CAMPAIGN ’91
Parker wants to keep feds honest,
go case-by-case on environment

’ Skeena Social Credit candidate

Dave Parker says the Social Credit

government had a desire to be pro-
active in native affairs, and for that
reason they established the Minis-
try of Native Affairs, The purpose,
he says, was to develop an advo-
cacy ministry to deal with native
concerns that was not appended to
other government agencies like
social services or the premier’s

_ Office. It was intended to be a

"stand-alone ministry", he says,
and that is exactly what it has

_ become.

With ‘the. Ministry of Native

_ Affairs in place, says Parker, the
“hext step was to begin designing a

framework for settling land claims
issues, Land claims are a federal
responsibility, he explains, but the

provinces must be involved in the
negotiation process. This frame-
work, then, was developed by the
Premier’s Advisory Council on
Native Affairs in consultation with
the gencral public. "And we
responded to that input," says
Parker. "And we’re going to the
table without any preconceived
notions."
In explaining the need for prov-
incial involvement, Parker says,
"We came into the union with the
rest of Canada in 1871 with a
contractual obligation form the
federal government that they
would meet all obligations pertain-
ing to native peoples. And they are
now trying to abrogate (terminate)
that responsibility.

"We're at the table to make sure

they’re (the federal government)
honest, and that they meet the
terms of the union. And we’re at
the table to be full participants in a
fair and equitable manner." .

Most British Columbians live
here by choice, according to
Parker. And for most, the main
attraction is the environment and

what British Columbia has to offer —

from the stand point of quality of
life.

"We want to see that quality of
life protected, and enhanced," says
Parker. "And since we’re the gov-
emment we have to do that in an

accountable manner. We can’t

broad-brush it as the NDP would
have you believe... You can’t just

— Continued on page 32 |

Beyond that, we will quickly move

into the preventative aspect of
health care which involves the
whole concept of "wellness" and
"cost effective” health care. As a
way of cutting down health care
costs in the long term, the support-
ive housing concept fits into that
very nicely. Also, the New Demo-
crats are committed to including
transportation costs in the Medical
Services Plan, and this would add
to the ammunition we have to
justify a CT scanner in this area.
And a final thought: There’s no
room for user fees or extra bill-
ing.

Dave Parker: Since 1981, the
health budget has increased 150
percent — during the mandate of
the current government alone it has
increased 54 percent — and we
now spend something like $27,000
on health care for every man,
woman and child in the province.
In the north, that’s important. We
are here by choice. We provide a
very large cog in the "economic
engine" of the province and people

in the Northwest are entitled to the |

same services as anyone else in the

province. In Terrace, Mills Mem- -

orial Hospital is now recognized as
a regional centre, there is a nuclear
medicine facility, there is a gov-
emment commitment to support
the CT scanner initiative, and the
land for supportive housing has
already been dedicated. So health
care services are a priority. .

Juanita Hatton: 1 think the aim
should be to get specialists here in
Terrace. The alternative is to fly to
Vancouver where you may dis-
cover you can’t get into the hospi-
tal where you’ve been booked. The
expense involved is incredible and
for people with an ordinary
income, especially senior citizens
and people on a fixed income, it’s
terrible. The cost of staying in
Vancouver if you don’t have rela-
tives, or maybe you don’t like
your relatives... For people to have
io go down there and go through
all that, and end up with a mort-
page on their life for the rest of
their time, It’s kind of tough. And
if you’ve talked to anyone that’s
had to do this, I’m sure you under-
stand.

Question: Premier Rita Johnston
has said the government has no
place in financing business, par-
ticularly small business, unless
there is an entrepreneur who can
provide a lot of jobs but needs a
little financial assistance. Do you
agree?

Dave Parker: Premier Johnston
also said that in a lot of the
smaller communities in the out-
lying areas there aren’t any finan-
cial services and government has
to assist at that level. You see, the
primary employer in the province
is small business and most of our
caucus, including myself, are small
business people. And {we know
from working experience, from our
own experience, that support for
small business is vital. So the sort
of programs that we put in place,
the ones that assist small business,
particularly in outlying areas, are
absolutely necessary. So we work
with small business associations,
use their input, and determine our
policy on that basis.

Question: Do the Liberals feel
there is a place for the government
in working with small businesses?

Juanita Hatton: There are a
number of businesses in Terrace,
and the surrounding area who
started out very small and, by
really working hard, being intelli-
gent and knowing their field, have
succeeded remarkably well. And
this is great. We’re proud of that.
It’s nice that we have people that
are willing to put out the time.
Hiring others to develop these
small businesses, though, doesn’t
work very well in many cases. The
businessman, and perhaps his
family, has to be the driving force.
They’re the ones that put in the
hours. And they’re the ones that
eventually reap the profits.
Employees, though, take no more
responsibility than collecting a
paycheque.

Question: Do you believe the
government should give financial
assistance to small business?

Helmet Giesbrecht: We have
Stated on a number of occasions
that we are not opposed to any
business. The provision even for
large corporations is simply that
they pay their fair share of taxes,

treat their workers fairly, and not
pollute the environment. But small
business, in these times anyway,
deserves an added bit of support.
Particularly in light of some of the
taxation that’s been taking place.
The very large corporations in
B.C. in the last five years have
enjoyed the benefit of something
like $2.5 billion in total tax bene-
fits. So our first priority is to get
some fair taxation in place which
will benefit small businesses as
well as the average British
Columbian. Specifically, we need
more timber for the small business
operator, high quality managerial
programs, a "Buy B.C." policy,
and seed funding for small busi-
nesses.

Question: Do you believe the
Liberals are a viable force in the
province right now?

Juanita Hatton: They haven’t
been in power for some time, but
the thing is that we are hoping to
do a better job... We have the
experienced people in other prov-
inces to draw on. If I’m elected —
and I’m certain people know what
I’m like — I won’t take people at
face value. They’ve got to prove

what they are.-Just letting some-—

body have a job because he’s
recommended by someone doesn’t
cut it. They’ve got to be able to
prove what they are. And I think if
we had more responsibility taken
by the people who hire people
there would be a much better
result.

Question: [s the New Demo-
cratic Party ready to step in and
govern the province?

Helmet Giesbrecht: We've been
ready for some time now. Under
the leadership of Mike Harcourt
the plans to, or the process to
govern, has been under way now
for almost five years. And we
have, in terms of what we stand
for, written policy. It’s clear... a
person cat walk into any New
Democratic campaign headquarters
and pick up all kinds of written
clear policy so they know what we
stand for, what we plan on doing
when we get in. There’s no con-
fusion. It’s been well thought out.

—- Continued on page 31

Terrace Review —— Wednesday. Gctober 9, 1991 5

In the 1986 Provincial

election approximately
28% of Terrace &

District’s voters did
nat cast ballots

Election Day is
Thursday, October 17th

~- Vote as you Please!

-.. — But Please Vote
Contact the Registrar of Voters, B.C.
Access Centre at 638-3200 to ensure
you are registered to vote OR to
determine the location of the registration
centre in your electoral district for
Section 80 registration to vote during the
revision period October 8 to 15.

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