Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 8, 1999 TERRACE STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 * FAX: (250) 638-8432 EMAIL: standard@kermode.net More damage IN THE armed forces they call it collateral damage — things that get blown apart in the at- tempt to get at the main target. Add Sleeping Beauty Lodge to the growing list: of collatera] damage caused by the never ending. war of attrition grinding down health care here. Opened five years ago, the former nurses’! residence on the grounds of Mills Memorial: Hospital was an innovative and welcome addi-' tion to northwest health care. ; Renovation money came from a provincial’ grant and the project was undertaken by the local. Elks and Order of the Royal Purple. It stood out; as one of the best examples of how public money ; should be used and of a service club success’ story here in the last decade. . The lodge provided affordable hostel-like ac- commodation for out-of-town people who had. family members as patients, for out-of-town pregnant women nearing term and for out-of- town people who needed hospital services but: who didn’t need to be admitted as patients. Prior to the lodge opening, these people would‘ either have to find their own accommodation, slay in hotels or motels or be admitted as patients. Indeed, one of the key aspects of the’ lodge was to avoid having people be admitted as patients when it was not necessary, thus saving the health care system thousands of dollars. But what do we have now? With the hospital restricting admissions by shutting down beds be- ° cause there aren’t enough nurses, there isn’t, enough business to keep Sleeping Beauty Lodge} } open so it’s closing down. And that’s the terrible irony. What was a way to save overall health care costs is going out of ) business. It: means ‘that. for'some® people,: health; | care costs. will go up if they have to travel to. other places for medical care. It’s eerily similar to the persistent ongoing problem of having to fly people out of the north for treatment at an ex- horbitant cost because of the lack of adequate facilities here. All over the province, hostel-like facilities near ‘hospitals have become a popular way of meeting | “the needs of patients and their families. Except’ for here. It makes little sense. Then again, little with the way the health care system now works + makes any sense. North rules! DON’T LOOK NOW, but the north has moved into Victoria big time. With Prince Rupert’s Dan Miller the premier and Lois Boone from Prince George the deputy premier, the top two political positions in the ‘government are now filled by northerners. As northerners we like to think we’re straight shooters and want our politicians to be the same. Now that two of our own are down in the evil south, let’s hope that will be the case. Besides, it’s nearly past the deck-building season anyway. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS Jeif Nagel * NEWS/SPORTS: Christiana Wiens NEWS/COMMUNITY: Alex Hamilton FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Carole Kirkaldy ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Bedford, Bunnie Cote, Mark Beaupre TELEMARKETER: Tabatha Orange DARKROOM/COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Julie Davidson, Andrea Malo SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $57.30 per year; Scniors $50.75; Out of Province $64.39 Outside of Canada (6 months) $158.25 (ALL PRICES INCLUDE GST) HEMBER OF B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION. CANADIAN COMMURITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION AND B.C. PRESS COUNCIL CNA on Somaaarr plrwsesrens ies SHAD Eotvodin ood fuboe Serving the Terrace and Thomhill area. Published on Wednesday of each week al 3210 Clinton Street, Tenace, British Columbla, VaG 5R2, Stoves, photographs, illustrations, dasigns and in the Terraca Standard ara the property of the Copyright holdars, Including Cariboo Press (1960) Ltd., its itustration repro services and advertising agencies. Reproduction in whol orin part, without written permission, Is spectiically prohibited, Authorled as second-class mall panding the Post Olfica Depatiment, tor paymant cf postage in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for thelr time and talents ion . SORRY, BUT WE ALREADY "HAVE ENOUGH CLOWNS APPLYING... Feds to protect environment VICTORIA — Protection of the environment has rarely been writ large in Ottawa, but that’s apparently about to change. And the credit goes to David Anderson, Canada’s new minis- ter for the environment. Anderson, the Liberal MP for Victoria, announced last week that he intends to put some teeth into the proposed endangered-species legislation. Until now, Ottawa has always laken the safe course of passing environmental legisla- tion that wouldn’t offend too many people. None of Ander- son’s predecessors have shown willingness to go head-to-head in cabinet for their portfolio. Bill Vander Zalm, a former premier of British Columbia, would probably have called them a gutless bunch. . Not.so Anderson. Tn ‘its. press ‘pe tae ee aga Within the-r Tules, com- ‘panies will chose the fines. - vious form, ‘the proposed endangered-species legislation would have applied to federal lands only, a pretty innocuous undertaking, considering that apart from the few federal parks, Ottawa doesn’t exactly control large land holdings in this country. Under Anderson’s plan, the law would also apply ta provin- cial and privately-owned land, which makes eminent sense. FROM THE CAPITAL . HUBERT BEYER Most animals this law is to pro- tect from extinction, have the habit of hanging around areas other than federal parks and Revenue Canada buildings. Anderson further proposes that violators be subject to heavy fines and even jail. That, too, makes sense. As long as Paying: fines - is’: cheaper . than Tough environmental legis- Jation is not a new idea. When Germany realized some 35 years ago that their beautiful Rhine river was but a running sewer, all life destroyed, legis- lators finally took action and gave birth to the toughest envi- ronmental legislation at the time. After some companies paid fines in the millions, and a few senior executives viewed the world through bars for a few months, the Rhine and other rivers and streams began to recover, Today the Rhine, once again, teems with fish and you can safely swim in it, as I did when I was a kid. Tough medicine like that doesn’t go down well with everyone. chairman of the Forest Alliance, called Anderson’s proposed legislation a “sledge-hammer approach” and warmed of dire economic and social conse- quences, Take the finger off the panic button, Jack. Anderson says the law would only be considered with economic and social con- sequences on individuals and communities in mind. Sin seme an Also: keepri inanind. that most . “species on the endangered list aré found not in forests but grasslands. So, let's not make noises about whole forest regions being shut down to pro- tect a couple of critters. Tough environmental laws are needed ta discourage those who willfully and brazenly dis- regard any interests but their own and would rather pay rela- tively low fines than get with the program. Jack Munro, the — Also, there are times when stringent environmental legisla- tion benefits business. A case in point is the sudden decrease in the number of sea others’a few years back, unleashing a chain of events that eventually hurt the fishing industry. ‘After the numbers of sea others went down drastically, the number of sea urchins, a favourite item on the otters’ menu, increased — sharply, destroying the kelp beds that served as breeding grounds for many fish species. Fish stocks dropped accord- ingly, which wouldn't have happened, had we looked after the otters in the first place. Anderson isn’t a newcomer to environmental protection. I was around in early 70s, report- ing for the Daily Colonist in 2 Victoria, (some. mean. peaple would say I was around when B.C, joined Confederation) when, as a young: Liberal MP, he led a successful crusade against unsafe ail tanker traffic in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Here's to hoping that he'll be similarly successful in his new endeavor. e-mail: hubert@coolcom.com Tel; (250) 381-6900 Web: www. hubertbeyer.com Face it. We're just too nice A THIRD boatload of iNegal migrants have foisted them- selves upon us. As before, we gather in these queue-jumpers ‘like long awaited honoured guests. So what if they shove aside foreigners who have applied through proper imrni- gration channels, We serve these illegal migrants meals cooked by fine chefs, and provide them with clean, comfortable living quar- ters. After a grueling interview by immigration and RCMP, and a free medical, we coach them on how to sign up for welfare, hand each $500 in spending money, and invite them to keep in touch over the next two years while we inch through immi- gration hearings. “We can’t turn them away,” said Madame Robillard, immi- gration minister when the first - boatload of 123 docked in Gold River, “because Canada signed an international treaty promis- THROUGH BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI ing to aid all refugees,” The U.S. signed the same treaty. So did Australia, But they have no qualms about intercepting illegal migrants outside of territorial waters and shooing them back where they came from. Why is Canada so spineless? Because our politicians are too busy making like comedians in the legislature. And we worty too much about “what people will think.’ The world things Canada is a pushover. Our immigration laws have holes bigger than a sweater knilted by a beginner. And we don’t have an MP in Otlawa with the sense to use 2 datning needle. If we do tighten our immi- gration laws, we lack personnel to enforce them. Cutbacks dec- imated our Coast Guard. We ran short of RCMP years ago. Tetrace alone is short seven RCMP officers. The few ser- vice personnel we stil! have are sprinkled across every trouble spot in the world except our vulnerable shores. A hundred RCMP officers are involved screening the first two boatloads. Where will immigration skim the extra RCMP to process this latest load of almost 200 illegal migrants? Can we afford to WHY'S EVERYONE STANDING HERE? Burners C7 THE No wad SIGN 15 on! HE WALKED! ignore local crime to deal with China’s exports? The 40 juveniles from te second baatioad cost us $8,20 each, per month, for foster care, interpreters, legal aid lawyers and RCMP to accompany them to-court. At the same time, the federal agricullure minister says we can't subsidize our starving farmers $80 per acre lo keep their families alive until spring. Many farm families have existed all year on léss than one juvenile is costing us for a month. Im fed up with politicians unconcerned about government waste and lax immigration laws, not to mention a screen- ing process so slow it amounts to wholesale acceptance. By the time politicians dam the sluiceways in our immigra- tion process ~ if they ever do - we could be overrun: ~..and bankrupted. Hold PO YoU. \_]