A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 30, 1997

TERRACE

STANDARD.

4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, 8.C, VAG 198 (604) 638-7283 Fax (604) 638-8492
ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

A Divislon of Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd.
ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2
TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 * FAX: (250) 638-8432
EMAIL: standard@kermode.net

Costly cure

THE OLD saying that an ounce of prevention is.
worth a pound of cure should be used by the-

‘people who contro] the province’s health care
: budgets. . .
There’s no more of a perfect example than the
-province’s medical
Speedy jet aircraft carrying highly trained medi-
cal personnel can be at small airports within a
few hours, transporting sick and injured patients
down south to large hospitals.

It’s a very expensive service and not one used
lightly — except there’s a growing danger that it
may be used too often as the financial chokehold
on smaller hospitals continues.

Mills Memorial Hospital, for instance, has a

_sick baby nursery and trained nurses at the ready.

There are sufficient specialists on hand to treat ”
: sick babies, But because of the hospital’s frayed

and shaky budget, it may be put into the position
: of restricling the number of newborns placed un-

‘der care in its sick baby nursery. The result?

i

1

air evacuation service. °

‘Newborns may instead be flown down south at -
‘ great expense to the health care system, not to’
‘mention the cost in money and in emotional :
‘turmoil to the family when it travels south to be’

, with the newborn.

' Perhaps if the people in charge of health care,

- budgets looked at the overall cost of transporting
: Sick babies against the cost of maintaining a sick
‘baby nursery here, they’d find the former out-
: weighs the latter.

And if that’s the case, then surely the will and

‘ the authority exists to move one chunk of money
‘ from one budget to another to provide Mills with
: what it needs.

' Mills is being continually hammered by the
provincial government to be creative. with its
: budget, to find new and better ways to control its
‘ expenditures. While that’s fair enough, the'same
‘should apply to the overall decisions relating to
: health care expenses.

*

Chintzy |

: **WELCOME TO B.C. That’ll be $3, please.”’
: Qn the grand scale it’s a tiny thing but the im-
‘position this year of a charge on the part of the
‘provincial government for provincial road and
‘parks maps is just too much.
’ With the woods and fishing industries in crisis,
‘revenue from tourism is becoming all so impor-
‘tant. Last year tourists spent $7 billion in this
: province and that’s calculated to rise slightly this
year.
: Provincial officials say printing the maps each
year cost approximately $1 million and that was
_a ptice tag they could no longer afford to absorb.
“Yet weigh $7 billion in revenues against a $1
million investment and it just doesn’t add up.
The NDP likes to say it isn’t running a Ralph
Klein-type province. Well, Mr. Klein began
charging for Alberta road maps in the early
1990s, What’s next?

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B.C, PRESS COUNCIL

Serving the Terrace and Thornhill area, Published on Wednesday of each week by Cariboo Press (1969)
Lid, at 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace, Britlsh Columbia, VBG SR2.

Stories, photographs, Hlustrations, designs and typastyles In the Terraca Standard ere the proporty of the
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Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents
for their time and talents

Pe

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Aye iy pith _

Yy

“QUIT BITCHING, BOY’.
THERE, . GO RESTOCK:..

are ZSON

>»
Hw Uy fie, a

Taylor-made northern mess

VICTORIA — ‘'The resi-
dents Taylor need a
champion,”’ said Brian Kieran,
aa old friend, former colleague
and consullant in his new life,

I trust Brian’s- political in-
slincts. Asa columnist for the
Province, he had an- unerring
instinct For the’ localion of a
wayward politician's or a
sleazy businessman’s. jugular.
If Brian. thinks I.can serve as a
champion for. a worthwhile
cause, ’m game. ;

The cause, ‘it tums. out, in-
valves the residents of Taylor,
a small community south of
For St. John, and Novagas
Clearinghouse Lid., called by
Brian the ‘Darth Vader of Al-

the plant would literally be in
the backyard. of some | of
Taylor’s residents,

So, what’s wrong with that?
After all, this is Premier Glen
Clark's job-creation province,
You would think a fot of new
jobs would be worth having a
litte plant in your backyard.
Think again. :

First, the plant would create
only half a dozen. jobs, proba-
bly ‘non-union, Let’s face it,

_, otrick |. .is

FROM. THE CAPITAL
HUBERT BEYER

this is an Alberla company.
Second, the extracted natural
gas liquids will be pipelined
right back to Alberta for value-
added processing. That little
1 cuphemistically
referred to as ‘‘fractionation’’..

The way Brian puts it,
Nova’s plans represent a fron-
tal assault on the premier’s
job-crealion plan.

“This is jobs year for
Premier Glen Clark, jobs that
help stabilize resource depen-
dent communities, jobs that
have a.high value-added com-
ponent, preferably union jobs,
jobs thal are created in an en-
virommentally sensitive con-
text,’’ says Brian.

Tm glad Brian mentioned the

environment, because here’s
the kicker: When completed,
Nova’s plant, the one employ-
ing only six people, would
pump 95,000 tonnes a year of
noxious substances into the air.

Aside from that, a flaring
stack would generate enough
heat to melt snow within a 30-
metre radius.

Where the hell is the B.C.
goverment in all this?
Nowhere. So far, the residents
of Taylor are on their own. En-
vironment minister Cathy
McGregor was not available
for comment on the weekend.

And McGregor should in-
volve herself in this issue. So
should the premier, ] know his
lime is taken up by waging the

fish war, and that’s fine,.but in.,

the meantime he shouldn't ig-
nore a sleazy effort by some
cheap Alberta outfit to create
six lousy jobs at the expense of
a whole B.C. community.
There’s another aspect to the
issue; Solex Gas Liquids,
which is also located in Taylor,
powered = by electricity,
employing 18 union workers,
making decent wages, is cur-
rently in the midst of a provin-
cial = government-sanctioned,

$35 million expansion that will
give it the capacity to process

all the natural gas flowing on
the Westcoast Transmission
line.

In other words, Solex is ac-
tively promoting the develop-
ment of the petrochemical in-
dustry, while Nova would sub-
tract from the economy of Brit-
ish Columbia.

If Nova is allowed to go
ahead with its operation, the
northeast region of British
Columbia, not the economical-
ly most blessed part of the pro-

vince, would suffer a net job .

loss,

So, here’s the deal: I will get :

in touch with the environment
minister as soon as she shows
her face in Victoria again. ]
will explain to her what the

folks of Taylor are. up against, ©;
and Til tefl her that Taylor ~

needs another champion bes-
ides me.

If McGregor performs, she'll
get my kudos and, undoubted-
ly, those of the people of
Taylor. If she doesn’t, she’ll
get brickbats from both of us.

And Brian owes me a beer;
or two; or three. Hey, who’s
counting?

Beyer can be reached at:

Tel; (250) 920-9300; Fax: °

(250) 385-6783;
Rubert@coolcom.com

E-mail:

Artsy salute to this student —

I’M NOT surprised a visiting
high school student’s spur of
the momeat suggestion solved
a logo problem ‘that had
plagued the regional district’s
12 elected officials for a ycar.
Young folk have fresh per-
speclives, | Unfettered — by
doubls, what if's, and ‘we've
always done things this way”’,
they boldly: invade uncharted
territory looking for answers.
Their resulls amaze.-~
For proof, take note of the
TV 5:30 p.m. weather forecast.
Background: weather picturcs
composed by area students. as
young as five show imagina-
tion and artistic skill —= al-

though occasionally it appears

an. adull-has -added_ a- swirly

. cloud,” a horizon. -line,* or a

semicircle where a paddle dips,
The search: for a: logo ‘was

“tendered to local graphic art-

ists. Still, after a year and
$2300, none had dreained up
an illustration that fulfilled the

YOURE. PUTTING
ouT Prissy willows

foo EARLY! !

THROUGH BIFOC.
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

regional district’s combined
fantasy of a symbol to grace
stationery, vehicles, and the
front office window,

The notion of involving
school students: was kicked
around, but never followed
through. Had Coast Mountain
school ‘district’s students been
asked, one of the 7,000 might
have produced a worthy pic-
togram guided only by a few

criteria: an uncluttered design,
keying on Kitimat-Stikine’s
five electoral districts.

Divided into first, second,
and third prizes, the $2,300
would have amply rewarded
school students for their art-
istic endeavours; the regional
district would have a one-of-a-
kind logo; and local youth
would have at interest in local
government.

As a bonus, involved stu-
dents would have made the ac-
quaintance of the regional dis-
trict, I'd guess the average stu-
dent, regardless of age, is un-
aware of whal a regional dis-
trict is or does, Even taxpayers
seldom hear of the board un-
less they're raising taxes,
forgiving legitimate debts, or
fining an environmentalist for
copping recyclables from the
landfiil before they're
bulldozed.

It was a visiting Hazelton
student who made the winning

WINDolW S/Ld

suggestion.
tions boosted his quick-witted
solution? Is he a graduate of
the native design course taught
in Hazelton schools? Or does
he have an inborn aptitude for
conceptualizing artistic pos-
sibilities?

Most amazing -—— given the
hoops and formalities govern-
ment mouthly regional district
meetings — the student was
permitted to address the
elected members. It happened
the meeting took place on stu-
dent appreciation day, an occa-
sion unheralded by fanfare or
hoopla.

Two students attended.

No doubt both found the
meeting slow moving, lacking
a plot, and even missing the
humour of a good commercial
now and then,

But one of them suggested an
alteration that resulted in a

board-approved logo design. °

Free,

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