A4- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 22, 1996

TERRACE

STANDARD

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. « V8G 5R2
TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 « FAX: (604) 638-8432
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It’s illegal

STOP. TURN back one page. That ad headlined
““illegal’’ is just that — illegal. Printing it could
cost this newspaper thousands of dollars. Here’s
why.

In July 1995 the provincial government passed
its new Elections Act which sets out the rules
and procedures during the election period.

There’s a particularly odious section of the act
which prohibits groups or people from placing’
ads in newspapers, or buying air time on radio
and television stations, printing leaflets or
making signs worth more than $5,000 during an
election campaign. The section specifically pre-
vents people or groups from saying why they be-
licve a party or candidate deserves support or
why the party or candidate does not deserve sup-

ort.

The intent, says the provincial government, is
to prevent groups or people from having an un-
due influence over you, the voter. It feels you
need protection from people or organizations
who want to persuade you with their opinions.

That’s wrong. We believe that people are
capable of making up their own minds during
election campaigns. We say the Canadian public
does not need somebody else deciding what it
can or can not be exposed to during an election
campaign. We say the provincial government is
stifling the right of people to communicate freely
with each other.

We believe so strongly in this right that the ad
you see on Page A3 is being published by the
other newspapers belonging to our company, .
Cariboo Press. Collectively these ads break that
magical $5,000 barrier and that’s illegal.

‘We feel the provincial government’s legislation
is cynical and self serving because it allows only
political parties to advertise during elections. In
other words, you will read, hear or see only the
opinions of the political parties during this
campaign. You won’t — and can’t — see, hear
or read the opinions and viewpoints of others.

We say the government is wrong in its attempt
to manipulate the information you receive during
an election campaign. We believe the govern- :
ment’s actions infringe upon the Charter of
Rights and Freedoms and that any prosecution |
won’t stand up in a court of law.

Our stand opens us up to criticism that we are
simply after as many advertising dollars as pos-
sible and that our opposition to the Elections Act
prohibition is about money. But it is very rare
during an election campaign for organizations to
spend more than $5,000 in community newspa-
pers such as ours.

So this stand is not based on economics; it’s’
solely a question of principles. It’s about the fun-
damental right of Canadians to take a full and ac-
tive part during an election campaign. An elec-
tion campaign is not the private territory of.
political parties or governments to do as they
wish while putting a straitjacket on the opinions
of others,

The unfettered expression of opinions, ideas
and philosophies is the essence of democracy,
particularly during elections. That’s why you
must have access to more information than what
the political parties wish to have released, That’s
why we’re breaking the law. We hope you agree.

a eS

PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link
ADVERTISING MANAGER: Rick Passmore
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur
NEWS Jeff Nagel * NEWS SPORTS: Dave Taylor
COMMUNITY: Cris Leykauf
OFFICE MANAGER: Laurie Ritter

“For our sake we ho
You'll Vote for Mr Canptell,
He can make digger pies
than anybody else...

Now isn’t this a bit strange

VICTORIA — Some funny
things are happening on the
way to the May 28 election.
The campaign between the in-
cumbent NDP and the Liberals
has taken some unusual tums,
To start with, what seemed
inconceivable six months ago
has happened: the NDF is very
much in the game, But there
are other weird aspects to the

campaign. As the battle on the |

hustings unfolded, Gordon
Campbell’s Liberals were
pushed into the defending
champions” position.

Instead of Campbell’s attacks
on the incumbent NDP making
headlines, we have, time and
again, seen Glen Clark go on
the offensive, forcing Camp-
bell to defend his position, a
task at which he hasn’t been all
that good.

“Rich have most to gain in
Liberal win, Clark says,’’ read
the front-page headline in the
Vancouver Sun. The story,
which quotes ihe premier
trashing Campbell’s economic
pian, got bigger play than the
plan’s unveiling a few days
earlier,

That same weekend, environ-
ment minister Moe Sihota
wamed that a Liberal govern-
ment would wreak havoc on
any and ail environmental
progress the NDP made in the
last four and a half years,

FROM THE CAPITAL

HUBERT BEYER
Asked by reporters Iater,
Campbell said the Liberals
would reduce red tape, but be
good stewards of the environ-_
ment. It sounded somewhat
feeble, as all defensive state-
ments do,

The whole campaign looks °

like a replay of campaigns of
30 years ago. But the shoe is
on the other foot now. Then,
WAC. Bennett used to wam
darkly of what would happen if
the godless socialisis were
elected.

And no matter how much the
NDP tried to assure voters that
it was a very democratic party
and had the province’s best in-
terests at heart, Bennett
managed to freak out the pub-
lic every time by portraying
the NDP as a menace to
society.

In this campaign, that’s ex-
actly what Glen Clark and the
NDP are doing to the Liberals,
and it is having an impact.
Polls indicate the public is
wary of the Liberal agenda,

Another weird thing hap-
pened in Kelowna the other
week. Asked on camera by
Vancouver UTV reporter
Bridgitte Anderson whether
Campbell was trying to cast
himself in a warmer public
light, the Liberal leader put an
arm around Anderson, saying,
*T sure am, Bridg.””

Next thing you knew, the
political correctness police was
on full alert. Reporters present
debated the appropriaieness of
Campbell’s gesture. Anderson,
tying to stay neutral, phoned
her ‘desk and said for the
record that she has no com-
ment, but would the footage
speak for herself. Later, Camp-
bell apologized for the “light-
hearted embrace,’’ and the -
campaign continued,

At occasions like these, I
keep reminding myself never.
to run for public office. I
mean, this wasn’t some over-
sexed gigolo making a pass. It
wasn’t cven an arm around the
waste, and it certainly wasn’t a
slap on the rump that got John
Turer into hot water.

In their day-to-day dealings,
reporters and politicians devel-

op and almost symbiotic rela-
lionship. They are on a first-
name basis, they joke with
each other and despite their
different and often adversarial
roles, there’s a certain
camaraderie between them.

To my mind, Campbell’s
gesture was meant to be funny
and friendly, but that’s ob-
viously something no longer
tolerated by the forces that
shape our thinking.

And something even stranger
is happening on my home
front. My oldest son Charles is
working hard on the campaign
of Steve Orcharton, the NDP
candidate in Victoria Hillside,
while my second-oldest son
Gary is running as a candidate

din.the same riding for-Gordon

Wilson’s Progressive Demo-
cratic Party,

I’m happy to say, though,
that the two are still getting
along like a house on fire, and
their political —_ differences
aren’t Spilling over into their
private lives,

What do I think of it? I think
it’s great, There were political
discussions in the Beyer home
from the time our kids were
knee-high to grasshoppers.
Getting involved beals apathy
all to hell.

Beyer can be reached at Tet:
920-9300; Fax: 385-6783; E-
Mail: hbeyer@direct.ca

He pinches wrong pennies

VISITING VANCOUVER last
week, my daughter scooted
across town on Sky Train
renewing acquaintances with
old friends.

Now, this young woman is a
law-abiding small town
citizen. But aware of news
reports that many people cheat
by riding Sky Train without a
ticket, she decided to test the
validity of TY claims,

She found It easy to ride Sky
Train without a ticket. She
tode free all weekend. No one
stopped her from getting on
withoul buying a ticket; there
Was no one on board checking
to see if she’d bought one.

So bow much revenue does
the B.C. government: lose an-
wally providing free trans-
portation to cheating Sky Train
riders?

Too, too much, Millions.

THROUGH BIFOCALS

CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

And who do we have to
thank for free use of Expo 86's
wonder baby?

Gordon Campbell, for one.

Campbell was a member of
the Vancouver transit board at
the time Sky Train was built.
He voted against installing

costly tumstiles that would
have required passengers to
pay a fare to ride. He opted to
trust travelers to do the right
thing, policing each other.

Hah!

Now that Campbell is vying
to become premier of the pro-
vince, he has a sudden urge to
reduce fraud — welfare fraud
— to trim the budget.

Too bad it took an election to
make Campbell see the light.

While daily hundreds of
employed people travel back
and forth through Vancouver
without contributing a nickel
toward the upkeep of an ex-
pensive rapid transit system,
Campbell’s set his sights on
whittling ihe income of un-
fortunate people already sub-
sisting below the poverty line.

Why the sudden recognition
that fraud costs everyone? Or

is this a revelation that will last
only as long as il attracts
votes?

Cheating transit a dollar or
two a day adds up, just as
cheating welfare several hun-
dred dollars a month adds up.

I'd be for more impressed
with Campbell’s attack on wel-
fare fraud if be’d voted for fare
stiles when Sky Train stations
were built in 1986. For him to
talk of clamping down on wel-
fare fraud now after letting Sky
Train passengers ride free for a
decade impresses me not at all,

There’s an old saying: Look
after the pennies and the dol-
lars will take care of them-
selves.

Campbell’s 10 years of
giving away transit pennies
makes me pooh pooh his sud-
den concem for welfare dol-
lars.

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Serving the Terrace and Thomhid area. Published on Wednesday of each week by Cariboo Presa (1969)
Ud. at 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace, British Columbla, V8G 5R2. co
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Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents
for their time and talents

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