KEENA ANGLER. -
ROB BROWN

Kemanogate

N THE GUN-TOTING, _ crack-
riddied empire to the south of us
there have been some memorable
scandals in recent history. There was
the Watergate imbroglio where, in an awkward
atlempt to secure political advantage, the covert
plumbing of Dick Nixon’s minion men led to the
collapse of the Republican regime and the fall of
a president. There was Iranscam where a zealous
Ollie North went a little overboard in an arms
deal consistent with the policies of — but
ultimately embarrassing to — his doddering chief.

Who can forget the salacious sexual harassment
scandal swirling around the appointment of Judge
Clarence Thomas or the litillating escapades of
wild Bill Clinton? —

And now there is a furore called Whitewater:
some kind of murky, unreal real estate deal al-
legedly involving the CEO and his reform-
minded lady, Hillary.

This stuff is grist to the mills of the Yankee
media gods; cach scandal dominates the US air-
waves, secuting Monday Night Football-sized
ratings, each one winds up saturated in printer’s
ink, Congressional committees are struck, Mega-
watts of human energy are expended to get at the
truth or obscure the truth. This is how scandal is
handled in America; not so in Canada,

Here an enormous scandal, with far-reaching
implications for the Canadian people, touching
the highest echelon of government, gets nothing
near the kind of exposure and coverage it merits.
Call it Kemano Completion, or Kemano II, or

Kemanogate, the events surrounding Alcan’s.

megaproject raise fundamental questions about
how: this. country has been and will-be run, Con-
sider the following disturbing events and the
questions flowing from them,

In July of 1980 Romeo LeBlanc, the federal:

minister of Fisheries, worried about the survival
of Fraser River salmon that had just experienced
the driest period ever recorded for the Upper
Nechake Watershed, ovdered the Aluminum
Company of Canada to release more cokd water
into the Nechako river. Alcan, with a new agree-
ment recently signed with BC Hydro, defied the
minister and sent the water to ils generators. The
Minister took the Aluminum Army to court. The
case went to the BC Supreme court where justice
Berger enjoined Alcan, ordering them to release
walter into the river.

Seeking to avoid court, Alcan hired a private
consulting firm called Envirocon to do studies on
the impact of Kemano II, while the DFO con-
vened a Kemano Task Force to review those
studies and do studies of their own.

Late in 1985 Alcan chose to defy the injunction,
When the Department of Fisheries and Oceans
(DFO) took the company back to court, Alcan
challenged the federal jurisdiction over the water
flows in the Nechako. In preparation for the legal
battle, the DFO assembled a team of scientists,
representing the best qualified, most experienced
men to deai with the issue. But before the case
could be heard a closed door mecting between Al-
can and provincial and federal scientists was held.
Within four days, the so-called "Settlement
Agreement" was hammered out giving Alcan the
flows it wanted all along. Conspicuously absent
from those talks were the members of the
Kemano Task Force.

Subsequently, members of the Task Force have
leveled allegations of high level political inter-
ference and claim, they were purposely not invited
to the 1987 Settlement Agreement Meetings, al-
legations backed up by leaked DFO memoranda.

In 1990 environmental groups and the Carricr-
Sekani Tribal council filed for an Environmental
Review under the Federal EARP guidelines,
whereupon Robert deColret, with the blessing of
Prime Minister Mulroney, issued an exemption to
the BARP guidelines. — the first and only one
ever issued — to the Kemane Completion Pro-
ject,

Later, an all-party commitiee of the House of
Commons with the Job of overseeing par-
liamentary regulations characlerized the Kemano
exemption as ‘‘illegal, unconstitutional, and in-
consistent with the rule of law, and an usurpation
of parllament’s sovercignty.’? The committee
chairman suggested the exemption was akin to
exempting an individual from the Human Rights
Code, ‘Something you might expect under a sub-
versive government,” he said. ‘*But, something
that can't be tolerated in a state governed by The
Rule of Law.’”

With a wide trail of slime leading right lo two
Prime Ministers and some of their cabinet minis-
ters, it’s time for the current PM to make good on
his election promise and allow the federal
scientists who worked on Kemano to speak open-
ly on the issues surrounding Kemano. Both the
PM and Premier have got to show some testicular
fortitude and open the way for a complete review
of Kemano II, one that will investigate the. past,
present and future political and environmental im-
pacts of the projecl, + '

MALCOLM BAXTE

Men stay on Christy fields

HAVING PUT the matter in the
hands of its administration, cour-
cil has decided not to’ interfere
with the decision to allow the
Men’s Soccer League to use the
fields al Christy Park,

In a report to a council com-
mittes, recreation superintendent
Steve Scott concluded ‘‘the cor-
rect decision was made.’”

Oullining his reasons, Scolt

noted the 1984 agreement be-

tween the clty and Terrace Youth
Soccer Association (TYSA) guar-

anteed the organization use of the
Fields for 15 years.

However, he added, “‘It does
not indicate the association will
have sole use of the park
facilities.”’

And, he pointed out in that
same agreement TYSA agreed to
involve other community sports
groups. ,

Scott. maintained that provision
suggested ‘community use is not
only possible, but also
desirable’’.

As For this particular season, he
sald TYSA had told his depart-
ment it would nol need the fields
most Sundays.

Men’s Soccer is using one of
the flelds on Sundays from 5 p.m.

Tuming to TYSA concems
aboul the condition of the playing
surface being harmed by the men,
Scot pointed out they were using
the fields on a rotation basis with
only one game played per week.

There were also weekly inspec-
tions of the turf‘and the depart-

ment would take steps at the first
sign of trouble.

However, he added, “To date
the turf is deemed to be in ¢x-—
cellent condition.’

Finally, he reminded counell-
lors of Policy #6 which required
city recreation facilities be made
available to as many people as
possible.

The committee decided to
receive the report without recom-
mendation. Council adopted the
same approach.

cn

| Peddling for the Pope ~

TWELVE YOUTH spent Sunday, June 26 peddling in a 150
km bike relay the Terrace weigh scales to Kleanza Creek and
back. They were raising money from pledges to travel ta hear

Pope John Paul Il speak at 10th World Youth Day being held
in Manila, Philippines January 10-15, 1995. The relay was
organized by the local Knights of Columbus,

Cole Petroleum blaze to win

HURLING HURRICANES
Larry Lamb and Cam Ratcliff
led Cole Petroleum to an
undefeated run and top spot in
the Men’s Fastpitch League
toumey held here June 23-24.
And when the perfect record
looked in jeopardy in their
final game, against SKB
Wreckers, the bat of Troy
Farkvam came lo the rescue.
His two-run blast in the sixth

put Cole on top to stay as they
compieted a 5-0 sweep of all-
comers.

Farkyam, Phil Webb and
Kevin Lagrow had shown a
lalent for finding the fence
throughout the weekend’s play
to lead the Cole Petroleum
attack. .

Solid defensive play in the
field which kept the
opposition additions to the

scoreboard to a minimum
added the final element to
Cole’s formula for success.

The Terrace Oldtimers put
up the strongest challenge to
Cole, mustering a 3-2 record
while the Chevron Juniors
took third spot with two wins
and a tie in their five games.

Cole took home $800 for the
win, the Oldtimers $400 and
the Juniors $300.

he
i

ie A agin ea ae

A PERFECT record left the Cole Petroleum t

Hassan

The tournament’s home run
hitting title went to Chevron’s
Bruce Neid.

Although they finished at the .
bottom of the table, the
Rockies had reason to
celebrate.

Their win over Tymoshuck
Agencies was their first of the
season,

Now their hoping it’ll
become a habit.

fo

they swept all before them in a

Fastpitch League tourney here,

SECTION C
R 638-7283