which amounts to management by neglect, has set the service up for failure. Despite all this, during the summer it is difficult to get a seat during the summer on any of the three slow, rather run-down trains per week that run through Terrace. Passengers are discouraged at every turn, particularly in the absurd scheduling that effectively requires three days to go from here to Vancouver, but even in the face of that demand is still high. We all know that at some point not too far in the future en- vironmental concerns and fuel efficiency will completely. dominate every aspect of transportation. The truly tragic aspect of this situation is that the rail service being dismantled now will be the transportation method of choice within 10 years because it is unequalled in terms of fuel consumption (and consequently hydrocarbon emissions) per passenger, comfort and safety. The cost of restarting VIA, or some equivalent of it, will be stagger- ing if it sits dormant for that long. We are, incredibly, being asked by this government to believe that after mismanagement and neglect by successive administra- tions there is something wrong with the overall concept of passenger rail travel itself. That line is being proven false in every industrialized nation in the world — except Canada. - neal ae VRS EERE Second-class mail ragistration No. 6896. All material appearing in the Terrace Review is protected under Canadian copyright Registra- tion No. 362775 and cannot jagally be repro- duced for any reason without permiasion of the publisher. Errore and omissions. Advertising is accepted on the condition thal in the event of typographical error, that portion of the acvertia- Ing apace occupled by the erroneous item will not be charged for, but the balance of ihe adver- tlsemant will be pald for at the applicable rate. Advertisers must assime responsibility tor er- rors in any classified ad which is supplied to the Terrace Review in haridwritten form. In compliance with tha B.C. Human Righis Act, no advertisement will be published which diacriminalas against a person due to age, race, raligion, color, 3¢x, nationality, ancestry or place af origin. Established May 1, 1985 The Terrace Review Is published each Wednesday by Close-Up Business Services Ltd. Publisher: Mark Twytord Editor: . - .Michael Kelly Staff Reporters: Tod Strachan, Betty Barton Advertising Manager: Mar] Twyford Typesetting: Carrie Olson Production Manager: Jim Hall Production: Charles Costelto, Gurbax Gili, Linda Mercer, Ranjit Nizar Office: Carrle Olson Accounting: Marj Twyford, Harminder K. Dosanjh 4535 Greig Avenue, Terrace, B.C. V8G 1M7 Phone: 635-7840 Fax: 635-7269 One year subscriptions: in Canada $24.00 Out of Canada $50.00 Seniors in Tarrace and Diatrict $12.00 Seniors out of Terrace and District $15.00 hohe.num VICTORIA — Tonight’s the night. ; After five tedious weeks of - ‘will he, won’t he?’’, Premier Bill Vander Zalm will tell the people this eve whether or not he is going to resign for the sake of his party and the prov- ince. | have a copy of a letter, dated Dec. 29, 1989, written by the premier of British Colum- bia, which apparently was sent MME out to about 50 family friends during the festive season. It provides some insight into any agonizing which Mr. Vander Zalm may have under- gone for the last five weeks as he contemplated his future. He believes that io resign will mean “‘that the media has won, as have the dissidents’’, and warns that future Socred leaders could end up in the same mess he is wading through now. _ Unless you have been living in a cave since Dec. 13, when the Social Credit Party lost its sixth straight by-election, you will know that tonight is Deci- sion Day for the beleaguered premier. Every known theory or op- tion one could imagine — and even‘a few one couldn’t! — has been trotted out by politicians, pundits, strategists and strangers, trying to guess cor- rectly what Wild Bill will do. He will step down. He will not step down. He will calla snap election. He will call a -teadership contest and be one of the candidates. He never. in-. tended to quil, but has done all The view from — | Victoria — _.by John Pifer thy this just to keep his opponents silent. He will banish from the party the four defectors from caucus. He will berate Grace McCarthy for undermining his ‘leadership. He will weep openly and beg forgiveness for his unwise pontifications on abor- tion, moral issues and his ten- dency to preach. He will do all of the above. He will do none of the above. - Surely, no egomaniac could imagine a better situation than being the focus of undivided public attention for five full weeks, in which everything else grinds to a halt awaiting The Word? Anyway, to the letter. It is in response to Christmas greetings from old friends, and thanks them for their good advice. But the premier is quick to point out (on government stationery, of course) that ‘‘the problem is always more complex than what it appears to be on the surface.” Then come some trademark Vander Zalm non-sentences which may be interpreted as a determination to stay on, re- gardless. “While it may be tempting to take an easier route out, and forget about fighting the media, the dissidents within caucus or party, and added to this the NDP which is seldom heard from bul is granted the platform too often. “The difficulty, of course, is that giving in means that the be, is faced with a similar situation. It will be the beginn- ing of an idle or some other. such government which changes constantly because of similar dissidents. “This province is in too good of shape (sic), things are going too well, and we are get- ting too much accomplished to throw it all-in without, at least, thinking it through very, very carefully, which I intend to do over the next number of weeks,’’ writes Vander Zalm. So, there you have it — the private musings of a man most of his own party and caucus want to see gone, so they can get on with business, and away from the Bill and Lillian Show, which has become B.C.’s own Dallas/ Dynasty. So, will he resign? I still think he will, but chances are this enigmatic man probably won't decide either way until five minutes before he goes before the cameras. Perhaps the best evidence that the premier had not made up his mind even late last week was the fact that $30,000 or so has been spent on pro-Zalm newspaper ads, labelled Truth or Consequences, which have been appearing around the province. Whichever rich fat cat friend of Bill Vander Zalm is footing the bill, it is unlikely that they would do so without Bill’s knowledge (and encourage- media has won, as have the dis- ment?). And he certainly ‘ sidents, and from then on whomever (sic) the leader will continued on page A7 5: Sei ore ST, ee ene Sr MERE Te : TRE ee, ne ee ae TE TE ts Z gt Sie eae eT ek tae PERE