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_ This week:

‘In search of —
the big picture

We’ ‘find forester Herby Squish

where. we. deft’ him last week,

clear cuts: ‘in ‘Search. of some
light to lead-.him out of :the
‘apparently. insoluble difficulty in
which © he. has found . _ himself, -
forced: to. either pack in. his. job
: for. Jovial Logging or. “put his
Signature on a decision that will
inevitably. destroy’ livelihoods -
_and-tesources to buy Milton
Jovial’s commodity lumber oper-—
' ation a few more years.

"6. walked over the crest

pickup came into: view.

Off to: the right rose the majesty ,

of Beetle Mountain, his intended
destination. From the summit he
would. get a much better view.
Perhaps, he ‘hoped,

As, he plodded towards his
truck, he picked up Rees’s

_ words where he had left off.
- ."They'draw down the capital,"

Rees had said. "And when it is

gone they re-invest in some.
- Other enterprise that has nothing
“to.do with forestry at all. What I~

am arguing is that if you take

the! ecological. perspective, you

have.-to -re-invest in the. capital
that. produced: the- wealth in n the

first place.

"Our wealth in the ‘western
world, ‘in the northern developed
countries, is the result of the

conversion of ecological capital.

to financial and man-made capi-
tal. Now we are not. even

capable of. sustaining our own
existence .to the extent that we

have to use the wealth we have

‘generated, in that conversion
process to buy up the ecological

carrying capacity of Third World
countries. We induce them to
grow cash crops for our benefit

largely because we can afford to

do so because we have con-—

verted our own natural capital to

| financial capital...
. "British Columbians hypocriti-’
_ cally insist ‘that the Brazilians
‘ not harvest the rain forests when
_ we have obliterated our own rain

Thornhill.

To the Editor; .

Thank you, . Thornhill - Fire’
Department, for brightening our

Christmas by taking the time to
come to our village, Copperside

‘Estates, with your caroling and
- you decoratéd vehicles. Not only
‘were the youngsters ‘elatéd, so”
were us "oldsters".’

“Again, sincere thanks.

Mn and ‘Mrs. Heywood
»- RRA2, Terrace

even a |
- glimpse of the "big picture", -

‘part of the same problem.

$124 over last. year: é

forests. The Brazilians are quite

naturally ‘attempting to become «
_ wealthy by the samc: process of
‘conversion of their natural capi-
tal stock to financial and other -
_forms of human. wealth,
"That process. is: what I.mean
when I say that economic activ-
ity based onthe old neoclassical
“models is cannibalizing the very
basis of the life-support systems '
of the planet. This is why” the

east coast fisheries ‘is in such
dire straits, and it.is only char-

very environment that sustains
‘it: In my mind, it is doing so in
ignorance,. because we are oper-
ating from a ‘model that worked:
for 300 years and simply does
not work any more."

- Harsh words, admitted Squish,

“of a small hill and his re y aes

acteristic of the 25 major fish-
eries around the world that are

_ going through exactly the same.

stock-depletion problem from
over-harvesting.
"Agriculture is the same, ‘but

‘we do not recognize’ it -yet

because, there we have substi-
tuted fertilizer, irrigation, and
other forms of man-made capital
for the depleted soils. It ‘is all’

"This global warming issue
and the rise of carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere is simply a
minor symptom of this deeper

‘malaise of a human species that

is inappropriately exploiting the

Lower interest rates, bad driving _
blamed for insurance premium blow

TERRACE —~ Car owners in

- Terrace and. the Northwest will

pay a minimum of $100 more in

"1992 than they did last year to
- insure their vehicles. In a state-

ment issued Dec. 13, the Insur-
ance Corporation of B.C. blamed

‘another increase in the amount,

of claims paid for the higher

- ptemiums, along with a decline
. in interest ‘rates, that hurt the

| volunteers |
thanked...

corporation’s return on invest-
ments over the past year.

oe In. addition to revenue from
insurance premiums, ICBC also
holds a $2 billion portfolio of

investments: The interest . on

those: investments ‘is put . into.
their claim fund to prevent the:
need for.sudden Augctuations in .
_ premiums. Be

- In’ Terrace - the owner of an
‘older. modet vehicle, like a fate’

1970’s model Noith: ‘American.

car, will pay $559. for: "pleasute’. i.

only" coverage on: the: inihimuitt.
required policy,.an nefease of

‘f

end. of the scale: the’ owner ‘or: 4

but true. He chuckled to himself
as he remembered the reaction

of the committee chairman. He
couldn’t remember the chair-

man’s first name, but his ‘last

was Darling. Mr. Darling. May-
“be he didn’t have a first name.
‘Squish had never heard anyone.

address him in any other way.
"Are you suggesting 1 that the
provincial government of B.C.

. should cut its forests yield every

year?" Darling asked. "You

would be as popular as a skunk

at a garden party out there."
Rees didn’t mince words. "The

alternative," he had said, "is to’

do what we are doing. Every

late model vehicle who uses it to
go to and from work will have
to pay around $1,012 for mini-
mum coverage, up $140.

ICBC says collision coverage
will cost less this year because

claims in that category went
down. in 1991, but comprehen-

sive coverage — fire, theft, and
incidental damage — will cost

-more. The corporation notes that

vandalism to cars and auto theft

cost the insurance fund $155-
million . last ‘year, a dramatic’

increase. Claims of that. kind
have more than doubled in the
past four. years.

Policy changes include manda- |

tory underinsured motorist pro-

téction and the option for policy
. Holders to pay in quarterly in-

“stalments. The penalty for pay-

ing quarterly or half-yearly
instalments wilf bé three. percent

sof the total: policy value, a re-
it clon. from the four percent

BC hag: previously charged.
new'Coverage category that

itiost“Iocat residents: will: prob-:

1991. The

, week we hear of sawmills: ‘that

are running out of wood: supply

and of communities’ that are.
shutting down. ‘When. the” fall-
down comes this is going to be

an endemic ‘problem: for the

province.

-"I£-you are hearing: what Tam
saying, I am suggesting. that the
only moral thing to do is to’
‘manage your forests to sustain
the communities to harvest them.
I would say- this means no
resource-based company should
be allowed to declare a dividend
until it can show that the capital
stock that it is exploiting is the
same at the beginning of its
business cycle as it is at the end

‘of an annual business cycle. ..

"This would require them to
put back investment in the main-
tenance of the capital stock and
hence re-orient the current dis-

tribution of wealth back into the —
‘wealth-producing system itself.

’ "The current practice allows us
to ship the wealth offshore to
invest in someone else’s capital,
which we then. draw down, and
they have to look elsewhere for
an alternative investment leaving
devastated ecosystems and de-
clining’ communities in our
wake.

. “I may be a’skunk in a a garden
party, but when people begin to
understand the consequences: of

ably take advantage of is shott- |

distance commuter, a rate class
part way between pleasure-only
and to-and-from-work. "

ICBC president Tom Holmes
noted that the total cost of
claims for ICBC has gone from
$851: million in 1987 to (a pro-

jected) $1.5 billion for 1991.

Payouts for comprehensive
claims more than doubled. over
those four years.

The corporation’s reserve fund
has been hurt by increased claim

payouts, cfforts to hold the line
on premium increases ovér the

past two years, and the sudden
drop in interest rates since mid-
reserve’. fund is

intended. to cushion. vehicle

_ owners against sudden. fluctu- .
ations in premiums, a function
that many policy holders would

say. it has failed to. perform.
Holmes says part of the pre-
mium increase in 1992 will go

toward. beefing up the reserve |

fund, which. currently § stands at
$77 milion. - i

‘different scale of premium rates,

‘which to insure a private vehicle

is the lower mainland, ‘and. the
cheapest
-Kootenays..

ee ee ee a rs

by —_ in consultation with Rod Amold-and Doug Davies ——_

the current system they ‘are.

going to welcome me’ ands:
whole bunch of other skunks

. Squish broke ‘into ‘a how of 7

laughter. "That’s. it,” he: wailé j
"T’m not a fool. I’m a skut
And this," he added as he Loc
around, "is Jovial’s. party."

_Herby Squish panted up:
last five feet of coarse rock:
‘supporting the road above: .

Yes. Rees: had. really’ hit

‘nail on the head, Squish deci

But he had said other things

well so as not to paint the wi
picture. It was true. Large cor=
porations had been turning. Our.
forests into personal weaith. .
‘They had done it for ‘decades
until they ate themselves out of
house and: home,’ so ‘to: ‘speak,
But the design of the. system: in
which they worked was not
entirely of their own. making:
The system evolved under: the .

opportunity to harvest resources: - :
and manufacture . commodity.

jumped in to support them. But -
both balked at the cost of refor-

-estation and stand ‘tending, And

while all this was going. ‘on
governments seeking popularity
tried to accommodate: the- ‘whole

— Continued on pag : 8

ICBC divides the provittce into
14 regions, each of which has.a

The most expensive area .in

region is’ the

The corporation last week
changed: its deadline for having
the new rates in place from. Feb.
1 to immediately. Car owners
were cancelling. policies — and
renewing before the deadling to
take advantage of old rates, and

ICBC informed the government —

that the cost would come .to

about $9 million if the old rates —
were allowed. to stand until Feb. ”

1. Jot
As it was, the cancel-and-
renew strategy cost ICBC $3
million. before the government
acted. Moe Sihota, the- minister’

responsible, announced an inves-.

tigation and has Amplied.. ‘that.
many. of the corporation’ 8 senior.
executives. may | be © Teplaced tin
the “near future. ae

‘direction of financial instifu-. 7
~ tors: Compianiés jitiped'at the

products. Financial organizations’ -

vee