At2 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 17, 1997 NDP kidnapped by corporations Helmut must go, says friend A FORMER prominent local NDPer wants people to sign the petition to recall Skeena MLA Helmut Giesbrecht ta help topple the government. : ae Hari Hamilton, a teacher in Nelson and a key member of the Green party there, says the NDP under Glen Clark has lost its direction. “Helmut’s a personal friend of mine and I don't know if we'll be one after he reads this,’’ said Hamilton who has been calling people in Terrace asking them to sign the peti- tion. “His. government -isn’t representing the people who voted for it,”’ said Hamilton. Hamilton’s premise is based on the slim majority of the NDP government. Should Giesbrecht and Pav] Ramsey in Prince George be recalled and should those seats be lost in by-elections, that majority would be threatened. Hamilton said that while the NDP were clecied on a broad-based set of principles, it’s now following a narrow path of corporate interests. “People say we could end up with something worse than Natives ponder recall GITWANGAK natives say they face a miserable Christ- mas aud they'll make Hel- mut Giesbrecit’s miserable if he doesn’t help them. About two dozen band Inembers proiested outside the MLA’s Terrace office Dec, 9, demanding provin- cial help re-starting the band-operaied Cged Forest Products sawmill. “If the NDP does not make efforts to focus in on our problems in the same way Dan Miller focussed in on the SCI situation, there is the possibility that people in our community will sign the recall petition,’’ said Cged chairman Larry Moore. “Tt was the aboriginal vote that elected the NDP and the MLA, yet, unlike our non-nalive counterparts, we have not seen the bene- fits,” added Art Loring, a band member: - The sawmill hasn’t run in more than a year, but log- ging re-started several weeks ago on hopes the sawmill could be restarted. But Moore said expected assistance from the province and a licence to export over- sized logs haven't been forthcoming. Logs were piling up in the yard, and logging has now been halted. Moore said the company’s partner thal manages wood- lands operations —. Interpac — wanls to seize the wood in the yard and scl] it below market value to pay off its own creditors, He said band members will prevent any attempt to remove wood, Moore says Cged can go it alone if the province can deliver $7 million in loan guarantees. Operation would mean 50 jobs for people in Gitwangak and Gitanyow, he said. Giesbrecht thinks be can keep B.C. Hydro from dis- © connecting mill power. He’s less optimistic about getting government money. Giesbrecht said the mill's plight is also tied to the for- tunes of Skeena Cellulose because it needs a place to send chips, The mill is om reserve land, making it difficult to secure any loans extended to the mill, he added, **The government is simp- ly is not going to tum over a pile of money and not have some measure of control for that,” he said. . He predicted the province might contemplate a smaller we have now, but how could that be,’ Hamilton con- tinued, “Clark’s been in the States selling B.C. as an aluminum center, but when did the people of B.C, ask for this?’’ . *'The government's doing things it never indicated it would do. It’s abandoned its principles,’’ Hamilton added. A teacher here in the 1980s, Hamilton sat on the execu- tive of the local NDP constituency association. He said he and Giesbrecht, also a teacher, stood ‘‘side by sidé’’” during the Operation Solidarity strikes and demonstrations of the early 1980s in opposition to Bill Bennett’s Social Credit government. ‘ Hamilton’s conversion to the Green party came after he said the NDP was captured by forest industry interests. “Tm doing this without malice toward my old friend, but this government has to be go. I’m surprised that some- one of Helmut’s fibre still supports them, This is not the NDP people ance knew and loved,” he said. A successful recall effort here would [ead to others around the province, Hamilton said. potas GITWANGAK NATIVES are demanding Skeena MLA Helmut Giesbrecht and the government deliver financial assistance to re-start the band operated Cged Forest Products sawmill, That’s Cged chairman Larry Moore leading a demonstration in tront of Giesbracht's office last week. New Tanning Booth at Richards Laundromat -& Cleaners on Emerson 48 Lamps, 19 fans, One Great Tan! 635-5119 #1 In Town Dr..Meg Sexsmith - | Optometrist ae OFFICE HOURS Monday 9 a.m. - 8 pum Tues - Frida.m.-6 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m. - 4550 Lakslee Ave, Terrace _ Ph: 638-2020 2PM, = TF . aS Ti cure the winter cold... just apply heat! a VARADERO § fan. (9-7 Nights ~~ Villa Gaviota’ ALMOST ALL INCLUSIVE! fl Includes: * Welcome dink ff * 3 buffet meals daily * Domestic brand drinks * Daytime tennis & activities BONUS! Includes: Canadian dollars at par! For all food & beverages, cash deposit required upon check-in, RestricUons apply. 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