A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 23 1999 TERRACE STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. « V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 + FAX: (250) 638-8432 EMAIL: standard@kermode.net Dear Helmut Memo to Helmut Giesbrecht, MLA Skeena: Subject - Park land, Dear Helmut: Your old school, Skeena Junior Secondary, is to be demolished in favour of a hew structure beside Caledonia Senior Secondary. The intent is to sell the Skeena lands to defray the cost of the new school. This raises some questions given that the Skeena playing fields and running track would - be lost. A city committee has already taken up the challenge of finding a way around this given.-: the popularity of the Skeena fields and the need to provide for and to preserve needed green, space within the city. Here’s where you can step in. Not too far from - the Skeena fields is the now-abandoned former Ave., most recently occupied by the private road contractor, Nechako Northcoast, until it moved" to new quarters beside Bell Pole earlier this year. Since the old yard is provincial Crown land, a swap is not out of the question. You could inves- ligate a way for the city to purchase the old yard’ site for a $1 and then sell it for a $1 to the school. district in return for title to the Skeena land. The schoo! district would then have a piece of land already in a suitable residential area it could «. then sell to defray the new school costs. Yes, environmental clean up would be needed im highways ministry maintenance yard on Park | at the old yard and the costs could be a factor in . any swap plan. But this is a situation in which | you could deliver a win-win solution. And that’s nothing to sneeze at since you are coming up to an election. New friends. _ IT WOULD seem to be a stretch for both sup- porters and opponents of Skeena MP Mike Scott to place him in league with native rights and of women’s rights. But that’s where the Reform na- tive affairs critic seems to be given his opposi- tion to federal legislation giving 14 native bands new powers to control lands on their reserves. Mr. Scott criticized Bill C-49, passed two weeks ago after the Liberals used closure in Par-. liament, for severa] reasons. One of which, he said, was the failure to adequately protect the tights of native women should their matrimonial property be involved in a divorce. The bill gives too much power to band councils who, if dominated by men, might pass laws that would work against women, says Mr. Scott. Now, the Native Women’s Association of Can- ada has filed a lawsuit against federal Indian af- - fairs minister Jane Stewart for the very same.rea- -_ sons outlined by Mr. Scott. Has Mr. Scott changed? Not really. He’s simply following the Reform prime directive of promot- ing individual rights over more collective ones. The difference here is that Mr. Scott has found himself tied to a different kind of ally. _ It will be interesting to see how the more tradi- tional feminist movement and, indeed, Mr. Scott’s own friends teact to this turn of events. . PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ’ ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur . NEWS Jeff Nagel « NEWS/SPORTS: Christiana Wiens R NEWS/COMMUNITY: Alex Hamilton FRONT OFFICE: Cindy Miller CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Carole Kirkaldy ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: 5am Bedford, Bunnie Cote TELEMARKETER: Tabatha Orange DARKROOM/COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Julie Davidson, Andrea Malo SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $57.30 per year; Seniors $50.75; Out of Province $64.39 Outside of Canada (6 months) $158.25 (ALLPRICES INCLUDE GST) MEMBER OF B.C. AND YsKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION. CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION B.C. PRESS COUNCIL | We CNA. comer 1958 WINNER atie a went £3 Serving tha Terrace and Thornhill area, Published on Wednasday ol each waek al 3210 Clinton Streat, Terrace, British Columbia, V8G 5R2. Stories, photographs, illustrations, designs and in the Tertaca Standard are the property of he Copyright holders, Including Cariboo Press (1969) Lid., its ilustralion repra services and advertising agendas. ; Feproduction in whole of in part, without writien permission, is specifically prohibited. aatotzad es sepondiaae nal ponding te Peet fea Dinero for payrtent of postage in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for thelr time and talents b HOPE YOU ENJOYED LISTENING 10 ME AS MUCH AS [ENDED 7 HARING TOYO. VICTORIA —- In his farewell speech, John Shields, the retiring president of the B.C. Government Employees Union, noted that the NDP had gotten so far off its tradi- tional track that it could no longer depend on support from the BCGEU in the next election. I wonder what took Shields So long to notice the obvious. Anyone with a modicum of historic and political knowl- edge of this province ought to have found out quite some time ago that this particular incarnation of the New Demo- cratic Party has lost its tradi- tional bearings. I don’t think the NDP has ‘- much to: fear from Shield’s warming that it can no longer take support from trade unions for granted. For one thing, the government’s popular base is already so eroded that its chances for a third term are skim to none, with or without union support. Moreover, organized labour has never supported the NDP as a block vote, Had it done so, with about 40 per cent of all workers unionized, British Columbia would have had a uninterrupted string of CCF and NDP governments for the last 50 years. But the fact that Shield’s observation will make no dif- FROMTHE CAPITAL | HUBERT BEYER ference to the NDP’s fortunes, one way or another, doesn’t make it any less serious. The whole reason d'etre of a political party system, is. to give’ voters a:.clear.-choice... Back’ in the days ‘of Tommy Douglas, those choices were’ clearly delineated. The CCF offered Saskatchewan voters something no right-wing party could or would have dreamed of, - And the policies Tommy Douglas, that fiery little cru- sader, implemented’ in Saskatchewan would later become the cornerstones of Canada’s sacial system. It was the CCF, later to become the NDP, that either pioneered in Saskatchewan or, using its balance of power in federal minority governments, forced the introduction of important social legislation such as Medicare, unemploy- meni insurance and the Canada Pension Plan. The year 1972 saw the first NDP government in British Columbia, and Dave Barrett lost no time putting a distinc- tive NDP stamp on his admin istration. ; He brought in the long- overdue protection of agricul- tural land that was being gob- bled up at an alarming rate by real estate developers. And he introduced public auto insur- ance. Social programs were enhanced under Barrett’s reign. The poor definitely gat a better break than they do today, under another: NDP government. And that’s just one of the problems plaguing the NDP. Forced by never-ending bud- get deficits, programs get slashed, sometimes in an obvious manner, sometimes more subtly, Premier Glen Clark’s pol- - icy early on in his term to deny newcomers to British Columbia welfare assistance was more reminiscent of a right-wing government and shocked many core support- ers, Less obvious is the game this government plays with Pharmacare which supposedly “NDP has lopped off its roots pays for prescription drugs. Not only did the NDP raise the deductible to $800 a year, but every few months,’ it strikes a few more drugs off the list of medication eligible for Pharmacare coverage. ~ Maybe Pharmacare doesn't mean much to this NDP gov- ernment because it was intro- duced by’ Bill Bennett. But I'm sure it means a lot to peo- ple who can ill-afford the high drug bills. — oh, Add to all this the pre- mier’s attempts to curry favour with big business and you haven’t got much left that resembles the traditional val- ues of the NDP. Shields is afraid that the government will go through: another round of staff reduc- tion in the provincial public service. And well he should be. That’s exactly what the government will do. - Dedicated NDP. supporters won’t get a lot of reassurance from this government during the remainder of its mandate. But to them will fall the task of rebuilding and reshaping the party in the image of what it used to be, . Beyer can be reached at — Tel: (250) 920-9300; e-mail: huberi@coolcom.com; web:http:/Avww. hubertbeyer.c om/ ; Free up those firefighters FOR THREE years 90 per cent of Thornhill’s volunteer firefighters have been trained as first responders, as qualified as ambulance atiendants for the first five minutes or until an ambulance arrives to treat medical emergencies such as heart attacks, diabetes, strokes and suffocation, To qualify as first respon- ders, each of these 30 fire- fighters underwent 40 hours of specialized instruction over two full weekends, taught by a ‘fellow firefighter, a graduate of a government-funded Van- couver course. Yet during the tenure of . three fire chiefs, a few words in a regional district by-law has denied firefighters permis- sion to use their first aid skills “ for public good. So June 9, when a Code 3 .{ ambulance call announced that | >. the-life of someone at the - Northern Motor Inn was in . imminent danger, the. three TINY PRey!! FOUNCES ON ITS SPYING THE TINY DIS PATCHING iT fay HOLE I) THE SNOW, INSTANTLY WITH A m HE ARCTIC WOLF VIOLENT SHAKE THROUGH BIFOCALS: CLAUDETTE SANDECKI firefighters present in Thom- hill’s firehall could only listen helplessly. Lacking by-law clearance, they couldn’t snatch up a first aid bag and dash over to the motel to assist, _ The ambulance took the ail- ing person to the hospital after taking 11 minutes and 36 sec- onds to arrive. | Why has- the wording of this by-law so paralyzed the regional district? Excuses OF THE HEAD! 9849) range from it being merely a housekeeping issue to needing a referendum, to awaiting the results of an on-going study to avoid duplication of emer- gency services, to expecting capital cosis of up to $200,000 for a designated rescue truck. First responders see no additional expenses beyond fuel for fire trucks. As it is, annually fire trucks use less than one-quarter of the fuel budgeted. The unused fuel budget evaporates, Already Thornhill’s trucks are loaded with the necessary first aid equipment, As. for duplication, Thorn- hill has a ladder truck. Yet Ter- . face plans to buy one, Does the area need two? First. responder training lakes the place of mandatory industrial first aid which costs $500 per firefighter, Because first responder is taught locally, the course involves no travel or accommodation ANCTHER PIECE OF HoT DOG Sooke 2" casts. Co, ae Firefighter training with its weekly attendance to upgrade skills is demanding, Volun- teers train hard. Like Canada’s military, they look forward to exercising their skills. Getting the most out of our fire equipment investment and manpower . training makes sense. Still for three years we've been cheated out of the ability of our firefighters to respond to medical emergen- cies. June 9 was fair warning. Standards and policies for industrial fire departments throughout Canada are set by the National Fire Protection Association. The NFPA’s rule would seem to supersede, the Tegional district’s by-law, * In the NFPA’s view, “If it happens in your fire district, deal with it.” That includes fire, rescue, and medical response. Revising the regional dis- trict's by-law is long overdue, DON'T LAUGH ! IT COULD Come iN ye HANDY Some DAY: