A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 26, 2005 ESTABLISHED. APRIL 27, 1988 _ PUBLISHER: ROD LINK TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 * FAX: (250) 638-8432 . WEB: www. terracestandard. com ; IF THE provincial g government’s northern MLAs plan by their senior ministers to provide yet more. subsidies to movie and television production ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. « V8G 5R2 EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard. com have not done so already, they must protest the ‘companies... ) ‘ After years of an economic decline in ‘which } - thousands of people have left this region, in which commercial and residential property values have dropped, in. which’ businesses have closed and in which food banks are a growth industry, it will | simply be too much for people here to watch the province fold like a cheap suit after threats from the movie and television industry to move on. _ -Here’s what’ s happening. The movie and TV ~ business in B.C, hit the $1.4 billion mark just a few years ago. That’s slipped to around a $1 billion now. and the entertainment business says ‘it could slip even more if the province does not _- at least match the 18 per cent tax credit plan on labour costs to be offered by Ontario and other - places. The industry here already benefits from an’ 11 per cent tax credit on labour costs. _ ‘A tax credit may sound relatively harmless but -what.it really means is that the entertainment busi- ness ends up paying less than it should. Because _ it then pays less, taxpayers (including ones from "this region) make up the difference to support the _ functioning of the provincial government. a . _a subsidy on the part of all other taxpayers, in‘ cluding the ones. from this region. And now: the entertainment business wants more and it looks ‘like the province will deliver. : 7 7 Well, we in the northwest would like more as well. But the northwest basically accepted, with- out protest, the provincial government’s plan to let the ‘marketplace dictate the future of Skeena Cellulose. We accepted the philosophical: prem- ise of the provincial Liberal government to stop subsidizing the company so that it should stand or fall on its own merits. _ There was no clarion call to arms for tax credits or any other kind of subsidy. That acceptance of the marketplace dictating the future has resulted in nearly four years of social and economic agony as Skeena Cellulose/New Skeena Forest Products twisted i in the wind. . ~ So if the northwest has been the location for an experiment in marketplace economics, why should it be different for the film and television business? That’s.the message the northern Liberal -MLAs should take to Premier Gordon Campbell and finance minister Colin Hansen when legisla- tion is introduced next month. Don’t be blinded by the bright lights of the big time. Don’t despair _if the volume of Hollywood starlets sashaying down Robson is reduced. | B.C. already offers many attractive attributes to. the entertainment business as it is over and above tax credits. More subsidies are not morally, ethi- cally or economically defensible. -PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING.MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Jeff Nagel NEWS/COMMUNITY: Jennifer Lang NEWS/SPORTS: Margaret Speirs FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping ~ CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Alanna Bentham, ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: - Bert Husband, Debbie Simons AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik ~ PRODUCTION: Susan Credgeur SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $57.94 (+$4.06 GST)=62.00 per year; Seniors $50.98 (+$3.57 GST)=54.55; Out of Province $65.17 (+$4.56 GST)=69.73 Outside of Canada (6 months) $156. 91(+10.98 GST)=167. 89 MEMBER OF W CNA teen __ fd Newsrartns BA c. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, 2002 2002 WINNER CCNA BETTER NEWSPAPERS COMPETITION CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION AND B. c. PRESS COUNCIL (www. bopresscounci.org) ; Serving the Terrace and Thornhill area. Published on Wednesday of each week at 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace,” _ British Columbia, V8G 5R2. Stories, photographs, illustrations, designs and typestyles in the Terrace Standard are the property of the copyright Be | holders, including Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd., its illustration repro services and advertising agencies. Reproduction in whole or in part, without written permission, is specifically prohibited Authorized as second-class mail pending the Post Office Department, for payment of postage in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for their time and talents 4 OCT. 29, 2003 FER 38,2004 JAN. 18,2005 FREEDOM. FREEDOM "1 SET A GOAL FoR THIS COUNTRY To MAKE THE WORLD MORE PEACEFUL BY SPREADING 1s NoT AMERICA'S GIET To THE Wort. FREEDOM 15 GoD GIFT TO EACH AND” MA WAR PECSIDENT 1 MAKE © DECISIONS HERE IN. THE OVAL OFFICE. IN FOREIGN POLICY “THE PROPAGANDISTS. HANE DONE A BETTER JOR OF DEPICTING AMERICA AS A HATEFUL PLACE, A PLACE WANTING To IMPOSE OUR FORM OF THOUGHT AND OUR RELIGION ON PEOPLE. 7 We'Re BEHIND WHEN IT Comes” To SELLING OUR OWN STORY: | “AND TELLING THE mP EVERY INDIVIDUAL MATTE ERS- ate. WITH WAR] PEOPLE THE 9-225 AY UFOS ON mM ac] TRUTH ABO ut aa aes ZANE] | A AAS MIND Fae AMERICA" (WW 52 7 i f AR , <~ my wre 4 AG , HERE ON EARTH! Minnesotans