\NEWS A5 Smart choices The northwest is just catching on to new, green energy technologies Wall to wall Another week, another school project bringing colour to a. wall in your community \COMMUNITY B1 And miles to go... ‘Marathon runner puts more mileage on his | sneakers than he ever : imagined\SPORTS BG. - $1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST ; ($1.10 plus 8¢ GST - outside of the Terrace area) h _VOL.18 ‘NO. 12 - By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN. ., THEAPPOINTMENT of Skeena MLA Robin Austin - as fisheries critic for the opposition in the provincial legislature has local anti- fish farm § activists reeling . with happiness. “1 think it’s fantastic that we are going to have a voice from the-riding,” says wild salmon advocate Bruce. Hill. “I think*Robin’s.a sharp guy.— he’s a quick study and I think he’ll do a fantastic job.” . ’ The assignment was announced June 21 as-NDP leader Carole James released the list of critic roles her 33-member caucus.. ’ In a private conversation with Austin, James told : ‘the local MLA she expects his role to be an impor- tant one. “We had a little chat about. it and’ where she thought I might start in terms of getting up to speed on this and told me she expects it to be quite a big area of critique,” Austin said last week. “It was a big issue during the election.” ‘. Amid rising concerns over the planned develop- ment of three open-pen fish farms at the mouth of. the Skeena River, Austin says he expects the debate ‘around fish farms to be one of his. main areas of. in- terest. oy “I think it could be a very important portfolio because we are at that point of decision making in B.C.,” Austin said. “We’ve got some fish farms al-. ready but the science is coming and reports are com- ing in that these farms are detrimental to > the envi- ronment.” He hopes to see alternatives to. ocean fish farms . explored and is interested in looking atthe viability, - of inland farms or closed containment fish farms lo-' cated on the coast. “We have to figure out a way to make these things more environmentally sustainable,” he said, adding he recognizes there are jobs at stake and that must be kept in mind when examining the issues. While the fish farm debate will be a key compo- nent of his duties he says that’s not his only focus. “It isn’t just around fish farms, but how do we promote healthy fish stocks as well?” he said. Austin expects to meet with federal fisheries min- ister Geoff Regan in the near future. He had planned . to go on a tour of the Broughton Archipelago — a site which has drawn much attention because of the af- fects of fish farms on the ecosystem there — with Re- | gan and Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen. ; www.terracestandard.com ww liament is sitting for a Jonger period than anticipat- ed. Austin’s assignment sits well with-he Canadian - Union of Public Employees (CUPE) president Barry. ~ O'Neill, saying he is pleased to see Austin assigned - the “high- -Stakes” portfolio of fisheries. _ Carole James says the fisheries portfolio is one area that the Liberal government has neglected. Other areas she hopes to highlight include -se- . hiors’ care, mental health; housing, Crown Corpora- tions and BC Ferries. The BC Ferries ‘and Ports critic job was given. to North Coast MLA Gary.Coons. Cariboo North MLA Bob ‘Sinipson ‘i ‘is. ‘the new Forest and Range opposition critic. - The entire NDP caucus was given a critic’ S job, of some sort. Opposition caucus chair will go to. Jenny Kwan «while caucus whip is West Kootenay MLA Katrine Conroy. Mike Farnworth, Vancouver-Mount Pleas-. _ant MLA takes on. the role of Opposition House Leader. . anne Robin Austin has founda spot to call his constitu- “ency office home and it’s not the. office of former 7 27 ustin nets fisheries critic | MLA Roger Harris. His former office on Park Ave. was also occupied by his predecessor Helmut Giesbrecht, who was, a ; two-term NDP MLA prior .to Harris. : Austin will‘instead share an office with: Skeena- : Bulkley Valley NDP MP Nathan Cullen,” Cullen’s office is located in the Lazelle mini-mall. Austin says the move will save both of the region’s Political representatives money. ~ 6 pe Austin says the cost-sharing permits him to open . ' two offices in the riding, instead of just one. , “With a little creative sharing he and I can share an office here so I will have a full time worker. in Ter-° race and half-time in Kitimat,” Austin said... Cullen’s office will be renovated to create addi- - tional office space. He has yet to decide onalocation _ in Kitimat.:That location will be open two or three. days a week, while the Terrace office will be open five days a week. Austin hopes to see those renova- tions complete by July 15. 0 an, Austin is also sifting through resumes of people ’ applying to staff’ constituency offices. The deadline to apply for those’ jobs was last* Friday and Austin ~ said he had more that 25 resumes to consider.. He - hopes to make a decision soon. School budget short By DUSTIN QUEZADA SCHOOL’ DISTRICT 82’s preliminary budget for the 2005-06 school year has a shortfall of $770,000.: But the Coast Mountains . district will have a ‘clearer financial picture in the fall when enrolment and staffing numbers are finalized, says the secretary treasurer. “Enrolment numbers are anticipated to drop by about 300 students,” said Marcel Georges. . He said final enrolment numbers allow for adjust- ments to staffing levels that xe are done between September — and December. The district has' to “eat” staffing costs between September and De- _ cember, he says because it. |: is easier to lay off teachers © than to re-hire them. Georges added most dis- tricts submit their budgets to the education ministry in February or March. “It sounds cosmetic,” said Georges, of the preliminary J budget, adding ‘the district © could have gone the route of submitting a balnced bud- get, but it would have to be adjusted in the fall anyway. This coming school year’s budgetary forecast is im- proved due to additional -monies coming from Vic- toria and a cut in expenses from last year, he said. - The biggest savings have: come from administrative downsizing and dropping en- ergy costs from a retrofitting of the heating and lighting systems in district schools. Still, Georges emphasized the fall remains crucial for 7 the budget’s forecast. Unlike other districts, a bigger drop in enrolment actually helps the district’s bottom line, said Georges. If the expected 300 stu- dent drop were to be halved, said Georges, the district would get more money from Victoria, but that. money would not cover the cost of rehiring the teachers that would be needed. “It’s not a cheap district to run,” he: said, adding teachers in Kitwanga, Ha- zelton and Stewart have to be compensated with a north allowance of up to $3,000. Schools districts must le- gaily run balanced budgets. That trip was postponed because the federal Par- . wd apprenticeship program orientation June 22. two- -day information and assessment session. + SERA BC HYDRO power line technician Klaus Kraft (left) hangs out with ‘Hazelton’ s Justin Campbell during the | pre- Interested students came from all over the area to attend the KAT LEE PHOTO First Nations students eye | ~ power line technician jobs © By KAT LEE “ABORIGINAL students in the Terrace area are getting valuable. training that could turn into a career thanks to: a new program offered through Northwest Community College. The local college, BC Hydro and the Electrical Industry | Training Institute (EITI) are partnering up to run an ab- original pre-apprenticeship power line technician program this summer. The pilot program runs July 18 to October 14, 2005 at the Terrace college campus. : “It’s a trade discovery program,” said Olivier Schitte- catte, BC Hydro’s business improvement manager. The college i is responsible for four weeks of classroom training, which consists of airbrakes, Class 3 drivers li- cence, computer skills, report writing and teamwork. The training institute will teach nine weeks of techni- cal training. There, the students learn about job safety and practical skills like construction standards, tool and mate- rial identification and use, and how to dig holes and plant poles to build power lines. “EITI are international leaders in this training and we are very proud to be partnering with them on this education initiative,” said Margo Van der Touw, NWCC director of Continuing and International Education. -Continued Page A2 ae Mills Memorial me ranks. below — audit standard .- By SARAH ‘A. ZIMMERMAN: : MILLS MEMORIAL Hospital . has ranked : below the acceptable standard for cleanliness and. improvement is needed, says’ an independent audit scrutinizing the state of health facilities around the province. The audit, conducted between March 1 and May. 31 of this year, examined each of the province’s six health authori- ‘ties by making unannounced visits to various hospitals and other health care facilities in each region. A variety of high-risk areas, such as operating rooms, patient rooms and washrooms, were inspected and ranked. Toilets, beds and tubs — items with a high chance of coming © in close human contact and therefore posing a greater risk of _. spreading infection —.were also scrutinized. The auditor’s report. assigns weighted numeric scores reflecting 't the cleanliness of the facilities. A passing grade © standard, : 5 Mills Memorial’s score of 82.88 falls just short of the ac- . cepted benchmark and was based on a surprise audit of 63 * different rooms at the local hospital, the report shows. ' Terraceview Lodge, however, exceeded that standard and - " received a score of 93.21 per cent, based on the evaluation of. 21 of that facility’s rooms. Both facilities in Terrace were audited i in early March, says Northern Health spokesperson Sonya Kruger. She says Mills and other facilities that'scored below the ; s benchmark will be cleaned up. . “Based on that review we are going to make any nec- essary changes to the facilities’ current housekeeping pro- ’..cess,” says Kruger... “We also recognize it’s a snapshot i in time and we’ re go- ing to move forward from this point.” : The audits are intended to createca common, province- wide system to evaluate cleanliness in health facilities. More audits will be conducted each year and the scores are intend- ed to give individual authorities an idea of the state of their hospitals and what problems may need to be addressed. ' Facilities scoring between 75 and 84.99 per cent mean improvement is needed, while scores between 65 and 74.99 _mean improvement is necessary. Any‘scores falling below the 65 per cent mark were given a failing grade and auditors recommend those facilities “take action immediately and re-audit.” Only one facility in the Northern Health Authority re- ceived a failing grade — that was the Lakes District Hospital and Health Centre in Burns Lake. It scored 62.62 per cent—a provincial low — based on an audit of 11 hospital rooms.‘ “We’ re investigating that result and we are going to con- duct a review to‘try to understand why that score was re- _ ceived,” Kruger says. She said she is pleased, however, with the duthority’s 5 Sec- ond-highest ranking in the province., With a score of 88.43 per cent, it trailed just behind the first-ranked Interior Health ; Authority’ s score of 90.36 per cent. The lowest score in the’ province went to the Vancouver Island Health. Authority, which scored 84. 46 per cent. The company that conducted the study, Westech Sys-. tems, has not released a detailed breakdown of the scores on a room by room basis. Its report says “extreme time con- traints” prevented. it. from breaking the evaluations down _that specifically. That’s drawn fire from the Hospital. Em-_ ployees’ Union that says the public has a right to know how clean operating rooms are compared to hallways and waiting areas, It also notes authorities with low scores are the same ones that have contracted housekeeping services out. The Northern Health Authority has not contracted out those services and Kruger says it doesn’t plan on changing that any time soon. “We are very proud of our housekeeping staff,” she said. sig ct rt ina toe eA ech meee amm sermspeni’: y neue be Fr 3 : 4 § i i ; ‘ ee ee