4 Terrace Review — Wednesday, January 3, 1990

As the new year rlurches out of the blocks, we’ve noted: -
some disturbing long term trends on the part. of our: —

government, particularly the federal version, and one of
our hopes for the coming year is that these trends might
be arrested, reversed, or at the very least explained in
some comprehensible manner.
~ We note the following:
e@ During a session of the seemingly endless land claims
negotiations between the federal government and the
Nisga’a last month, the fact came out.that while the
feds, the Nisga’a and commercial fishermen wrangle

over who gets what quota of salmon the Alaskans are |

out there in the offshore grounds harvesting a hefty 60
percent of the returning Nass River fish before they ever
reach the mouth of the river. The Nass stocks were — by
a negotiating oversight, Fisheries says — left out of the
Pacific Salmon Treaty.

@ Two Canadian fishing vessels last year were arrested
in waters that were within Canadian territory according
to their maps, but were not according to the American
Coast Guard maps. The expense in terms of legal costs
and lost catch for two fishermen is enormous, but the
federal government is mute on their case to date.
@ Supertanker traffic from Alaska to the U.S. west
coast continues to present a clear danger to the B.C.
coastline; there has been no progress to date on an agree-
ment to establish liabilities in the event of a spill or to
minimize the danger.

@ The Bank of Canada interest rate policy, supposedly
in place to control inflation, is holding the Canadian
dollar at a high value relative to the U.S. currency. The
effect on export industries, whose products cost more
and are less competitive in the U.S., is —- to understate it
— not healthy. .

@ Despite drastic changes in the Ministry of Forests
operations in B.C. to increase royalties levied on the sale
of crown timber, the government is still collecting a 15
percent export tax on all lumber sold to U.S. markets.

In reviewing these matters (and we could list more),
one could come away with the distinct impression that
the Canadian government is being subjected to some
sort of invisible political pressure to prop up American
economic interests through the instrument of Canadian
government policy.

Fishing, sawmilling and exporting put a lot of roofs
over a lot of heads in this community. In some senses we
have the right to wonder what.useful purpose is served
by having a federal government.

[ie set

~ YOULLBE HAPPY 10
KNOW THAT WERE
REDUCING THE 3% GST.

ii ao

e

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| significant highlights (or low-

The view from
Victoria —

by John Pifer

VICTORIA — That was quite
a year, that was; wasn’t it?

When it comes to politics in
British Columbia, looking back
on any year is a fascinating ex-
ercise, but for 1989, it is even
more so.

In a year which began with
Premier Bill Vander Zalm
repeatedly ducking questions
about whether or not he would
lead the Social Credit Party in-
to another general election, it is
not surprising for it to end the

_ same way.

Socreds, New Democrats,
British Columbians and quite a
few Canadians are nervously
awaiting Vander Zalm’s ad-
dress to the people, now slated |
for Wednesday, Jan. 17.

Some of his own caucus,
Cabinet and party members
have been praying fervently
that he will ‘‘do the right
thing’’ on that date, and an-

. nounce the process of his

resignation and replacement.

And there are others trying
to urge him to stay. They
maintain that Vander Zalm is a
victim of a vicious media,
rather than of his own short-
comings as a leader.

As is so often the case in
B.C.’s polarized politics, the
infighting within the Socreds’
senior ranks (rightly or wrong-
ly) captured the interest and the
headlines more often than the
government’s operation and |
programs and their success or
failure.

It got so. bad, that at times

the MLA’s appeared tobe .
stabbing | one another, and ‘their
premier, in the chest, rather‘.

than in the back! =|
Here are what T rate as ihe:

s

lights, depending upon your
point of view) in 1989 in B.C.
politics, in order of importance

‘ or future impact:

@ The defection of four |

_ Socred MLA’s from the caucus

on October 4, two weeks after
the party’s fifth straight by-
election defeat in less than 18
months was the most dramatic
and telling political event of the
year. And yes, the leadership
of Vander Zalm was their main
reason for resigning the whip.
After two years of behind-the-
scenes disenchantment, some of
the persistent and bitter angst
was finally out in the open.

@ The four by-election defeats .

for the Socreds in 1989 (they
lost two in 1988) began with
Vancouver/Point Grey and
Nanaimo in March, worsened
considerably with a shellacking
in the allegedly ‘‘safe’’ Cariboo
seat in September, and cli-

_ maxed in mid-December with

the loss of Oak Bay/Gordon
Head.

That conservative Victoria-
area bastion elected NDPer
Elizabeth Cull by a few hun-
dred votes over the Socreds’
best candidate in a by-election
in decades — Oak Bay Mayor
Susan Brice. But not even she -
could reverse the anti-Zalm —
determination held by a great
majority of British Colum-
bians.

(And it is that unelectability
of Vander Zalm which leads

-me to believe he will quit,

period. The man has become
too much of a liability to his

“own party, and he finally has
accepted it. The “‘powers that ~

be’’ in B.C. want Bud Smith or

2 Claude Richmond or someone’. «
‘ ‘Hike that to contest the April’ ‘"""’

a

199] election, anyone ¢ but
BYZ).
@ The new Cabinet sworn in
on Nov.. 1 included at least
four Socred MLa’s who had
‘been openly concerned, even
critical, about Vander Zaim. It
is a strong Cabinet, leaving on-
ly one or two first-rate politi-
cians on the outside looking in
— and it could easily become a
strong team around a new
leader. Methinks that is part of
an overall strategy, and that
the premier alone did not set
up this Cabinet. He had help
from chief advisor Jerry
Lampert and the inner Cabinet
members of the planning and
priorities committee.
@ The New Democrats under
Mike Harcourt continued in
1989 to add to their gains made
in 1988 during the most tumuli-
tuous trials and tribulations of
Vander Zalm. With the public
spotlight on the enigmatic and
unpredictable man from Fan-
tasy.Gardens, Harcourt has
worked quietly and steadily at
presenting a moderate,
politically centrist image, The
NDP have produced discussion
_ papers and proposed legislation
which are credible: and. not
frightening, on all of the major
issues in B.C,

They have even partially ad-'
dressed the number-one issue
— reaching a compromise be-
tween environmental concerns
and job-preserving develop-
ment, especially in the forests.
The NDP would prefer to see
Vander Zalm stay, as it would
make an election victory all but
a cettainty.

e The balanced Budget and