—

Democracy. worth the fight

by Frank Howard

_. Democracy — a great, ex-
citing, thrilling, soul-stirring
concept worth fighting for and
. worth: dying for. Most people
don’t. know what the. compo-
'. ments of democracy are and too

"many simply don’t care.
' There are ‘only two aspects of

democracy in Canada. One of

‘Letters to the editor willbe -
considered for publication
only when signed. Please
include your " phone
number. The editor
reserves the right to
condense and edit letters.
Opinions exprassed are
not necessarily ihose of

Gan a
Terrace

Review

Established May 1, 1985

The Terrace Review Is published
each Wednesday. by Close-Up
Business Services Ltd.

Publisher:
Mark Twyford

Editor:
Maureen Barbour

Staff Reporier:
Michael! Kelly

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635-7840

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dim Hall

Office:
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Commentary

. the Terrace Review. an 0

Phone: 635-7840

those is the opportunity to elect
certain public officials by secret
ballot. The other aspect, in bet-
ween elections, is that. of peti-

tioning government — of asking

government to take ‘particular
action, These aspects have been,

; and could again be, restricted by

government.

The public debate over Bills
19 and 20 showed it to be vir-
tually a waste of time to ask a

government: with an ideological -

prejudice to do something which
doesn’t -fit that prejudice. .
Jess Succamore of the Con-

federation of Canadian. Unions .

put this matter in a context we
can all understand when he said,
**A person doesn’t get democra-
tically elected to be a dictator for
five years’. Quite frankly Mr.
Succamore, in my opinion, you
are wrong. That is exactly what
occurs. We may not understand
that or we may not like it, but
that is what we do. .

In our political system when a
political party gets elected to
become government, its leader is

the supreme political authority.
The. Premier, at the provincial

level, has the absolute authority .

to make dictatorial decisions.
The danger is that a Premier

may. adore the idea of being the .

absolute authority.

One person who could bring
about a positive: change. to this
dictatorial structure is the
Premier. However, his authority
would thereby undoubtedly be
reduced. History telis us that
dictators do not voluntarily give

‘up dictatorships, nor willingly

dilute their authority. |

Another way to bring about a
positive change is ‘to elect a
political party which recognizes
the need to make government
responsive to society’s needs.

There is a third way, namely:.
revolution. In my view the
general strike concept is a form
of revolution. Quite frankly
those who talk in such terms are
either lip-flappers or unwilling
to face reality, but more likely
are a combination of both.

Democracy is worth fighting
for and worth: dying for. There

are too many people, however,

who feel it isn’t even worth
working for.

CONVICTION NEEDED |

Letter

Open letter to,
Hon. Bruce Strachan,
Minister of Environment

It has been brought to my
attention by our membership
that Jorma Jyrkkanen has been
dismissed from his post as
Habitat Protection Officer at
the Terrace office of your
Ministry.

The -reason given for his
dismissal was the release of ‘sen-
sitive’ information contained in
a letter about herbicide spraying
of the forest. My research in-
dicates that this letter is common
knowledge, and is available
from various sources, including
Federal Fisheries.

We understand the lines of

communications within the

ministries and between the
ministries, but if things are being

done (or not done) by the people’

at the executive level that will be
detrimental to the environment,
field ‘staff frustrations will
become very high.

It is obvious ‘that the Forest

Service is experimenting with
‘roundup’ and its new-name-
partner ‘vision’. Now, with the
discipline of Mr. Jyrkkanen, it
seems that the Environment
Branch is assisting them by
covering up reports of detrimen-
tal side effects of the experimen-
tation.

Mr. Jyrkkanen’ § job was, in -

our opinion, to protect the en-
vironment from anyone who
would do it harm. This includes
the Forest Service. |

We understand that Mr. Jyrk-
kanen’s case has now gone to the
grievance procedure and that
there can be no comment from

either side until the finalization

of the case,
Our association can still make
public our comments, and we do
continued on page 19

Terrace Review Victoria Correspondent,

Education expensive? —
try ignorance —

Politicians whose rhetoric’

would have you believe that
British Columbia: is on the

_ leading edge of technological

research and development just
had the slats knocked out from
under them.

A report prepared by British
Columbia's three universities
-U.B.C., Simon Fraser and Vic-
toria — is. the ‘greatest and

; perhaps most convincing indict-

ment of the provincial govern-
ment’s parsimonious attitude

’ towards the funding of B.C,’s

institutions of higher learning
since former Premier Bill Ben--
nett put them ona financial star-
vation diet in 1983.
The report, which examines
**The Role of the Universities in
the Economic Development of
British Columbia’’, was request-
ed by Stanley Hagen, Minister
of Advanced Education and Job
Training. If the Minister is adept

at reading between the lines, the .
report is more than he bargained
for. It definitely makes Canada’

in general and B.C. in particular
look likea poor cousin to a score
of other countries when it comes

to investing in research and de- ©

velopment, the magic fuel that
propels societies to the top of the
modern technology heap.
Consider this: for each 10,000
people in the general work force,
the United States has 65 scien-
tists and engineers pushing back
the frontiers of knowledge in the
field of research and develop-
ment. Japan is a close second
with 58, followed by West Ger-

ternationally, Canada is at the
bottom of the barrel with a mere
26. In B.C, the figure is 12, less
than half the national average.
Yet, according to statistics
contained in the report, ad-
vances in knowledge are the
prime factor in real economic
growth, accounting for 33 per-
cent, while more labor is respon-

’ sible for only 20 percent, more

capital for. 18 percent, better
education for 14 percent and all.
other factors combined for the
remaining 15 percent, -

B.C, doesn’t fare any better i in
a statistical analysis of research
and development funding based

on a percentage of the gross na- -

tional and gross provincial pro-
ducts. While the U.S. spends a
healthy 2.7 percent of its GNP
on research and development,

microelectronics,

followed by J apan with 2.6 per-
cent, France and the U.K. with

2.3 percent.each, Canada lags -

behind with 1.3 Percent, and
B.C., once again, comes in last
with 0. 75 percent,
“Canada, and particularly
British Columbia needs to spend
more-on.R & D to keep up with

‘those with whom it hopes to
ccompete’’, the report says. —

To compete with the world in

the new economic age, the

report says, B.C, must strive for
a diversification of businesses in
a number of fields, including
computer
science, biotechnology, mater-

jals science and health sciences.

In the last 15 years, according
to the report, the University of

British Columbia was responsi- —
ble for 52 successful spinoff

companies, formed by students
or faculty members who left the
university to go into a business
based on a university invention
or know-how or the expertise
they gained by their association
with the ‘university. Simon —

Fraser University gave-birth to | -

25 spinoff companies and. the

University of Victoria 20.
“These. companies employ

more than 1,650 staff and, in’

"1985 alone, had sales in excess of

$170 million’, the report says, .
“At. a university, to do
research means. to discover

something that: nobody knew

before,” says the report, And
more germane to the field of
high technology, the U.S. Con-

ference Board has this to.say: —
many’s 57 and the U.K.’s 45, In- |

““Good universities attract
high technology companies that
seek graduates knowledgeable at

‘the state-of-the-art level’’..

But without money, there can
be. no good universities. And
money is what British Colum-
bia’s universities haven’t seen
too much of since the beginning
of the restraint program.

During the last two fiscal
years, the increase in total fun-
ding for B.C.’s three universities -
was 5.6 percent. During the
same time, U.S. universities saw .
their funding raised by an
average of 14 percent. It’s dif-
ficult if not impossible to stay in
the race in the face of such fiscal
restraint.

To be among the best doesn’t
come cheap. But if you think
education is expensive, try ig-
norance, -

Appeal nets $18,000.

‘Letter

To the editor,

On behalf of The Salvation
Army we would like to give our
heartfelt thanks to all the people
who helped us with this year’s
Red Shield Appeal.

Your willingness to knock on
doors or work behind the scenes
was very much appreciated.

To the business concerns and
service clubs who gave contribu-
tions, we say thank you.

To the medical staff who not
only. gave. donations:.but their
time as well, we say thank you,

To all the: ‘wonderful people
who either gave at the door or
mailed their contributions in, we
say thank you.

Although we, once again, did
not reach our goal-of $19,000 we

continued on page 7