PAGE 4, THE HERALD, Friday, April 28, 1978 EDITORIAL ELECTION It is hard to believe. Another week just about gone-and still Prime Minister Trudeau (at this " writing) has not ‘dropped the Writ’; to call a general election. A Kitimat phone caller gave us a buzz the other day and sounded off about what a lousy Liberal “Rag’’ the HERALD is, “Why, you’re known all across Canada-you and your chain-for being radical Liberal’’ Well, I don’t know about the “Chain’’... but do we have news for THAT guy! . o : Ottawa Offbeat by Richard Jackson Ottawa — Hey, get this. Acutely aware of increasing public irritation | ; : over the indiffernece of the federal civil service, the Trudeau government has a special task force working on ways to assess and improve the quality of the performance of the bureaucracy. You've had the treatment. The brushoff from ~ gome clerk at the Post Office-when you dare to enquire about the slow-motion mail. And at some time or other you must have had We're still waiting a call from ‘thead office” to "the routine ‘don’t ask me, how would ] know?”’ tell us what our politics are! Somehow we don’t from an uncaring bureaucrat who is neither civil think that call will ever come... nor a servant when you call with a perfectly So for those who may wonder what our “bias” legitimate question. is-we'll give it to you straight from the shoulder. The political news we print is the news we get. ~ So, if Jim Fulton sends us a ‘press release” - preferably with a black and white photo ‘at- tention getter’ - chances are, 99 ot of a hundred, it will appear in the paper the next day- and 99 out of a hundred again- on the front page. If the _ PC. candidate (we haven’t even met him yet) or arty sends us a news piece (preferably with' a picture) Presto! In it goes. Jim Fulton has been to the Herald office twice. Fach time we wrote him up and put in his picture. . .We have yet to write an unfavourable piece about a candidate- but simply because we have not had reason to. Frankly, we are very disappointed at the general lack of interest in politics in Terrace. Aj few “loudmouths”- the rest like they’re dead. : The sensible types, the reasonable sorts, the Mr. & Mrs. Average Citizen- quieter than-a fox sneaking up on a hen house. It almost seems that politics in Terrace & Kitimat attract the far-outs and sails over the heads of the normal types. ‘ What about the 2,500 registered unemployed in Terrace District? They all have votes. What about the X number of unemployed in Kitimat? What about the “housewives”- there must be still some left at home- they all have votes. What about the groups working for better conditions for women- more day care facilities to name just one usually needed service. How is it not one womanis running as a candidate other than Mrs. Campagnolo? How Is it that, in a largely Native riding, no one from the Native population is is polities? . ‘No. This looks like a very quiet scene if it really is the eve of a general election. Of course- it could be the lull before the storm. What is that famous quotation? Isn’t it something like this: Tyranny arises, not because evil men are elected to office - but rather that good men do not run. | ' WAITRESSES The papers had beennarely delivered, Thur- _ Sday morning, when reaction started coming on the editorial “Help Wanted - Waitresses.” Most of the. comments were emphatically, favourable. Some of them were - “I wish I'd known someone was go to write about waitresses. Boy, could I tell you stories about what we got to put up with.” “So this guy says to me, - what do YOU need a raise for. All you got to do is ‘be nice’ to a guy, and you can get anything you want. You don’t. even have to worry. any more now you got the Pill” “So what did you do about it,” I asked. “Went without the raise, of course, and started go. looking twice as hard for another job, But I felt like slamming a bowl of soup inhis face!’’ . “Qne of these days, some waitress is going to win a bundle in a lottery and start her own restaurant, She’s gonna hire only guys - and treat them the way women get treated” one Waitress said, “How about women restaurant managers? Are they any better?’ ‘Hell, no.” came the reply. The only ones I’ve met were Butches, Just as biga ‘pain only weirder, —° “Do. you think conditions will eventually im- prove for waitresses?” I asked. ‘Don't hold your breath. Some day, perhaps, there will be a revolt of the “food servers”. Some intelligent waitress, with a few bucks of her own in the bank will finally get tired of being " underpald, overworked, and having to put up with the jig saw puzzle layout of the average restaurant planned more for a taxi-driver to: extra mileage from than a gal with a tray. Some smart-ass will come in. Give her the usual lip, Then he'll make the usual grab with his dirt! hands, She'll let him have it - Pow. With a fi tray -and she’ I cult ‘and the other girls will quit, And the word spread. And maybe, out of it, will come a decent Food Servers’ Union. But I: gotta go, I don't know. Some day perhaps, Who mye It might happen here. But don’t count .TERRACE/KITIMAT daily herald Genural Office. 635-4957 Circulation. 635-4357 PUBLISHER...Don Cromack MANAGING EDITOR... Ernest Senlor REPORTERS...Donna Vatlleras (Terrace-Thornhill) REPORTERS...Scot? Browes (Kitimat-Kitamaat) KITIMAT OFFICE.,,Pat Zelinskl - 632-2747 Published every weekday at 3212 Kalum St., Terrace, B.C. Amember of Varifled Circulation. Authorized as second class mall, Registration number 1201, Postage pald In cash, return postage guaranteed, NOTE OF COPYRIGHT Published by Sterling Publishers The Herald retains full, complete and sole copyright In any advertisement produced and-or any editorial or photegraphic content pubilshed In the Herald, Reproduction Is not permitted without the written perminsion of the Publisher. in. gaurded jealously Far too J become accepted practice - is the “don't bother me” business you can get from an uncivil servant who is too unbusy to do more than pass the busk with a “call So-and-so at such-and-suc a (wrong) number.” Untrue? Or at least exaggerating? Not if you turn to page 2887 of the word-for- -word Hansard record of Parliament and leanr from no less an authority than Treasury Board, President Robert Andras that it is, as he terms it, “an ongoing concern with the government.” So what are they doing about it? Spending $34,000 on the special task force - _ “exclusive,” explaings Mr. Andras, “‘of the salaries of tis 11 members” — to try and find out what’s wrong and what, if anything, can be done . to fix it. On the surface it looks good. a Your government DOES care about the way its staff so often treats you. And it makes it sound like it really might do something to make the public service stand to attention for that $6.4 billion it annually draws in and a further $727 million in travel costs. _ Almost makes you feel good about paying taxes, knowing that good old Bob Andras really has your welfare at heart and resents the shabby treatment you often receive from a couldn’t-. ‘eare-less and sometimes even hostile federal sa catch, though. ; : The special task force doesn’t report back to dear old Robert A. until sometime in “mid- Summer” by which time the election should be over, ; . And then - win or lose for the Trudeau government — what would the Task Force matter? But meanwhile, it makes another plank in the overnment’s campaign platfortn — doing right y the taxpayers, even if it costs them $84,000 plus task force salaries. The cute little election gimmick was un- covered by Conservative MP Lincoln Alexander of Hamilton West, with a series of 10 searching questions on the Commons Order Paper. _“Has the government established a task force on the quality of service to the public?”’ asked. Mr, Alexander. _ “Yes,” replied Mr. Andras, “the Task Force on Service to the Public (all in caps denoting official status of the group) has been set up as part of the government’s ongoing concern with this issue,” Aah Hah. So it IS an issue. : “What is its assignment?” asks Mr, Alexan- quality’ of the the public’s r “To study and report on the federal service to the public an perception of that service.” How is the. Task Force operating? “Public opinion is being sought across Canada,” reveals Mr, Andras, “through per- sonal interviews and discussions in .con- sideration of possible improvements to the quality of public service.” So on your mark, get set, ready and go with your answers, and don’t be bashful. ‘amiliar — so routine that it has” Letters to the Editor pay, plus another $1.3 billion in fringe benefits - Dear Mrs. Cam- pagnolo, Further to my recent letter about CBUT Vancouver's Hourglass program on Kitimat, I ve heen advised by our Director for British Columbia, Len Lauk, that there did indeed seem to be grounds for complaint ‘about the picture of Kitimat presented by the program. A considerable number of such com- laints were received in - ancouver, and a decision was made to show a — follow-up rogram ‘covering the eelings and opinions of. those who had reacted to -the first report. As you will know from the sample reply that was forwarded te you from our Vancouver office, the follow-up was telecast on March 13. CBS is, of course always concerned about fair presentation, but a report which -is mostly about problem areas - within a community will inevitably produce a certain shock reaction. As you know, the story of Kitimat is an ongoing one. For many years was seen as a successful product of the application of community planning to the needs of industrial ~ development but, more -recently, concerns have been expressed about emerging - health and . social problems, and it waa these concerns our. Hourglass staff con- ‘ time to commend centrated on. Our review of the program noted that the story of the problems of isolation generalized, without sufficient evidence being presen- ted, about the positive as well as the negative aspects of life in Kitimat, and it should have been made clear that the problems .are by no means unique to Kitimat. I hope our follow-up . program has helped to clarify the situation. In closing, I would like to express the -Cor- poration’s regret that the original program about Kitimat was not upto the usual high standards of balanced CBC reporting. - Yours sincerely, A. W. Johnson, President. My dear Colleague: I am writing at this ou on the extellent assistatce provided to the west coast hing industry by our country’s Search and ~ Rescue Forces during the ' recent herri fishery. — me The improved -coor- dination of resources, and ’ the outstanding com- mitment of the personnel involved to their task, have both played im- _ portant roles in the significant improvement in search and rescue services on our west coast. In particular, I Victoria Report with Cyril Shelford The proposal I made this week in Victoria was: to set up a emall ‘All Party Committee ” to find ways to streamline the Legislature, and bring about change to get the business done, This would enable the Minister's to get out of Victoria and take a look.at the problems out in the countryaide. If this is not done, the Minister’s have to rely on advice from the senior civil servants - which normally only present one sid of the story, It has been my experience that it's always e views of the average . Citizen, as their views are often quite different and present a balanced view . The Minister is . then in a position to make a reasonable decision. All of us in Terrace saw this kind of a roach an came to Terrace and saw first hand the situation solel desirable to hear in action when the Honourable Bob Mc and the concerns of people directly involved. ‘This gave the Minister the problem first hand (some ve done sitting in Victoria). In my opinion, all Parliaments waste a lot of time attacking each other, father than the problems of the country.’ This is because debate oses its meaning when the vote on issues is nearly always along Party line and decided in . Caucus before the Party goes into the Legislature or House of Commons. The problem is with the system we have which ed over many years and all Governments up to this : reduced has been devel e as it leayes complete control of the: any Government that both inside Vote against a! Legislature in the hands o happens to be there. In Canadian Parliaments a rtunity to see the fag he could never _ election. _ Government measure’ can and is considered a Vote of non-confidence and if passed, means an However, many times the fact:is, a Meimber could have complete confidence in ‘his or her Party - yet against certain issues, ’ In,my opinion, if free votes became common practice as they are in the United States, West Germany and Switzerland better legislation: would come out ‘of Parliament, because the Government in power would have to rely on good discipline. Most | ‘legislation rather then rely entirely on Party ople” say “well why doesn't “the Member vote against the Legislation if there is. something he or she doesn’t like”’, it is far easier . sald than done, and I can speak because I’ve © done it on several occasions. However, we have to face the facts of life - a member paye a penalty for doing itand showing can be.hurt in several ways. his indepen ence. They One being the chances of getting the nomination at the next election is greatly reduced unless he is a v . trong member in the Constituency, If : anyone wants to dispute this, they should only look at the record of rebel Members and 85 to 90 per cent vention. . I've been luc two trips a year. go down at the next nomination con- . coming from 4 rural area where I was well known and. the ' tremely loyal (which I appreciate) however, I . too, have paid a price by sitting in the back-. | bench for 19 of my 23 years with a greatly nsion and only one trip in 28 years and outside the country sponsoréd by ent, when some members get one or I could give many other examples but the point : Reseue ople ex- wish to commend both Captain Art Mountain of the Coast Guard here in Ottawa, and -Captain Frank Gavin of the Coordination Centre in Victoria for the excellent cooperation and assistance they have provided to myself and to my office during recent weeks. ; . Search and = rescue facilities and efforts of . the west coast have greally improved during e past four years, and wish at this time, on behalf of my constituents; to thank you for your significant ticipation in this achievement. Sincerely, _ ona Campagnolo . . An appeals court has ‘ruled that police had'no Tight ..to...stop. .a, man walking down a Harlem street with what looked like a television.set in a pillowcase. The Appellate Division of New York Supreme Court -in Manhattan delivered that opinion Wednesday and \ dismissed a burglary conviction against Clarence Moore, even though it was a TV set in the pillow case and police said he confessed to Stealing it. “This court is faced with a basic question of whether a black man carry a television set, be . it exposed or covered ina sack, in a public street,’” said the decision written Hi Justice Francis ‘urphy. Moore was st by iain-clothes police on est 149th Street in danuary, -moyance shoul: of .a TV -set in the pill lowease. r Moore said. hechad just left the home of a friend and had a fur coat and a TV set of a particular — brand in the case. But police -said when they searched the pillowcase they found a different brand of TV. Police said they also found a screwdriver in Moore’s pocket, sohe was ' charged with possesion of b 'y tools as well as burglary. e judges, by a +to-l vote, ruled that the fact that the police guess was correct was “irrelevant” and they had no “founded - suspicion for taking him in for questio , “An individual's right to walk the public = ~ without fear and an- id not be circumscribed by per- as often as will be wrong, Hite decision itis correct said, the pe cemen saw what “ooked Tike” the outline Tmt rying to make is - if we want our Members to be independent and truly reflect the wishes of the constituents, then there must be real reform — of Parliament and only have Government defeated on non-confidence votes, not on each and every issue, Having said this, I must say I’ve mainly en- joyed ) my stay in the Legislature to be able to peak out on issues even though at times I've been very unpopular with my Party, ing has done a yyo0d sit people of this provin generally spea ce, which for the had to do it over again, I wouldn't doit a other way. The changes! propose wouldn’t coms , into effect till the next Par only benefit future M.L.A.’s,. ent, and would RAAT. “1 fold you not to drink all that coffee.”