Page 4, The Herald, Tuesday, October 3, 1978

TERRACE/KITIMAT

daily herald

General Ofiice - 635-6357 Published by
Circulation - 435-6357 Sterling Publishers
PUBLISHER .- Laurie Mailelt
GEN. MANAGER - Knox Coupland
EDITOR - Greg Middleton
CIRCULATION - TERRACE - Andy Wightman 635-6357
KITIMAT - Pat Zelinskl 632-2747
KITIMAT OFFICE - 632-2747
Published every weekday at 3212 Kalum Street,
Terrace, B.C, A member of Varified Circulation.
Authorizedas second class mail. Registration number
1201. Postage pald in cash, return postage guaranteed.

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any advertisement produced and-or any editorial or
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Reproduction is not permitted without the written
permission of the Publisher.

| Mayor Thom

makes play

Kitimat’s Mayor George Thom is undoubtedly
taking some well deserved bows today. He did
pull off a nice piece of slight of hand at the
regional district meeting held in Terrace
Saturday.

Thom apparently became somewhat peeved
with the political games being played with the
proposed health unit. Kitimat, with its large
industrial taxpayers, bears the majority of the

costs of joint projects. The Terrace directors -

became embroiled in confusion over whether or
not the provincial government would pay taxes
on the new facility.

The Terrace directors should perhaps have
proposed a motion accepting the traditional cost
sharing structure, or even the majority of ihe
cost in order to get the benefits, with the proviso
that any tax monies received would go toward
reducing the cost to all the areas. !f the Kitimat
mayor is really convinced there will be taxes or a
grant in lieu of taxes, he would have accepted
that.

And surely the issue of whether or not the
provincial government would be contributing
could be ascertained with some simple inquiries.

’ With the situation the way it is now, Thom is
taking bows for scooping a health unit out of the
obviously most central iocation and bringing it fo
his voters, Mayor Dave Maroney, on the other
hand must be wondering how the Terrace voters
are going to take this.

Tendegs.are fo be called in about a month. If
there isgdissentian about the location or last
minute changes, the province is bound to get
quite justifiably nervous.

The provincial government, must be
somewhat baffled by the fack cf concensus in the
regional district. Its usual reaction in cases
where there is a lack of unanimity, a divided
lobby, is to do nothing. They wil! probably opt to
save their money, keep it in the bank until the
dust settles.

The Herald welcomes its readers com-
ments. All letters to the editor of general
public interest will be printed. We do,
‘however, retain the right to refuse to print
_letters on grounds of possible libel or bad
taste. We may also edit letters for style and
length. Atl letters fo be considered for
publication must be signed. We ask that
letters be typed and double spaced.

A change

| must say it is a great privilege to have the
opportunity to repeat a greai deal of my sub-
mission to Ottawa in the fall of i948.

Then it was very clear that the Canadian
Government and the provinces must change
direction on their economic policies and em.
ployment strategy, or face massive deficits and
increasing unemployment. This was espicially
frue among the young people coming out of our
schools with questionable training and
capabilities to meet the challenges of the real
world, after being fed ~ the story book
myths of the fiction writers who have discarded
ail practical knowledge and experience in
various fields. ,

Now, 10 years later, we find ourselves with no
change of economic policy and employment
strategy by either our national government or
any of the provincial governments. Ali follawed
the line of least resistance; moving from crisis to
crisis withour any real change of direction, no
matter what political party happened to be in
power. They all claimed that an up-turn in the
economy, and better times, were just around the
corner. The kindest thing to be said of govern-
ment leadership during this time is that they
were terribly naive.

Now we see a national trade deficit ap-
proaching 12 billion dollars; which means, a loss
of wages of over 5 billion dollars, a loss of 450,000
jobs, and unemployment of over 8 percent. This
is a National tragedy! f

We should all consider the plight of the
graduates leaving our schools and universities,
where 29 percent will not finda job at the present
time. We invest more in education per capita

‘T don’t know why people want to watch all this simulated violence on TV —

oN
CERN
eh

-

all they have to do is go out in the streets and see the real thing.”

EDITOR'S JOURNAL

BY GREG MIDDLETON

Saturday was a nice, bright, sunny day in
Terrace, perhaps the jast one, or so the doom-
sayers predict, we might see for a while. Just to
establish that newspaper editors do so get days
off, | decided on a drive out into the country.

The Sunday drive has traditionally been the
recreation for the family, complete with barking
dog and picnic lunch. ‘ve usually tried to get out
Saturday. There’s less chance of being hit by a
harried driver who‘s just been hit in the back of

the head by an ice cream cone. é

On this Saturday | was planning to make the

trip over-to Prince Rupert. They say that coastal

city: 18d sight to behold when the loggers and
tisnermen descend on it for a Saturday night.
.For a number of reasons, too complicated and
yet trivial to explain, | ended up going out of
town the other way.

When | saw the sign that indicated | was on the
road to the dump, | knew | was headed in the
right direction.

I’ve never been able to understand why, but
local governments aftways seem to pick the most
scenic area of the country for sanitary tand fill
projects. Maybe they figure that more people
will admire the country side that way.

The road out toward Stewart and up into the
Nass is gravel but amagingly gaod gravel road.
Certainly there are potholes that engulf the odd
wheel and give you a bone-jarring jolt, but whole
cars don't disappear.

The winding river valley is colorful this time of
year with the deciduous trees changing color
here and there among the evergreens.

On the road, | met some hikers who had been

foraging for mushrooms. They had bags,
literally bags, of things that could hardly be
called delectable morsels because they were
huge. The two men and the woman explained to
me that the fungi they were collecting were pine
mushrooms and quite tasty.

1 would be very interested to meet anyone who
forages for mushrooms and could show me the
ones to sample and the ones to avoid.

The hikers warned me to be careful wandering
around by myself in the woods and advised me to
whistle or sing if 1 was going to putter about
alone on foot. With my luck | would run into a
bear that had taken a music appreciation course
and be in real trouble. | opted for staying inside
the vehicle until | could pick up a bell,

The river that winds up that valiey was too
tempting though. | was out of the truck and down
by the water eyeing the riffles and back eddies,
convinced that there was trout or. salmon lying
there. —

Further up the road, next to the Kitsumkalum
Lake, | paused to wonder if there would be fish
there and berate myself for not leaving my
underwear at home and bringing my fishing
tackle instead.

And a few miles further up the road there is the
littte community of Rosswood. A fellow who was
changing the tire on his car, while his wife en-
tertained the kids, explained fo me that these
weren‘t homesteads but more of a bedroom
community of loggers and their families who
grew a few vegetables, kept animals and worked
around their land when there wasn’t work in the
bush.

Now | could be wrong, but | was sure that |
continued to follow the road that led to Stewart
until 0 finally found myself back in Terrace
without retracing a step. It could be | read a sign
bass ackwards or possibly | am meant to stay
here. In any case, it was nice to get out for a
drive without returning the same way, if anly a
little confusing.

COMMENT BY CYRIL SHELFORD
in economic policies

than any nation on earth and get tess out of it
than any industrialized nation. Our best brains
have to leave Canada to find employment op-
portunities.

Our imports have gone up from 20 percent of
our needs in the early 1970's to over 40 percent in
1978. We had a trade surplus of over | billion
dollars in 1974. Today we have a deficit of over 12
billion dollars, All economic forecasts indicate
the best we can expect by 3985 will be a 20 billion
dollar trade deficit.

Why has this disastrous situation developed?
Mainly, because of the lack of Jeadership by
government in failing to point out clearly to the
people of the nation the economic facts of life,
and misleading the people into thinking an
ecanomic turn-about was just around the corner,
when in fact, it could not, and wiil not, happen
unless we make if happen.Our major aownfall
has been our lack of funding for product
development which would bring a new product
on the world market before anyone else. In
Canada we spend less than .04 percent of our
gross national product on product develpoment,
or 1.5 million doltars in all of Canada; as com-
pared to 2 percent in West Germany and Japan,
and |.5 percent in the U.S. They also assist
companies in bringing new products to the
markets, and there the success rate is high. Few
of our new products ever see ihe market place
due {fo tack of funds or government assistance,
unrealistic tax policies and high capital costs. In
West Germany the interest on capital for
development is 44 percent compared to our [0
and! percent. | suggested a 1 billion dollar fund
be set up by the federal and provincial govern-

ments fo speed up the development of new
products.

The incredible thing in Canada is that int9él, 19
percent of our gross national product went to
government in the form of taxes, in 1978 over 40
percent yet less than .l4 percent goes toward
product development which could build our
economy and employ our people in the years
ahead. Our greatest opportunities Ile In the
fields of; forestry, minerals, and agriculture.

i was in Dease Lake last week looking at the
huge pieces of jade which are being shipped out
to Taiwan (Formosa) and then shipped back as a
finished product with an increase in value of over
1000 percent. The same is true toa lesser extent
in agricultural development, where increasing
our self sufficiency from 45 percent to 44 percent
would employ over 20,000 people.

We should al take a look at one of Ripley‘s
famous cartoons which pictured a plain iron bar
‘worth $5. Thesame bar made into horseshoes
would be worth $10.50. If made Into needles, It
would be worth $3,285 and into watch springs,
$250,000. We should remember this when we see
the exports of raw products such as: Jade, logs,
raw copper and other minerals, oi! and gas, and
unprocessed agriculfural products.

in product development there are many stages
befor reaching the market place: 1) concept. é:
prototype; 3) trial production; 4) production and
expansion; 5) product maturity; 6) ob.
solescence.

in Germany and Japan the governments assis!
af the start as a dollar spent and fax incentives at

Our time
has come

CALGARY (CP) —
Alberta Premier Peter
Lougheed says he belives
the lime has come for
Western Canada to have

bigger say in Con-
federation,
In an address Saturday

to the Calgary Chamber
of commerce's annual
meeting, he said
provincial governments
must nut be weakened by
Oliawa’s proposed
constitutional changes
and thal decision-making
“must not be further
centralized in Central
Canada.

“I think that is the
view, particularly in the
West,” he said, adding
that he would take that
position to this month's
constitutional conference
between prime minister

Trudeau the the
premiers. —.
“I sense in Central

Canada, and in Ollawa
and Toranto in particular,
aneed Lo change the rules
now, but it’s because we
have the ball and 1 think

we had better be on guard
the rules are not
changed.”

Turning to the
Canadian economic

picture, Lougheed said
Alberta was not an
econumic island
separated from the rest of
Canada.

“We are all part of it, ©

and if the sluggishness
continues in the economy
in the rest of Canada, it
will without dob in my
judgment, drag back
here.” :

He said Canadians
must be concerned about
the sagging dollar, now
valued below 85 cents
US.

Chamber president A.S.
Russ noted his father had
been president in 1930-31
and, said there were some
similarities belween
conditions during their

“| hope there is no
similarity between (hose
years and 1978,"" he suid.

“But ['m afraid there
may be some similarities.
During the past decade,
we have seen rapidly
growing governmeit ex-
penditures, government
involvement in all aspects
of the economy with Little
or no heed or advice of
business,””

Ross said ‘he chambers.
of  cummerce and
business in general must
provide leadership in
getting the economy
moving again.

Lougheed said Canada
was importing toa much
food from abrgad and that
the canta not suf-
ficient) @ advan-
lage y the food
productia capability in
its own agricultural
community.

In the ather economic
areas, he said it was
important to continue
incenlives to the petro-
leum indusiry to find

more oil and natural gas

io meel the country’s
domestic needs and to
offset a potential shurtage
in the mid-1930s.

He said Alberta's
population was growing
al 3.4 per cent annually
compared with 2.3 per
cent nationally.

“Frankly, 1 don't think

we want to grow on parge
population increases,” he
said.

“What we want to al-
tract here are skilled
peiple and entrepreneurs
from all over Canada and
the world.”

He said a new
provincial corporate tax
incentive system
probably would be in-
troduced when the
Alberta legislalure re.
sumes sitting Oct. 11.

He said the system
would involve smal]
business, bul declined to
release any details.

respective terms.

Our dollar is
taking plunge

The Gold Medal for diving, in the competition
of the Commonwealth games in Edmanton,
should not have gone toa person at all. Itshould
have gone to the Canadian dollar.

People still speak of the ‘almighty dollar’. But
the dollar has proved that it is anything but
almighty. ,

The causé, according to economic experts, is
an unfavourable balance of trade, which creates
an unhealthy economy. Both the United States
and Canada have been importing more than they
export, spending more than they make. And as
every family knows, you can’t do that for long.

Japan, by contrast, exports more than it im-
ports. That makes it ‘HEALTHY’. Canada and
the U.S. must do the same, say the experts.

is needed

this stage can build the economy with job op-
portunities In the future, In Canada we do things
backwards. We only help companies financially
through DREE or BCOC at the time when the
product is already developed and reaching
maturity; yet there is no way we can compete
with the low wage, developing countries. On
top ofthis we have tax policies that discriminate
against failures or slow stariers. We also make
low interest loans, or forgivable loans, available
to our competitors; thus subsidizing the creation
of unemployment in our own country.

Our educational system, with all its faults, is
turning gut milllons of very capable young
people with many ideas for new products. For
example: A potatoe process in Creston; a wooed
stove in Smithers that only needs stoking every 5
orédays. Yet there is little interest by economic
development. | know of many more in all fields,
especially agriculture: and all they need is
government policies geered to product
development that will employ our young
professional people at the early stages; not just
when the product has reached maturity and only
labourerers are required.

Governments must change direction and
appoint a product development ministry to
search out and assist all new ideas, Then make
capital available at interest rates equal to those
enjoyed by our major industrial competitors,
and implement taxation policies to encourage
product development athome. If this is not done,
ihen we can look for 16 percent unemployment by
1985 and a trade deficit greater than the 20 billion
dollar forecast,

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