BRITISH COLUMBIA / CANADA

Vernon sewage
plan a disgrace

UN sem SR NSS STO

—

By BERT NILSSON

Vernon is being misman-
aged by the present city coun-
cil. It has wasted tax revenues
and allowed severe damage to
Okanagan Lake, which is
Vernon’s prime resource for
the tourist industry and area
residents.

Vernon council has plunged
ahead with a plan to build a
sewage outfall system into
Okanagan Lake as though
there is no alternative and as if
a dire emergency exists requir-
ing precipitant action. Neither
is true, and we can only con-
clude that council has been
grossly incompetent or un-
truthful.

NILSSON

Perhaps the real explana-
tion for this disastrous course
is pressure from land develop-
ers and speculators who are
prepared to sacrifice Lake
Okanagan for the profits to be
reaped through opening large
numbers of sewer-serviced lots
in the Vernon and Coldstream
areas.

Strong pressure from resi-
dents has forced council to at
least pay lip service to the need
for enhanced land disposal of
sewage and spray irrigation
systems. But it is obvious that
if an outfall system’ into the
lake becomes operable, all
constraints on the city and the
developers will be off, and
there will be boundary exten-

sions and the opening of new
lots.

If no expansion of land dis-
posal facilities occurs, all of the
increased volume of sewage
will be destined for Okanagan
Lake.

A disconcerting aspect of
this issue is the knowledge that
it could have been avoided.
For at least 10 years the city
has known that its own sewer
mains must be repaired or
replaced. A decade-old study
determined that 30 per cent of
the flows reaching the sewage
plant consisted of ground
water infiltrating the main
lines.

The problem has _ been

’ made worse by illegal drains

which add still more water and
waste to the system. Very little
has been done to correct the
situation.

Had these problems been
addressed there would be no
shortage of sewage capacity
now or for several more years.
It would not have necessary to
raise the sewage reservoir
dam, attempt the failed rapid
infiltration system or embark
on the present costly and
environmentally hazardous
disposal plan.

This city council must be
defeated and a new council
elected. The city engineer,
administrator and planner
should be replaced.

We need a new council that
will create a new approach to
the whole problem of sewage
that is environmentally safe
and economically sound. Dev-
elopment policy must be com-
patible with environmental
policy. We can no longer tol-
erate the destruction of our
environment to provide quick
profit from ill-planned devel-
opment.

Bert Nilsson is a carpenter
and civic activist who is running
for alderman in Vernon for the
Nov. 21 election.

OY) SSORRSIREWT cag ge et Mea ep nance,

Seniors hit n-arms

Opposition to a federal
drug bill that will skyrocket
the cost of drugs was to be
expected. But a national meet-
ing of seniors in Sydney, N.S.
recently also found time to
vote for the future with a reso-
lution that Canada legally
become nuclear-weapons free.

Some 130 delegates to the
National Pensioners and Senior
Citizens Federation conven-
tion Sept. 23-25 voted that
Canada’s role in the nuclear
arms age should be an inter-
mediary one.

It called on Canada to play
a “leading role” in bringing
the United States and the
Soviet Union together to
“resolve” the SALT (Strategic
Arms Limitation Talks)

agreement “and eventually
achieve nuclear disarmament.”

The delegates from all pro-
vinces except Manitoba urged
the federal government to dis-
allow any operation of the
nuclear weapons industry in
the country and resolved that
“Canada by law should become
a nuclear-weapons free coun-

Delegates also reiterated
their opposition to Bill C-22,
the proposed legislation im-
posing extended patents on
costly, brand-name drugs to
forestall the emergence of
cheaper, generic brands.

The pensioners and seniors
sent a telegram the federal
government and opposition
opposing the free trade talks.

e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 7, 1987

against
free
trade

To the surprise of probably no one,
they've gone and done it — a free trade
deal has been struck.

The eleventh-hour negotiations pro-
duced an agreement that, at least as it has
been related to the public, is vague on sev-
eral crucial details. But one thing is certain:
there are forces within Canada and the Uni-
ted States who are absolutely determined to
see Canadian markets opened up to
plunder by the U.S. corporations.

Conclusion of free trade deal isn’t sur-
prising. It’s been the aim of the Mulroney
government since before the Tories won
their election victory. They’ve been attempt-
ing to soften resistance to the free trade
incursion through the weakening of foreign
investment protection, the deregulating of
prices and costs in the transportation indus-
try and the steady privatization of publicly
owned services and companies.

Most media outlets haven’t been making
the connection among those seemingly dis-
parate activities. But the Tribune has.

We don’t see these events as isolated, but
as the fulfillment of a social and economic
agenda. We know that free trade, privatiza-
tion and deregulation are on capitalism’s

agenda. And we know that working people
north and south of the border need an
agenda of their own.

That agenda includes extended public
ownership, protection against high prices
and full trade union rights — rights that
are under fire from free trade and its com-
panions.

Most Tribune readers have those goals in
mind as well. And we think more workers
and progressives in B.C. should hear of the
alternatives to the big business agenda.

That’s why we’ve set our own agenda:
increasing our readership by 300, and
retaining the regulars with a goal of renew-
ing 500 subscriptions this fall and winter.

We’re getting in touch with our suppor-
ters and press clubs to communicate details
of the drive, which we want to be the biggest
and most successful in the B.C. labour
weekly’s 52-year history.
Among the features this year are prizes
for top subgetters, as well as for some new
readers.

The fightback agenda on the free trade
deal is just being struck. Make sure you and
your friends are part of it.

We want 300 new readers