4 Terrace Review — Wednesday, July 27, 1988 _ EDITORIAL oe ee’ . It works both ways Commenting on remarks made last week by Skeena MLA Dave Parker on CFTK Radio, Terrace Review publisher Mark Twyford does believe that Parker raises a valid point. News reports from lower mainland media are often sensational and shrill in their coverage. However, the Terrace Review newspaper takes pride in the ob- jective and accurate manner in which it reports the local news. Dave Parker should clarify which media he is referring to when he makes statements of this kind. Parker has never come in to the Review’s news of- fice to discuss current political events. It is difficult and sometimes impossible to compliment a politician on his accomplishments when he doesn’t return phone calls or holds in-camera meetings. The press could be doing more to promote our elected officials in their endeavours. It does take some commitment and time on our elected officials’ behalf to help us promote their accomplishments. Twyford feels that our elected officials could be do- ing more to establish a rapport with local news media. Defensive pedaling After extensive inquiries we have discovered there is no bicycle safety program available in Terrace, and right now we’re wondering why that is. Motorcyclists have periodic safety seminars here, the RCMP and associated volunteers conduct an annual bicycle marking program to prevent theft, there is a cycling club — although a small one — in the area, and retail merchants do a substantial trade in bikes and related gear. When it comes to traffic safety, however, two-wheeled travellers are on their own. Bicyclists are the peasants of the King’s Highway. Being banned from riding on the sidewalk in the in- terest of pedestrian safety, they have to share the same pavement with logging trucks, buses, pickup trucks, hot-rodders, commuters and tourists. It’s reasonable to assume that hardly a day goes by around here without one or a number of near- collisions between motor vehicles and bikes. We have a willing and active bicycle club, a police detachment concerned with accident prevention, and a parks and recreation department with the structure and facilities to. carry a safety program with the assistance of volunteers. It’s time for a formal attempt to teach kids how to ride with their own best interests in mind, Terrace Review (é&cNaA Atl material appearing in the Tarrace Review Is protected under Canadian copyright Registra- tlon No. 362775 and cannot legally be repro- duced for any raason without permission of tha publisher. Errora and omissions. Advertising Is accepted Established May 1, 1985 The Terrace Review is published each Wednesday by Close-Up Business Services Lid. Publisher: on the pconaition that in the | event ot ypographical grrar, that portion af the advartis- Mark Twyford ing space occupied by the erroneous Item wilt Editor: net be charged for, but tha balance of the adver- Michael Kelly tisament will ba paid for at the applicable rate. Advertisers must assume responsibility for es: rors in any classified ad which Is supptied to the Terrace Review In handwritten form. in compliance with the 8.C. Human Rights Act, no advertisement will be published which . Staff Reporters: - Tod Strachan Charlynn Toews ' Advertising Sales: discriminates agains! a person due 10 age, raca, : Marj Twyford of ein jor, Bex, nationality, ancestry or place Typesetting: 4535 Greig Avenue, Linda Copeland Terrace, B.C. Production: : ~ Jim Hall, Alvin Stewart, Phone: 635-7840 Gurbax Gill, Linda Mercer . Office: Carrie Olson — One year “aeenption: Accounting: Ganada $2400 Marj Twyford out of Canada $50.00 Sentors In Terrace and District $12.0 Seniors out of Terrace and Distrlet $15.00 ee ’ §econd-class mail registration No, 6896. Letters to the editor will be considered for publication only when signed. ase Include your telephone number. te editor reserves the right to condense and edit letters. Opinions ‘expressed are not necessarily those of the Terrace Keview. i Dpeenege nan it rh Ti Bt Ff ib ER ON THE LINE Af DE... PJ HAVE THE FARE. SOME FOREIGN DIGNITARIES ARBVING THIS AFTERNOON, HE. WANTS 10 i KNOW IF HE CAN USE HIS 5 ee 4 i Tr ey en, ee Warfare brewing in Victoria by Victoria correspondent Mark Collins The political battle of this decade in B.C. politics is brew- ing within the Social Credit Party. Some of this province’s most experienced MLAs and an unknown number of Socred supporters want Premier Bill Vander Zalm to make some changes, but the man will not be moved. The Premier made his position clear following the Boundary-Similkameen byelec- tion loss. ‘‘] am not going to run away from my convictions or compromise them because it is politically popular. If that’s what I am asked to do I will just run my term and somebody else can take it because I don’t intend to do that.” “Don't ask me to com- promise convictions or give up moral principles or get away from decisive leadership,’’ he said. ‘If I can’t make decisions as a leader in government then | ] don’t want to be a leader.” When Grace McCarthy declined the Premier’s invita- tion to be a member of his shuffled cabinet she made it clear that David Poole was a major part of the reason. She avoided use of his name, but complained about interference and arrogance from unelected people in the Office of the Premier. Poole, the Premier’s prin- cipal secretary, has taken on a larger role than previously . assumed by non-elected people. Some of the things he has become involved in have previously been handled by the elected Members of the Legislative Assembly. The man does not shrink from respon- sibility, but I think he does it more because he has to than because he wants to. Bill Vander Zalm has been : doing his thing in his own special way for almost two years now. Poole has had to pick up so many pieces in the Premier’s wake that the whole government would fall apart if the principal secretary loses his grip. The appointment of Peter Bazowski may help Poole manage the load by taking on some special projects but it won't change much. A controversial part of the cabinet shuffle is the relative qualifications of the people given full cabinet rank, as op- posed to those offered the much more junior parliamen- tary secretary positions. Graham Bruce was asked to serve as an understudy to Terry Huberts, the new minister of state for the Vancouver Island/Coast and North Coast development regions. Both men entered provincial politics for the first time in the _ October 1986 general election but that’s where the similarities end, Huberts was a veterinarian and, according to the latest biography published by the Of- fice of the Premier, a ‘“‘real estate enthusiast’’. While Dr. Huberts was doing a wonderful job of looking after cats and dogs on the Saanich Peninsula, Bruce was serving his fourth term as Mayor of North Cowichan. He played a major role in redevelopment of the sawmill town of Chemainus in- to an attractive tourist destina- tion and in a reforestation pro- ject «the declarations of Grace McCarthy and Brian Smith have opened the way for a flood of deeply held concerns.”’ You can’t blame Bruce for saying no thanks, but it took guts to do it because he may not get another offer. You can expect to see more Social Credit MLAs showing some guts in the future because the declarations of Grace McCar- thy and Brian Smith have opened the way for a flood of "* deeply held concerns. Those disagreements have been confined to the caucus room, but now that the Legislature has recessed and daily caucus meetings are over more and more Social Credit MLAs are going to be willing to say what they really think about provincial issues. Jack Davis did a lot of that during his years on the back bench and was labelled a maverick for doing so. Now we are going to have several mavericks. Grace McCarthy’s former ministerial assistant Jim Ben- nett will stay with her to help in the active role she intends to take on the back bench. Brian Smith plans a speaking tour of the province to keep the Social Credit Party together in ‘a time of turmoil’? and not allow the NDP to win the next election. The former attorney general is showing signs of strain from all the attention he is getting these days, dodging away from reporters who ask difficult questions. He’s getting tired of denying it but his ac- tions suggest renewed leader- ship aspirations. The MLA worthy of your closest attention is not on the back bench anymore. Bud Smith is now getting the cabinet experience he lacked when he ran for the Socred leadership in 1986.