4 A10 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 11, 2005 Gov’t gets off lightly Dear Sir: Skeena Cellulose had to be sold because of the soft - wood lumber debate over the American position that - BC. subsidizes its forest i in- dustry. - When. a_ government owns’a large share in a for- est company .it isa form of. subsidization. It had no choice but to dump SCI ‘as the negotiations between .Canada and the US became more focused. _ The. Liberal ..government ' of course said it was selling its share in SCI because-the taxpayer could not afford to ° continue paying. Few people would argue - that the company had to’ be sold. It ‘was a matter of. when, for how much and to. . CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag whom. Most importantly, — the company could have been kept afloat until a buyer with the financial commit-. ment was found, while at the Same time maintaining com- munity stability and hope for a secure future. Many- people are brain-' . washed into believing it is all the fault of the NDP that _ we have a collapsed econo- my. But it was the previous NDP government who made — the difficult decision to keep the company operating by - becoming a partner until a secure buyer was found. « : . Robin Austin, NDP Candidate 7 _. domestic forestry. industry to what it once was.. The. forest _ work. Throughout the period following. the collapse of New log export that’ otherwise would not been available. ' the export percentage of our timber profile i is small, it is far ‘nent of the industry. | 7 represented by someone who’ fully understands the complex They don’t get it Dear Sir: Learn about logs | An open letter to: — Dear Sir: Your concept of preventing log export will not return our | industry here is far more complex than you believe. .-”.. Approximately 800,000 m3 of annual allowable cut was _ available to New Skeena and due to the policies of the day, . they could not:make the economics of running the sawmill Skeena, jobs have been provided in the northwest through ~ Log export increases the stand value of timber. Although from insignificant. This small increase in stand value means the difference between going to work and not. This formula enables the timber profile to be harvested economically and allows the local sawmills to purchase sawlogs at an.afford-. able price. It is vital to the economics of the logging compo- - It is important to me as a voter that the Skeena riding be ity of the resource based economy of the northwest. Dave Martin, Director, Northwest st Logger’ s Association, | a Terrace, B. Cc. 7 Tam struck byt the NDP’s continued inability to ‘make the - - link between a strong economy and increased social spend-' ing. Both Carole James and local candidate Robin Austin have no trouble promising us all kinds of new funds for so- cial programs, but when it comes to funding their promises, they don’t have a clue. Neither Carole nor Robin understand (or will admit) that the best Way to pay for increased social Spending is through ~ ; the power of a strong economy. Without a strong economy producing more revenue there is only one other way the NDP can pay for their lofty spending goals: increased taxation. Mr. Austin tells us he wants to top up social spending. But how does he expect to pay for that? Since he and the NDP have no economic plan for British Columbia, we can assume they would naturally start to raise our taxes — just as Harcourt and Glen Clark did during the 1990’s. Steve Alvey, Terrace, B. C. He was wrong — Dear Sir: Roger Harris, in a campaign | letter, misleads the constitu- ents on the very important issue of expanding Alcan power sales. His comment that “we are the first provincial govern- ment in the history of British Columbia to sit down with Alcan and have discussions where the direct: goal is re-in- vestment in a new smelter for Kitimat” is wrong. As a past president of the union at Alcan I know we have facilitated meetings between the previous government and Alcan and discussed the very issue Mr. Harris professes to being unique and historical to his party, the Liberals. He has not been forthright to our union or the constituents of Skeena. He continues to flip flop on the issue without taking . a firm stand on either side. The only historical legacy his government will leave is the devastation have caused in attacking the rights of the poor, oppressed and working class of this province. Ross Slezak, Terrace, B.C. THIS YEARS LAKESHORE HOT SPOT! CAN’T WAIT TO GET HERE?» - Bring your family. for a visit. Quiet, modern lakeshore cottages & campsites. Close to shopping, hiking, hotsprings & golf, ; Ph/Fax: 20 706-2207 ON TAKELSE LA ‘ www. waterlilybay.co: ye ACE. 4631 Keith AvenieTerrce; B.C; (250) 635- : a Fax (5) O52 tol res 1800463.41280.858° NO. CHARGE MAINTENANCE. % PURCHAS FINANCING AND MORE, SEE PAGEE - IT am amazed that resi- dents ‘allowed the Liberal government to . cause so much grief and misery. when ‘ jt is absolutely clear that they © sand they alone were the ones ‘who caused the economy to collapse. Strangely, many almost treat our Liberal MLA Roger Harris as a hero in the purck ase of the Skeena Cellulose sawmill in Terrace by a local consortium, when he was so much a part of the SCI fiasco that he made so. little .effort to ‘stop. Terrace, B.C. JACKPINE FLATS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 615 Old Lakelse Lake Rd. © Jackpine Flats When: Saturday, May 14th at 6:00 p.m. opening of his Obstetrics and Dr. Dawid Janse van Rensburg é is pleased to announce the Gynecology Practice. The office is situated at the Park Avenue Medical Centre, Suite 202, Terrace, and will accept patients on a referral basis. ‘Jim Culp, 2005 Dr. R.E.M. Lee Foundation . | CASH CALENDAR WINNERS ) May 5 Jason Parviainen ' $50 May 6 ' Audrey Smith - $50 - May.7 John McDonagh . $50 May 8 Alma Lavoie . $50 May 9 Domingos Sanches’ = $50 May 10 ‘Ken Beddie $50 May 11. Normand Mercure . . . $50. BC NURSES SAY: 7 Health Care Cuts | Aren’t Working > , Patients are waiting longer | for care in’ . overcrowded emergency wards. Seniors must stay in hospital beds because nursing. home beds have been: ‘cut. Patients are waiting longer for surgery because there aren’t enough hospital beds. for our patients. fitly ». BC NURSES’ UNION www. benw. org AUTHORIZED BY BC NURSES’ UNION, ANNE SHANNON, REGISTERED SPONSOR, 604.433.2268 Nurses are stretched to the limit caring (250) THORIZE