- Lisims Government official. ’ who made an unsuccessful. | Federal Liberal spends big | but fails to win the election By JEFF NAGEL LIBERAL candidate Miles | Richardson spent more than ' ‘twice as much as the NDP’s Nathan Cullen trying to win Skeena in last June’s federal election. - The high-profile Haida leader was touted as a star candidate for the Liberals but finished a distant third ina campaign that saw Cul- len unseat Conservative MP Andy Burton. Richardson’s ° didn’t lack financial muscle ‘or high-profile ‘Supporters, Elections Canada records show. ‘Even B.C.’s non-partisan Governor Iona Campagnolo officially _ ~ a former Liberal MP for’ ' Skeena—gave $300. The fed- eral Liberal party pitched i in... big time, pumping $67,000: into the Skeena ¢ campaign. It all added up to a -Lib- eral war chest worth nearly $110,000 here.” ‘Richardson declared ex- penses -totalling $105,143, _ although only $79,964 of . - that were election expenses subject to the limit of just under $89, 000 for each can- “didate. More than $11,000 worth of the spending Richardson , paid for himself; The top Liberal campaign | contribution here was $1,275 from Mike Tarr, the CEO of Northern Savings Credit Union. Mark Stevenson, a former - aboriginal treaty - negotiator in the: northwest . now living.in Victoria, gave $1,000, as did Bill Williams: of North Vancouver. Michael Shaw of Prince Rupert con- tributed $850. Harry Nyce, a -Nisga’a bid for the Liberal nomina- tion in Skeena, gave $500. Don Silversides, a Prince Rupert lawyer and longtime Liberal official in the riding, gave” "$600. Terrace mayor Jack Talstra’is oii the list for space at a value of $2,400. ~ Richardson’s campaign also pulled in more corporate donors than others. Much of, _ the $16,500 total came.from. Liberal-connected law firms and professionals. Nine firms gave $1,000 each — Archéan Oil and Gas Ltd. of Calgary, City Centre Stores in Queen Charlotte campaign Lieutenant- Evans of Etobicoke, ‘Prince’ Rupert; ' _ providing’ rent-free office ‘ from the Pacific Coast Vet- “ NATHAN CULLEN, far left, proved to be a frugal candidate on his way to winning the federal election here last | June for the NDP. He defeated Conservative Andy Burton, seated next to him, Rod Taylor c of f the Christian Heri- tage Party and, on the far right, Liberal Miles Richardson. ’ City, Coco Pazzo Restaurant in Vancouver, Crest Manage- ment in Prince Rupert, Gin- . golx Development Corpora- tion in Kincolith, Metlakatla . Development Corp in Prince ‘ Rupert, Rawson Group Ini- ‘tiatives in Ottawa, Uniterre Resources Ltd. of Vancou- ‘ver and Wampler Marine Services of Prince Rupert. By, contrast, NDP chal- Jenger Cullen came nowhere close to-his limit, spending $48,135: and taking in con- tributions of $32,355. His top donor was Leon-” ard Toye of Prince Rupert “with $1,000. John Macken- . zie of. Terrace, Alison Can- dela of Smithers, Marguerite va: Ont, and Mark Ignas of Prince ~ Rupert all gave $500. Corporate contributors included $600 from Tolsec Canada Inc., $500 from the Irene Peters Law Corp. in erinary Hospital in Prince ‘Rupert. Cullen paid a further $5,300 of campaign expens- es out of his own pocket, the disclosures indicated. Incumbent Conserva- tive MP Andy Burton also outspent Cullen, with total contributions and _ transfers ° of $62,659 and total election ‘expenses of $58,864. ‘cluded ‘and | $450" The incoming. cash’ in- transfers tive Fund Canada - Skeena Constituency. Individual and corporate contributions totalled about $15,000 each. Mining firms favoured Burton. His campaign re-”* ceived «$1,000 donations from Huckleberry Mines Ltd., Pioneer Metals. Corp. . -and Northgate Minerals, which owns the Kemess gold mine. Fortune Minerals Ltd., which has rights to coal de- posits near Iskut, gave $500, as did Barrick Gold Corp. of Toronto. SKEENA MP rival candidate. Campagnolo, herself a former } ‘Skéena'MP, donated $300 to Lib- ‘eral candidate Miles Richardson. “As the Queen’s representa- live in the province, she should be above involvement in partisan | 4 politics,” Cullen said. An official at Government. House in Victoria said Lieuten- ant-Governors don’t give up their democratic rights while in office and can vote and participate in other ways. totalling . $18,000 from the Conserva-. Twin River Power Ltd. and - RPX: Corporation, both of Terrace, each gave $1,000.: Bravado. Fishing. Ltd. of Vancouver $800 and - the Rupert Square Shopping Mall chipped in $650. Burton’s individual do- nors were mainly from Ter- race. They included $1,000 each from Grant Piffer, Dave and Lael McKeown, from * Burton himself, and $500 from Terrace’ city. freeman Bill McRae. Nancy Segworth of West Vancouver topped : the indi- vidual donor list at $1,275. ~ Christian Heritage Party Lt-Gov. lona . Campagnolo “Candidate Rod Taylor ran a more modest campaign, tak- ing in $18,100 and ‘spending just over $15,000. . Virtually all of his con- tributors - were from. the Smithers/Telkwa area.. Most candidates spent the bulk of their money on advertising, signs, brochures and travel expenses. However Richardson’s ‘campaign also paid $20,000 for surveys and research. Cullen won the elec-— -tion with 37.1 per cent of | the vote.Burton got 33.7 ~ per cent, while Richardson ; trailed with 21.6 per cent. Vice regal donation criticized | Nathan Cullen | is disappointed B.C. Lieuten- ant-Governor Iona Campagnolo made a political contribution to a on the i issues of the day while inv office and act in all public events in a non-partisan manner,” com- munications McAndrews said. “Her Honour has always act- ed in an apolitical manner in-her -'}- role as representing all British — Columbians and continues to do. so,” she added. “Her personal support in this _case has nothing to do with her | role as Lieutenant Governor.” Campagnolo was. elected as a Liberal in 1974 and served as MP and as a cabinet minister un- — til 1979. officer Caroline She was defeated by NDP challenger Jim “Naturally [they] do not speak publicly Fulton who held the seat until 1993. Union head slams MLA claims By VERALYNN MUNSON SKEENA MLA Roger Harris was neither accurate nor completely hon- est in his comments on public educa- tion published in the March 31 issue of The Terrace Standard. * Education is not “better now,” as Mr. Harris claims. Every day teach- ‘ers in our local classrooms experi- “ence a different reality to the glow- ing happy face version presented by Mr. Harris. The top three concerns that re- main unaddressed by his govern- ment are class size, education fund- _ing and growing numbers of special ‘needs students in a class. - The removal of class size guar- antees have created too many less than satisfactory learning situations. More than 100 secondary classes in Terrace and Hazelton exceed previ- ous class size limits. Shop and lab . classes that require use of power tools and other potentially dangerous equipment used to be capped at 24 to allow for greater student-teacher interaction. ‘ Prior class guarantees are com- monly exceeded not just by one or two but by as much as seven stu- — ‘dents. - Split or multiple grade classes that.require dual curriculums to be delivered by one teacher used to have limits. Now these, too, are treated as if they are any other single | grade class. But the education ministry no longer collects data on these situa-. tions so when they say the district average does not exceed 30 they are — correct; they are just not reflecting the whole picture. The new average class size is the old maximum limit; the new maximum has no limit from Grade 4 onward: The flexibility to _exceed former limits is not provid- ing consistent quality education to students who find themselves in sev- - eral over-sized classes. ’ Education funding under Har- ris’ government has declined in real terms. It is not protected. Freezing . [7 per pupil funding while many costs increased has resulted in less money for classrooms. Heating, Supplies, textbooks, MSP premiums, gaso- line, and repairs have all increased in costs. Imposed ‘wage increases were not funded. Grants to school districts were eliminated. It now has | to be made up from the per pupil amounts. . The B.C. Liberals are busy giving back a portion of what was cut back in the previous three years. Fund- ing announcements have been made that were really reporting the same money over and over again... ’ Harris said it is.a government’s role to provide the money, while the school board decides how the money will be spent. Reliable, adequate and steady funding is needed is needed. from the government, not money . that has been cut then some given back in pieces and targeted by the. . province for a specific. use — a book for every four year old, textbooks bought - in Alberta, leadership train=.. -ing for principals, money for parent groups, and so on. What I would like to see is a list of all funding announcements iden-: tifying the date the school district -received or will receive the money and its targeted use. Might the dis- trict truly just ask to spend: seismic upgrade dollars in the classroom, period, or would they have to later come up with the scismic upgrade money? Removal of regulations on the number of identified special needs students in any one class is creat- ing untenable learning and teaching situations. . In the last two years (2003- 2005) 70 elementary classes exceeded pre- - vious provisions in Terrace/Hazel- ton schools. The situation is worse in secondary classes. Not only can the previous numbers be exceeded, provisions for additional classroom support are gone,-too. , Veralynn Munson “It is cruel of Harris to say that every student, and class is different ‘and then deny teachers the practical means of teaching them with the individual attention they deserve.” | It is cruel of Harris to say that - every student and class is different: and then deny teachers the practi- cal means of teaching them with the individual attention they deserve because the class is large and has an overabundance of students with known special needs. In year one of the freeze the provincial decline in identified spe- cial needs students was 8.2 per cent ‘while the student enrollment decline was 1.4 per cent..The identification -criteria changed, which means stu- ‘dents went without their needs being supported with the funds needed for help.’ Yes, every school district is dif- ferent and that is evident when ’ Jooking at the ability of districts to - raise funds above the basic per pu- pil amount. The provincial range is from West Vancouver at $1,131 per student to Peace River North at $31 per student. Coast Mountains can only raise $144 extra per student. - The pressure on school districts to become businesses is misguid- ed when their focus should be on — education. Harris has ignored. the unique needs of the Coast Moun- tains school district and blames the. board for not being able to make a sow’s ear into a silk purse. Until schools get the money they ‘| \ need in their annual budget children ‘| . will continue to pay the price. If the . practices of the last four years con- tinue, elementary students will be entering high school and secondary students the workforce having not experienced adequate funding, rea- sonable class sizes and class com- positions conducive to quality edu- cation for eight years. That is the greater part of their education. It is far too soon to conclude the four-day week is improving student performance. While it has’ propo- nents and critics time will tell. Until we can afford five days of school we - won't. know people’s real -prefer- ences. Right now the four-day week itis ‘an alternative to even larger classes with more special needs students, along with other cuts. It is resulting in incurring costs for Friday care to families of elementary children. Harris suggests separate calen- dars for secondary and elementary.. This is not at all practical as it would double bussing costs. The handful of people he mentions benefiting from Friday school (to be discontinued) or tutoring on Friday are a tiny per- centage of students affected. Teachers in Coast Mountains schools care deeply about our stu- dents, and that is why we must speak out when our MLA so seriously misrepresents the impact of Liberal policies in our schools. Veralynn Munson is the president : of the Terrace and District Teachers’ Union. She wrote this in response to a March 30 interview with Mr. Harris. The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 13, 2008 '- A5 CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag Support water rescue Dear Sir: The dedication and expertise of the Terrace Water Res- cue team brought our children home to be laid to rest. When all others chose not to assist us with the search, these dedicated individuals went “The extra mile”. On Feb. 2, 2005 the Terrace team, with the use of so- nar, located both Kora Lee and the snowmobile. Through due diligence and perseverance, Matthew was located on Feb 18, 2005. These men and women from your community should: be recognized as ambassadors for your community. They... were polite, willing, professional and enjoyable to be __ with. We also realize, each time one member left Terrace. ~ to come to Fort St. James, their families were sacrificing family time for ¢ our gain. Thank you for being so unself- ish. 4o The Terrace team is attempting to purchase a sonar , similar to the one used in Fort St. -James.. This piece of | " apparatus costs approximately $40,000. ; As a community recovering from the costs of the Kar- _ ey/Prince search we don’t have a lot left to donate. _ May our contribution, as a down payment through the rental of this unit, be matched by corporations and person- al donations until this equipment is in the hands of Terrace — Water Rescue, paid in full. ‘The Families of Kora Lee Prince, and . ” Matthew Karey, ; Fort St. James, B. Cc. “in the pink © Dear Sir: . I was-one of the demonstrators who issued Roger Har- ris his pink slip in-March to become effective on May 17,. 2005 and I signed it to ensure that there would be no mis- take as to who wrote it. Roger Harris, I gave you your pink slip because you - and the Liberal party have ignored the cases of hungry _ children in this riding and throughout the province of B.C. You and your cohorts have applied fascist-like govern-— ment under the’ guise of democracy while cramming the ‘demands of the corporate agenda down our throats. ° . > - Your party has cut off all awareness of justice for the poor. You have cut funding to legal aid; closed courthous- es and even chopped the little bit of money for. paralegal - training for anti-poverty, those ‘who assist persons with low and fixed incomes ti understand, their. rights. and re-. sponsibilities. 8, Now what do you and the Liberals do? You try to make ae yourself out to look like caring stewards of lower classes ©. when you made your $70 and month: ‘gesture to: the. dis- - ‘abled community, which amounts to political tokenism.” . The lower level of these people: are being taken. from this. S status and placed back’ on basic needs. And many, aren toe, "ready for this. ; ae _ However, the most important reason. for’ this termina- tion notice, was your attitude and responses when I came to see you about‘concerns with your party’s cuts to social programs and the effects they.were having on ‘single par- ents and thier children. I made a remark about the amount of |! terrorism chap- pening .on the world Stage. and if you, were aware. of the fact that the cuts being inplémented’ ‘amounted’ io ad home- based terrorism in the eyes of those being subjected to these ravishes of poverty and abuse. Instead of providing . protection for your weaker constituents as you are obli- — gated to do, you chose more pain. Shame on you! : I shall never forget your response, and I quote, “Yes; there has been much discussion in caucus ‘and there was” a consensus that, sometimes, a little terror is necessary to get them out looking for work.” Needless to say, I have not entered your office since that interview and am not about to enter for the rest of- your term. I will be working as hard as possible to have - the 36 per cent of the voters who haven't registered ‘be- cause, in the eyes of the Liberals, they are labeled: wel- : ‘fare bums to get registered and collectively show Gordon Campbell and his cronies that they should have shown us the respect we deserve as Canadian citizens. Gerry King, Terrace, B. c. Time for Kitimat to shine Dear Sir: . With the recent rash of B.C. Liberal ads hitting the. tele- vision, it has made me wonder if the B.C. Liberals think ° that northern B.C. stops in Prince George. There’s been a Jot of rhetoric around the great economic advances made. in the province over the past four years, both i in southern - and northern British Columbia. Funny, looking around Kitimat I would say that, if any- | thing, we have moved backwards. From the Liberal view of this situation, however, they seem to stress that indeed they have a track record of growth and new opportunities - in.northern B.C. — or do they mean Prince George. ' With new money being poured into the University of Northern British Columbia, both in terms of the medical - ’ program and overall infrastructure expansion, as well as the city itself, namely for airport expansion and the pine beetle epidemic, we seem to have been forgotten. a Kitimat has found itself stagnant, forgotten and ne- glected by the same people who promised us a new era. It is fundamental that the citizens of Kitimat and re- gion be represented in a, 2. way which serves the needs sof the people. - Kitimat has the ability to climb back: as it once was, a "great economic engine of the province, leading the way and setting the standard for other communities province- wide. It is Kitimat’s chance to demand to be represented . in a way that we see substantial investments made by the province in our community which will help to turn around’ our economic situation. As a UNBC student, the University of Northern Brit- ish Columbia was founded on the basis of providing an education for students in the north so that they can Stay and work in the north. If the province of British Columbia does not start to: ‘invest into the communities of northern British Colum-. bia, like Kitimat, then there will be little reason for young | people to stay in the north. There is no better time to voice your di spleasure with the - B.C. Liberal government and let them know that Northern British Columbia does not end in Prince George. _ Derick Stinson, Prince George, B.C. About the Mail Bag Terrace Standard welcomes letters. The address is 3210 Clinton St., You can fax us at 250-638-8432 or e-mail us at newsroom @ terracestandard.com. Noattachments, please. Our Name, address and phone number required forverification. - Terrace, B.C. V8G 5R2. .