A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 8, 1993

TERRACE

STANDARD

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

ADDRESS: 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, B.C. * V8G 158
TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 « FAX: (604) 638-8432
MODEM: 638-7247

Orenda’s gift
ORENDA FOREST Products stands to be the
recipient of an unintended Christmas present.
And in the best traditions of gifts, it may be one
that keeps on giving.

The present takes the form of a study on the ef-
fects of the company’s proposed pulp and paper
mill on area natives. It contains the usual stuff
about job creation and how to best prepare and
train natives for the potential ‘benefits that could
come from the $500 million project.

But there is a gem in this study. Here’s how it
works. The company needs at least $400 million
from outside investors to get this project off the
ground, Natives. will get substantial cash pay-
ments from governments as part of land claims

settlements, Put the two together and it sounds .

like a decent combination that could work.

This could solve Orenda’s problem and give
natives a stake in a value added industry. From
the outside it appears as if the Orenda project is
spinning its wheels in the attempt to find financ-
ing. Some kind of investment would give the
project a much needed boost. Orenda officials
say they like the idea as long as any native in-

vestment does not unduly affect its overall stake —

in the project.

Natives could also benefit. This is an extremely
high value added project, the kind that goes
beyond the traditional approach to northwest
resource development. It should fit well into to

the overall native objectives of employment,

control and wise use of resources,

But the big benefactor could very well be the
provincial government. It does have a goal of
tegional economic development. It does want to
turn the province away from being.a mere pro-

ducer of raw resources to a place where as much .

land. chaimginiw yew a alsit Jo ad Wve seitemnoltni eit

It will also get the provincial government off :
‘the hook by not having to either grant or deny -
Orenda’s request for a $100 million loan guaran- ,

tee. That request is slowly, and apparently pain-
fully, working its way through the new employ-
ment and investment ministry.

But the biggest gift of all to the provincial
government would be to have a nice, neat and
feel.good package to display to voters in time for
the next election.

Task force, ho

ABOUT THE last thing. anybody "weds to vlague

their life is a government task force. Yet that’s
exactly what is steaming into view concerning
the pine mushroom industry.

‘Take the mystique of the rum-smuggling
Prohibition days, combine it with some sharp
business acumen, add an international market
and you’ve come close to describing the situa-
tion up here. It runs on cash, is completely un-
traceable and ultimately, very lucrative to those
who participate. _

This is the kind of black hole that makes
governments drool.— more regulations, more

paperwork, more strangulation of market forces. |

_ There are some good reasons for government in-
tervention, not the least of which is damage to

an

thesareas in which pine mushrooms thrive. -
= itriguing is the suggestion that picking
iovides an-income to people who might other-

- wise might-become dependent upon the state for

support. There must be a balance between the)
need to. preserve a renewable resource and un-

toward government interference.

oo “ PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link |  &
Ca ADVERTISING MANAGER: Mike L. Hamm | gate
' PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur Soave
NEWS COMMUNITY: Jeff Nagel + NEWS SPORTS: Malcolm Baxter
OFFICE MANAGER: Rose Fisber
“COMPOSING: Pam Odell
DARKROOM: Susan Credgeur

_ ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Collier, Janet Viveiros

CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Charlene Matthews

: “Serving the’ Tertace arta. Published on Wednesday of each weak by Cariboo Press F 965) Ltd, al 4647

Lazelle Ave... Terrace, British Columbia

“Stories, phatogtaphs, lustiations, designs and typestyles in the Terrace Standard arethe property of the

copyright holder, inchding Carboo Presa (1968) Udi, ita Mtustrallon tepre eaves and advertising

agence:
: Reproduction In hole of hn pat wihrout writen parmlsston, i specticaly pichibited.
: “Auborized a6 pacond ass mail pending the Posi Office Department, for fart of pg eh

ue “Special th ks to al our contributors and comespondents |

for their time and talents

value as possible is added. It does want to settle |

hae tM OKAY. AND YOU? ri.

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| LOW “ARE YOU COPING WITH THE
H(GH U NEMPLOYMENT,, THE DECLINE IN
THE ECONOMY... AND RISING COST OF
LIVING .. THE INFLATION...
THE ALARMING
DEFICIT. THE. 7

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- Islands. Add to that. the best
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Real issues, real people

TLELL — Gasoline costs 67
cents a Litre, a four-litre jug of
milk is more than $6, com-
pared with $3.75 in the south,
and a decent meal carries a
price tag you find in Van-
couver’s four-star restaurants.

Welcome to the Queen Char- | -

lotte Islands. Beautiful,
remote, home to peopic who
prefer a rugged lifestyle to the
worldly and refined existence
of southern British Columbia,
the Queen Charlottes might as
well be another country.

Anyone with even the

: slightest affinity for nature
‘cannot help ‘but be over-

whelmed ‘by the beauty of the
eelhiad fis

‘wo
a nd: great hiking ‘and canoein
" opportunities, and you’ve got
"an outdoors enthusiast’s para-
dise,.

. series. of. articles,

a 16:
directly at the detector.

I spent three days last week

in the Queen Charlottes to lake :
a look:at a number of forestry -

opetations, and I’li deal. with
what ‘I found in a separate.
In this
column, I’m going -to talk

about what life is like in this -

most western part of Canada.
The lifeblood of the islands

is forestry. Without it the .

FROM THE CAPITAL.

HUBERT BEYER

. The largest employer, by far, .
...18.. MacMillan : Bloedel :.svith,

Queen Charlottes would be an
economic disaster area.

about ; 200” direct” employees

-and another 200° under con-

’. employment,

tract. «= Including. _ indirect .

Bloedel supports about 1,000

people on the islands. That’s

about 20 per cent of the total

‘population.
- The day I arrived at Tlell, a

~ small community 40km -north
-' of Queen Charlotte City, the

chamber of | commerce’s
newly-formed forestry com-
mittee held its inaugural 2 meet-

ing.

- ‘cubic metres. of, timber fo-sup-

MacMillan -

Tt soon became clear that the
people of the Queen Char-
loties, not unlike those in other
resource-based communities,
have a sort of love-hate rela-

. tionship: with the company .on
' whom they depend so much.

‘Much of the discussion
revolved around the lack of
secondary manufacturing.
Even. though their livelihood
depends on logging, many is-
landers don't like to see the
wholesale shipment of logs to
the Lower Mainland.

They would like to see at
least 20 per cent of the total
annual cut of 2.2 million cubic -
metres stay on the islands for
manufacturing: :/Th int
at that “it tale 000

port a full. time’ job in* the
remanufacturing sector, com-
pared w:th about 15,000 cubic
metres in the primary sector.

But one of the. major ob-

_ stacles to the creation of a vi-

able secondary manufacturing
sector is the remoteness of the
islands. Bringing secondary
wood products to market i iS CX-
pensive,

Like all British Columbians
in the province’s vast’ hinter-

land, the people in the Queen
Charlottes feel neglected by
Victoria. Aside from brief
whistle stops during election

. campaigns, premiers ale a.rare

species in these parts. :

Ken Treusdall, old-timer,
small businessman, and cham-
ber. director, says the islands.
don’t get their fair share from
Victoria. :

“We ship our wealth down
south and it’s all swallowed up
by Vancouver, They keep get-
ting the parks and the sport
facilities, and out forests are-
being cut down to provide for
Vancouver’ $ amenitics,”” he
says.

" vt ge Ma thews, manager of.

i chamiber’s business” in~"*
‘Fastin céntre, says she’s —
worried that the Queen Char-

lottes are the next target of the a

environmentalists.

We may soon be faced with --
a strong environmental move-.
ment up here, We’re already, .
getting a lot of inquires from
Europeans. They're buying
land here left right and centre.
They. don’t like our logging,.
and they don’t care whether we |:
starve seven months of the -
year,”” she says.

= Bnd

SMOKE ALARMS with their

_ Silent vigilance should give ~

‘you peace of mind to sleep
soundly. It’s not their job to

panic you to instant alertness at .

random intervals.

Yet two weeks ago that’s

what our kitchen smoke detec-

_ tor did at'4 am. two mornings |

in a row, when. the ouldoor ~-

_.- temperature dropped to-12.de- _.
grees C, ;

Nothing I tried-.stifled the

beeps. for long. I fanned the -

_ detector with a towel, opened .
wthe. bedroom decor to improve

air circulation, even plugged in
electric fan - aimed

A thorough check of the
house’ tums up no hint. of

smoke or natural gas. Still the ©

beeping persisted at 20 minute
intervals,- Or oftener. I thought
the alarm-had gone berserk.

wanted to’ yank both six-

THROUGH BIFOCALS.
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

. My mood shifted from:panic to --
' Clint. Eastwood. violence.’ I .

shooters and blast it from the 2

ceiling. .

Late last spring, we had a o

I'v SAYS THEY ARE. T
GROUSE PROPPIWGS)

similar occurence. Then, we
figured smoke from the nieigh-~

bour’s early morning wood/ire :

was filtering in through an
open window. We plugged the
cold air vents with National
Geographics and the beeping
quit.

But not this time
breakfast, I recounted “my
tribulations to the Terrace fire
depariment. Their
Vacuum dust from the alarm.

After -

advice?’ ”

AMAZING How GROUSE.
COULP MAKE SOMETHING-
THAT LOOKS SOQ MUCH}
LIKE CIGARETTE. BuTs!/

Now this alarm is a mere 11
months old. Yet a similar
alarm in our former house be-
haved perfectly for nine years
without yacuuniing.

Our premises have two
“smoke ‘detectors wired on the

"same circuit, one in the kitch- -

en, ‘the other in-my adjoining
_ Shop. Each day after work, the
' door from the ‘kitchen leading
into the unheated shop.. is
“closed. Gradually the ‘shop
temperature drops sometimes
. to as low as 10 degrees C by
morning or in cold weather,
The electrician said moisture
could sel off a smoke alarm.
- Well, cold causes moisture.
Thé possible relationship was
clear. Once the shop tempera-
ture dropped enough, both the
shop alarm and ‘the kitchen
alarm were triggered,
I depend on the alarm. I dis-
_ connect at the breaker box only
when I fry bacon, And. while
“it’s turned off, I-leave the
‘breaker box wide open to
remind me when I’m through

cooking to reactivate
alarm. _

cure, We disconnected «the
shop alarm until spring, replac-
ing it with a battery-powered
detector. - -

The ~ first battery-powered
model we tried beeped like a
lost gosling just sitting on the =~
table. Possibly the battery that
came. with the détector was
out-dated. We forgot. a. dying
battery scts off an intermittent .
sbrick. [n addition, the instruc-
tions cautioned, ‘‘Do not in-
stall near fluorescent light-
ing.’’ The shop ceiling has a
grid of fluorescent lighting:

We exchanged the Asian-
assembled alarm for a Dicon
First. Response, ionization
detector Model SA-~4,

That wes a week ago. So far,
so good. The battery-powered
shop detector:has been mum,
‘its safety light winking every
- 60 seconds, At the same time,
‘the hard-wired kitchen alarm
-hasn’t peeped, .

the

We opted for the simplest os