Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 3, 2002 * “TERRACE STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G SR2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 * FAX: (250) 638-8432 WEB: www.terracestandard.com EMAIL: standard@kermode.net Trail times TO THE TSIMSHIAN, the Skeena is the “river of mists,” shrouded in swirly low-lying clouds. To those who don’t have a riverboat or access to one, the Skeena, one of the province’s largest ri- vers, is pretty much shrouded, period. A long term ambitious city plan wants to change that by creating a walkway along the Skeena, opening the river’s beauty to all citizens of Terrace and area. In effect, it would recognize a rough path already existing along the west side of the Skeena River underneath the new bridge. Along with this would come a westward exten- sion of the Howe Creek Trail, past the bottom edge of Kalum Lake Drive to connect to a pro- posed new park on the Kalum River. As it is, the city deserves top marks over the past decade for creating the Howe Creek Trail which now skirts the bottom of the bench. And dog poop aside, its construction of the millenni- um pathway parallel to Hwy16 stands as one of the wisest use of public monies around. Add to this another city plan to build sidewalks leading to the Sande Overpass on both ends and a transportation ministry plan for a second over- pass sidewalk, this one to go on its east side. The effect of all of this would make the city a more pedestrian friendly location and remove one of the criticisms that if you don’t have a vehicle, Terrace is a tough place to navigate on foot. There’s been an objection to the river walkway portion of the city’s plan in that it is viewed as re- stricting a property owner’s ability to develop land. But that need not be the case and should not impede progress. A well-planned walkway in concert with private development can only in-.. crease the value of both any private investment and public use. It might even be an example of what a public-private partnership could achieve. Indeed, a river walkway as now planned would be even more attractive if some day it could be combined with a pedestrian footbridge attached to the new bridge now connecting the city to Ferry Island. All of this would not just benefit local people by improving the quality of life. It can also be rightly viewed as one more way to build the tour- ism industry, a vital necessity for the future of this area and city. Library lovers TWO THUMBS up to the Terrace Public Library for receiving top marks from a recent user sur- vey. Users were happy with the quality and quantity of service. In these days of suspicions surrounding tax- supported facilities, the library is a fine example of what public investment can mean. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Jeff Nagel 1001 WINNER NEWS/SPORTS Sarah Zimmerman Fe tERoEEe NEWS/COMMUNITY: Jennifer Lang [ FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping & Carol McKay COMPETITION CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Terri Gordon ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: - Bert Husband & Stacy Gyger ‘ TELEMARKETER: Stacy Gyger , COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur Owe AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $56,25(+$3,94 GST)=60.19 per year; Seniors $49.50 (+$3.47 GST)=52.97; Out of Province $63.22 (+34,43 GST)=67,65 Outside of Canada (6 months) $152.34 (+$10.66 GST)=163.00 MEMBER OF B.C, AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION HCNA seers ce B.C. PRESS COUNCIL (wwubeprasecouneilorg) Serving the Terrace and Thombill area. Publishad on Wednesday of gach waek at 3210 Clinton Street, Terraca, British Cotumbla, V8G 5R2. Storles, photographs, Mustrations, designs and typestylas In the Terraca Standard are Ihe property of the copyright holders, Including Carlboo Press (1969} Ltd., its illustration repro services and advertising agencias. Reproduction in whole or In part, wilhoul written parmission, is specifically prohibited. Authorized as second-class mall pending lhe Post Offica Dapartmant, for payment ol postage In cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents - for their time and talents =A CANADA'S POING FIREWORKS AND FLAG WAVING ON JULY 1ST? WELL, THEY'RE A LITTLE EARLY FOR THE | —&TH OF JULY, Bur WHAT \ THE HECK! IT'S NEVER .| Too EARLX TO WAVE — THE RED, WHITE AND ®@LUE., VICTORIA — As bus loads of protesters converged on Cal- gary last week to voice their dissatisfaction, anger or even outrage over globalization dur- ing the G-8 meeting of the world’s most powerful leaders, the question once again arises: what constitutes legitimate protest? During last year’s meeting in Genoa, one person got killed by police during violent protests. I was in Rome at the time and although my Italian is somewhat spotty, it didn’t take me too long to get the gist of the screaming head- lines. This time, it was difficult for protesters to get anywhere neat the action. Kananaskis resembled a mountain fortress. Here is how the place adver- tises itself on the Internet: “Situated in the heart of Al- berta’s spectacular Kananaskis Country, it’s the newest year- round recreational playground. Kananaskis Country encom- passes over 4,000 square kilo- © metres of: Canada’s most dra- matic.. natural beauty. It in- cludes three. provincial parks: Bow Valley, Bragg Creek, and Peter Lougheed Provincial park. Noteworthy, these parks are considered the most user friendly areas on the Trail of the Great Bear.” That description leaves no doubt that it would be next to impossible for both legitimate protesters and hooligans to get anywhere near the heads of state. Kananaskis ain’t Genoa. ae FROM THE CAPITAL: HUBERT BEYER That means Calgary will have to do, Now to the question of what constitutes legitimate protest. Smashing windows doesn’t. Setting vehicles on fire doesn’l, Neither does pelting police officers with rocks, hoping they will retaliate, so they can claim police brutal- ity. Let me give you an exam- ple of a protest that, in my. opinion, carried weight. Earlier this year, several young people with Victoria’s Youth Employment Project in- vaded the office of Victoria- Beacon Hill MLA Jeff Bray. And what did they do after they had “occupied” the of- fice? They cleaned it, to pro- test funding cuts by Ottawa that may kill this very effec- tive job-training program. I'd say that sends a more powerful message to Premier Gordon Campbell than any violent act. 1 know these kids impressed me, By comparison, I was cer- tainly not impressed with the actions of protesters in Genoa last year. Again, I didn’t have io understand Italian to see from the TV coverage that I would rather be governed by the kind of people that make up the G-8 than the rabble that descended on Genoa. Which isn’t to say that their complaints aren’t valid. I don’t like everything about globali- zation either, but I don’t attack cops. I use the tools I have the fortune to pussess: writing, Take one Jagei Singh, who is one of the more high-profile leaders in the Canadian wing of the global movement against, among many other things, globalization. When asked in a TV inter- view whether the “diversity of tactics” he preaches included viclence, Singh replied, “I am appesed ta violence. That’s why ] oppose the G-8.” Here is his reasoning: “If a house is’ burning down: ‘and there's a -small. child: ‘inside,. _ it's acceptable to break a’ win- dow and take out that child.” Now, if this isn’t twisted thinking, I don’t know what is. Because he is opposed to vio- lence, anything he terms vio- lent is a genuine target of his own violence. A Messiah in his own mind. And some of the young and, I might add, misguided kids _ Toutinely showing up at events deemed viclent by the likes of Jagei Singh, swallow his bait hook, line and sinker. Protest is an important in- gredient of democracy. Without the right to protest, dictatorship lurks around the corner, In the march of nations to- ward democracy and the never- ending quest to refine the sys- tem by those who have achieved it, peaceful protest: has shown the best results. When those angry over Pre- mier Gardon Campbell’s cut- backs firebomb his consti- tuency office and criminally harass his wife, you can bet the government will only respond with greater determination’ to push it agenda. When, on the other hand, 20 people show up at the B.C, Le- gislative Buildings io voice their protest against the same cuts peacefully, it is bound to give the government second thoughts. Not only that, it will give voters second thoughts about the government their ballots put in power. The next election is less''thah thie’ vents aly cand the survival ‘iistiti¢t “ia” strong” mativator’ for any: tov ernment. Those who do protest aloba- lization and its more excessive by-products will not only serve their own interests better by reaming peaceful, but everyone else’s as well. Beyer can be reached at: E-mail: hubert@coolcom.com; Tei (250) 381-6900; Web http://www. hubertbeyer.com This Imig ation idea is good FINALLY, CANADA’S immi- gration minister is waking up to the drawbacks of ghost towns and sprawling cities. Denis Coderre is proposing a new policy that would put one million newcomers in sparsely populated regions by 2011. Why did immigration wait so long to do this? While it waited, dozens of prairie town became boarded up blots on the landscape. Miles of train tracks were torn out. Schools were abandoned. Local haspi- tals expired. Had immigrants been as- signed to low population areas, all along, we could have kept towns and villages alive and prevented thousands of acres of fertile farmland becoming superhighways, interchanges, and parking lots. Coderre would have immi- grants signing a contract agreeing to live in a rural area for three to five years. The idea probably comes from governments’ efforts to en- courage doctors, nurses, and teachers to serve in rural areas, at least for a few years, before clustering in congested cities. THIS ISTHE THROUGH BIFOCALS. CLAUDETTE SANDECKI Civil libertarians and human tights advocates will protest vaciferously. Heaven forbid any immigrant — even those fleeing torture, religious perse- cution, or economic hardship — should be required to fill in where the host country needs skilled workers to address spe- cific labour shortages. Under Coderre’s proposed policy, instead of living crow- ded in a “project” or tenement district, each immigrant fami- ly could enjoy a single dwelling, with a yard of their own, play space, and fresh air | OH MY Gop! Hat's THE LAKE TOR WAERE WE MEET THE PLANE instead of exhaust fumes. If towns actually swelled to historical populations, some of our threatened rail lines might revive to restore regular, reli- able service to an entire re- gion. Population gains could reopen many of our 52 closed schools; kids could remain in their neighbourhoods instead of bussing 35 minutes a day to the next province, as in the case of one Peace River school. The principle of managed growth is not new. When the mine in Elliot Lake, Ontario closed, company homes were advertised and retirees bought comfortable houses, cheap, giving the town a reason and taxes to go on. Similarly, when Tumbler Ridge coal mines closed, beautiful homes were sold at bargain prices, again mainly to retirees who infused new life and economic activity, helping to keep amenities for those who stayed on. Every week in The Western Producer, a Saskatoon farm newspaper, you can read ads selling modern 3-bedroom houses with a lot or acreage corre ANT THERE'S NO WATER UP HERE FoR A, ae ARE YOU SURE HE SAP MONDAY ae rae ’ = at So? How WAS > T HE SHEEP HuAT: for as little as $28,000. Some- times the price is so low it looks like a printing error. One Saskatchewan town, desperate to endure, offered to sell a house with a lot for one dollar, on condition the buyer move in and five there. The last I heard, one house had sold. Living in rural areas has be-’- come a struggle. You live in your car, travelling 30 minutes to the kids’ school, to reach a hospital, to commute to work, or even to buy a quart of milk in some cases, A healthy popu- lation would relieve much of that by supporting its own stores and services, - Statistics prove most immi- grants end up in cities such as Vancouver, Calgary or Toronto. Toronto has a population of five million, with 6,000 street people and a 12-year wait for affordable housing, More than 500,000 -Appli- cants are awaiting. ‘permission to immigrate to Canada, They would go a long way to slabi- lizing provincial census. num- bers. Allocated to key areas, rather than further overwhelm cities, their presence could re- vive dwindling communities. 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