PAGE 4, THE HERALD, Tuesday, May 9, 1978 ——— Editorial : It would be very easy for an editor to feel his role of commenting on the news scene requires him to come down on the critical side as often as possible. It is sometimes easier to be a “Jeremiah”, a doom-sayer, “the world is going to Hell in a basket”, “the End is at hand”, “this generation is going to the dogs” prophesier than a forecaster of pleasant things. But, as far as the Terrace-Kitimat HERALD is concerned, from five months tenure in the Editor’s Chair, there is little but good to report. Circulation of the HERALD is not only “UP”, it appears to be jumping. We have an ap- proximate 800 new readers in Kitimat, alone. New subscriptions are still arriving, daily. Our telephone calls and letters and visitors to the editor would seem to be reaching a maximum?’ or at least almost tothe point where we are going to have to plan appointments, in order to leave time to get our “‘editing’’ done. But this is good- all good- and we would not want it any other way. We must say a word or two about the ad- vertisers. It has always been my policy, while editor of other newspapers, to keep a good distance between the role of editor and the ad- vertising department. Believe me when I say it is easy to find oneself being influenced or pressured to become a mouthpiece for the heavy advertisers. Though seldom translated into words, it is not hard to feel the inference that unless a newspaper tones down its stand on a certain subject, that particular advertiser could take his advertising eleswhere. Our advertisers have been highly supportive. There can be no denying it- even if one hates to admit it...newspapers, just like any other medium, rely on advertising revenue in order to live. Nonewspaper that I know of supports itself any other way. . The advertisers in Kitimat and Terrace have been rallying to the HERALD in a most en- couraging manner. From g forty page paper of only a couple of months ago, they have enabled us to grow to sixty pages. To properly present the news to include the full spectrum of coverage a daily newspaper should have, we still need more pages than that, and are hopeful the present trend will ensure a continued healthy and interesting growth. It must also be recognized, too, that ad- vertisers are usually not, and not expected to be, purely philanthropic in their reason for paying out hard dollars for advertising space. An ad- vertiser’s concern is to so display the wares and services he has to offer where they will be most advantageously seen, attractively described, and reach the most people - who will decide to purchase his products and services. Once the advertiser finds that a particular newspaper is getting results, he will usually continue to ad- vertise, and as long as the advertising continues to increase his business, he may be tempted to increase his advertising space. _ , Last week we hada good example of the selling power of our Classified Advertising page when one of our staff put his 1966 Comet car for sale. Well over FIFTY phone calls poured in during the two days the ad ran. ‘The car was sold within. : the first hour the newspaper with the ad appeared on the newstand. A week later the calls are still coming in. THough this may sound like an exaggeration it is absolutely true. At one point when the calls were coming in from in- terested car buyers at 9 p.m it was necessary to use the Hold” button in order to get any work one. To our advertisers, then, a sincere “Thank you” for support and confidence. . To our new subscribers- much as we deplore inflation’s effect on the prices of everything, including newspapers (we still haven’t accustomed our- selves to newspapers costing more than a dime! ) we hope you will stay with us helping us grow and watching the news develop in one of the most interesting places in the world- the Pacific North-West. As to the future. We can promise this. There are some very interesting news stories “coming up”. We have enough “‘leaks”’, ‘“‘exposes”’, “hot tips”, “interesting leads’’ tucked away, thanks to our readers- to keep us busy for a good six months. (This does not mean, however, that we are not interested in getting more). Because of the nature of some of these, we have to be sure of the accuracy of every statement for our own protection. ' A major piece of news coverage we are ALL waiting for, I'm sure, is the federal election. Our prime minister has promised a pronouncement on when we may expect this to occur, sometime this week. Most of our ‘‘sources’’ insist there will not he an election before Fall- but Mr. Trudeau seems to enjoy his reputation for doing the un- predictable. . . ; One interesting item in today’s morning mail came from the Communist Party of Canada, B.C. Provincial Committee. (Appropriately enough, their letterhead, is printed in red ink). ‘A message of appreciation losing a list of 14 B.C, federal candidates nominated by the Communist Party along, with a short biographical sketch of each candidate. Campaign manager federal campaign is On the provincial scene, for the B.C. Communist Maurice Rush. polities don’t appear to be quite as interesting at the moment. Perhaps it is because of Victoria and Vancouver that seems many of the issues that hit our distance from to make so the headlines “‘down there” irrelevant “up here” in the Northwest. The announcement by Cyril Shelford that he willnot be running in the next B.C. election made the headlines putting Skeena in the news for a few weeks. So far we have not noticed any rush forward of enthusiastic candidates to succeed him, Unemployment and inflation still are the major concerns absorbing the attention of the public. None of the political parties has come up with solutions to these. The general attitude of politicians - rightly or wrongly- is that the world is in a general state of yecession, and Canada has to wait for a world upswing before its own economy will show signs of recovery. In other words- they feel all we can do is wait and see, One last word. We appreciate hearing from our readers with news, suggestions, ideas for editorials, comments on the news, letters to the editor, photos of general or particular interest- whatever, as the expression goes, “turns you on”. We are striving to reflect public opinion- and with your help- so we will. Report from Ottawa Iona Campagnolo Despite the almost constant speculation in Ottawa about an impending federal election (speculation which may be fact by the time you read this), Parliament is continuing to operate effectively, and to deal with important items of legislation. PUBLIC SERVICE PAY LEVELS One piece of legislation which has been recently introduced - and which has generated considerable public discussion- is Bill C-28, a bill that would amend the Act that governs collective bargaining in the federal. Public Service. This ‘legislation, together with other govern- ment measures - like the creation of a price and incomes monitoring agency - is designed to ensure an orderly transition to the post-control period. Its particular objective is to ensure that the public service follows, rather than leads, the private sector in wage rates. In recent years - in the years since ‘public sector unions were granted the right to bargain and strike - public service wages have not only caught up, but in many instances have exceeded, wages in the private sector. This has not only placed an increased burden on Canadian tax- payers -.who pay public servants - but has on occasion set unreasonably high precedents that - have fueled excessive wage demands in the private sector. The elements of this bill have been widely discussed in recent years. authorities including; the Special Joint Com- mittee of Parliament which investigated public service pay scales; the outgoing chairman of the Public Service Staff Relations Board, Jacob Finkelman; and the government’s discussion paper for the post-controls period ‘‘Agenda for Co-operation”. there has been a good deal of controversy over the bill, I would like to draw attention to some of its more important provisions ‘- provisions that are frequently misinterpreted or misunderstood, EQUIVALENCE . Under the amended Act, government ar- bitrators will be instructed to compare public. service wage-benefits packages with similar jobs in the private sector. Where a public ser- vice group is behind a similax group in the private sector, the bill makes Provision for a phased catch-up. This will avoid sudden, trend- setting jumps. , Where the public service is ahead of the out- It is based on recommendations made by a number of . The grezn concrete building on Eby Street, near the City Hall and Safety ‘7 Building is now the home of the Northwest District for Indian Affairs and Northern Development, The move into the stil] unnamed building was carried out over Thursday and Friday of laut week, District Manager Don Snedden said the move enables the Indian Affairs staff ot be together under one room rather than in ¢woseparated buildings. Thirty employees staff the district office. Two more staff are belng added from the regional olfice- and government to make the move. engineer, who arrived Monday, and a community planner- still being sought. The Distrlet office 1s responsible for 15 Indian Bands over 90,000 square miles strecthing irom the Queen Charlottes, weat, to Telegraph Creek and Iskut, in the north. All the Indian Bands supported the consolidation of of- fices under the ene reof and were instrumental in bringing pressure on the \ _ OTTAWA OFFBEAT — BY Richard Jackson Ottawa,- It has to be a sign of weakness that the ‘‘me too” Conservatives, in responding to a Liberal move, just don’t seem to he able to find it in their hearts to be as positive. Knowing a good issue when they see it, the Conservatives knew the liberals had something in their -“‘get tough with the public service” position. . But they couldn’t bring themselves tothe point © of unabashed public service bashing in their uncertain attempt to “me too” the Liberals. In fact, after staking their position on the public service — between the disastrous ‘‘give- them-what-they-want”’ position of the last 10 years and the “hit-'em-where-it-hurts” new policy of the Liberals --the Conservatives ap- peared to panic. ys , Seeming to suffer pangs of guilt, they rushed to the defence of the public service, even defen the Post Office and its trouble-making pos side market, the level of compensation would not unions be reduced - but neither would it be allowed to advance ata rate outstripping that in the private sector, Such an approach is the logical outcome of the government's commitment to keep its spending within reasonable bounds, - The Act will strengthen the role of the Pa Research Bureau - a body charged with the tas of, gathering data to support collective bargaining. - Its figures on comparative wage scales will be made public. I feel this is legislation with a pHilosophy to be supported by those interested in Fiscal responsibility that will continue to protect civil servants - while providing protection for tax payers against excessive demands on the public treasury by public service unions. The bill will in all likelihood die on the order paper of this Parliament. -If it is reintroduced there will be time*to adjust certain of its provisions to more sensitively reflect the con- cerns and needs of both civil servants and tax payers - and to adopt the positive recom- mendations of the Finkelman report in any future legislation. . Incredible as it still seems, when the govern- the bill outlawing. ment was pushing thro stal' strikes during and until 21 days after ederal elections, there were Conservatives pleading for “understanding” of the strike-crazy mail service. : so Realizing that the taxpayers had raged for years about public service strikes, public service Premium pay setting the inflation pace, public service perks, and that public service indexed nslon perhaps most of all, the Liberals, going toan election, knew there were votes to be won by cracking down. ’ Hard, se _ And with the postal unions, fast. -. That's when the Conservatives, with former Tory’ Postmaster General Walter Dinsdale ‘suddenly discovered the postal workers were more to be pliied than punished. But with the Liberals insisting, the anti-strike law js on the books now, . ~ __ On the musele, Treasury Board President Bob Andras, realizing that 13 million taxpayers outvote one million public servants, proposed countering strikés with lockouts, Going further, Mr. Andras would ban strikes above the $33,500 salary bracket. What’s more, the outlawing of strikes. would not only apply to postal workers during and until 21 days after an election but to all public ser- vants designated as “essential to the safety and security of the state.” Then runaway’puplic service pay would be brought under control by making the average in business and industry the maximum in the public service, And finally a lid would be clamped on the in- ae dexing of public service pensions, Tough stuff, this. All of it proposed in a bill which makes ita plus issue for the Liberals. To counter, the Conservatives, after cham- . pioning the postal workers, talk softly about Pilie service strikes, even when safety and security are involved. —_ Outlaw them? Horrors, no. Instead, set up still another government bureaucracy to deal with the problem and call it the Public Interests Disputes Commission. “The Commission,” say the Conservatives, “would define essential services, and give assistance to both sides, assess danger and damage to the public interest and make recommendations for terminating th deadlock,” Isn't that stirring stuff? Then on the issue of public service pay - and how to stop it leading the inflation spiral -- the Conservatives, bold as ever, say ‘there must be a complete review of pay and working conditions so that wages do not increase faster than the rate in business and industry.” Only on the question of indexing ublic service pensions do. the Conservatives take the bit in their teeth and run away from the Liberals, - They, too, would put a ‘‘lid’’ on it, but make the public service, and not the taxpayers, foot the itl for indexing. Award winner “We Are Not Alone’, a Canadlan-produced radio documentary utilizing the story theme and advertising concept of the Columbia- EMI motion picture, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind’, last week (10) won the Best Radio Program of the Year Award a’ ‘he annual awards dinner 8,.0sored by the Montreal branch of the Association of Canadian taerion and Radlo Artista “We Are Not Alone’, ao survey of UFO phenomena and extra-terrestrial theses, features theories on the subjects by eatablished experts and authoritles, Among them [s Dr, J, Allen Hynek, noted astronomer and professor, who served as technical advisor. in the prodyction of “Close En- counters of the Third Kind” i General Oftice- 635-6957, Circulation - 635-6357 second class mall. patd in cash, Photographic content bermission of t TERRACE/KITIMAT daily herald PUBLISHER.,.Don Cromack = - MAN Onree & DITOR...Ernest Senior : E «Donna Vallleres (Te 5 7 REPORTERS...Scott Browes Imat Kieren bubiated OFFICE,..Pat Zelinsk) - 632-9747. ublished every weekday at 3212 Kalum St, Ti 2 B.C, A member of Varifled Circulation, Authorised cc Registration number 1201. Postage relurh postage guaranteed, NOTE OF COPYRIGHT The Herald retains tull, complete and sole co , In any advertisement produced and-er any edie published in the Herald. Reproduction is not permitted without ‘the written he Publisher. Letters-——— Dear Editor: It 1s Spring! The weather ig great and J enjoy a daily walk to work, partly because I just love our great outdoors and partly for the sake of participaction, I should say that I USED to enjoy the walk; more and more lately the degree of pleasure that [ . get from these walks has been greatly reduced by pop cans, pop bottles, car bodies, cardbodrd boxes and just generally a whole lot of stuff lying around that spells out POLLUTION of our town in capital letteers. T can recall a few years back we used to have an Anti-litter day. I can remember our kids all trying -. te outdo one another as they . lugged bursting bags of litter to a large bin that had been set up | in the downtown area or the pi . : What ever’ happened to Anti-lltter Day. Our town Jooka like it must have been cancelled dus. to extreme lack of vay ‘ ours DISGUSTED" EDITOR'S NOTE: Your letter arrived at an op-" portune time. This week Is “Ant-Litter Week". Sea Below: : Fellow British Colum- ns; T would like to invite you to join my Ministry and Out- doors Unlittered in our “Pitch-In '78'’ program. . This year the campaign will * be held during May 8-14, Hundreds of municipal coun hain and at comm organizations wee particlpated in 1977 1. organizing a beautlfleation ‘or con- servation project; 2. conducting educational campaigns in thelr com- Thunity focussing on litter control and beautification; 3, Initiating a cloan-up, British Co: wmbia~ is beautiful. Let's keep it that way by “pitching in!', you for your con- | thaued support, Yours sincerely James A. Nielsen the En- . Published by Sterting Publishers (Kithnat-Kitamaat)