4 Terrace Review —Wednésiay, July20,1988 Setting a course over —uncharted territory Out of the group of contractors who originally pur- chased the tender description documents — at $500 a set — for the highway and bridge maintenance work in the Terrace area, only two are still in the running. Both are local companies, and that’s an encouraging sign. They’ve been around here long enough to know what sort of work has to be done and how to do it. Their reasons for bidding on the job are obvious: it’s the biggest highways contract ever tendered in this area, and if everything goes well it will be extremely lucrative for the company that gets the award. What isn’t quite so clear is why the other interested parties were either disqualified or failed to enter a bid. A recent conversation with the managing vice- president of Ledcor Industries in Vancouver cut through some of the fog. George Hoar said the Terrace area contract was the fourth in the province Ledcor examined, Each con- tract package was studied by a separate team of ex- perts, and Ledcor’s decision was that the risks involv- ed in entering the highways privatization game were just too high. ‘“We could see a tremendous amount of overhead to handle claims,”’ he said. ‘‘People in the past have been very reluctant to sue the government, but their attitudes are different when it comes to a private com- pany.” As an example, he cited a hypothetical inci- dent of a car knocking over a stop sign. The next motorist coming through the intersection doesn’t stop and is involved in a collision. ‘“Who is to blame?” Hoar asked. The obvious conclusion is that the maintenance company could be held liable. He said there is nothing reassuring in the contract package, describing the liability issue as ‘‘nebulous’’. Ledcor Industries is not a two-bit organization — they’re one of the biggest construction companies in western Canada, and they’ve done a considerable amount of roadwork in this area. Liability insurance is not cheap (the Union of B.C. Municipalities staged an open revolt at the cost of premiums and formed their own insurance company to control costs). If they’re talking, someone should be listening. With privatization going ahead full steam, at this point we can only hope that the maintenance of our roads and bridges doesn’t turn into yet another bonan- za for the legal profession. Established May 1, 1985 The Terrace Review Is published _pach Wednesday by _ Glose-Up Business Services Ltd. Pubilsher: Mark Twyford Editor: Michael Kelly Staff Raporters: Tod Strachan ~ . Gharlynn Toews Advertising Sales: Marj Twyford | . Typesetting: Linda Copeland - Production: Jim Halli, Alvin Stewart, _ Gurbax Gill, Linda Mercer ae Office: Carrie Olson Accounting: Marj Twyford “Sacond-class mail registration No. 6896. Terrace Review All materlal appearing in the Tarrace Review Is protecied under Canadlan copyright Registra- thon No. 362775 and cannot tagalily be rapra- duced for any reason without permisalon of the publisher. Enore and omiselons, Advertising is accepted on the condition that In tne avent of typographical error, that portion of the advertis- ing space occupied by the erroneous item will not be charged for, but the batance of the adver- tisament will be pald for at the applicable rate. Advertisers musi assume responsibility for ar- rors In any classified ad which is supplied to Ihe Terrace Review in handwrittan form. In compliance with the 8.C. Human Rights Act, no advertisement will be published which _ discriminates against a person due ta age, race, religion, color, sex, nationality, ancestry oF place of origin. 4535 Greig Avenue, Terrace, B.C. V8G IM? Phone: 635-7840 _ One year subscriptions: : In Ganada $24.00 Out of Canada $50.00 Seniors in Terrace and District $12.00 Senlors out of Terrace and Disirlet $15.00 "Letters to the editor will be considered for publication only when signed. Please include your telephone number. The editor reserves the right to condense and edit letters. Opinions expressed are nol necessarily those ot the Terrace Review, SMOKING? OR NON SMOKING? Cabinet shuffle looks like a new job creation project by Victoria correspondent Mark Collins Twenty months ago Premier Bill Vander Zalm reduced the number of cabinet ministers in the B.C. government from 20 to 18 and described it as ‘“‘another step in the continuing process to make government leaner and more efficient’’. Nine months ago the Premier gave eight of his line ministers additional responsibility as ministers of state for eight development regions. Hints from ‘‘a senior government of- ficial’? suggested the next step would be an even smaller cabinet with eight regional ministers plus a handful of line ministries which could not be split region by region. Last week’s cabinet shuffle appointed 22 ministers, the largest number ever in this province. It cut the number of regional ministers of state back to five, and chopped off little bits of ministries to try to give everyone enough to do. According to the Premier, this year’s expansion of cabinet will not cost any more money. “The bottom line will be no in- crease in the budgets allocated, no increase at all but a far more effective and still more ‘*One of the government’s information-suppression officers even had the nerve to try to prevent me from interviewing some cabinet ministers after the ceremony.”’ efficient government.’’ People in the Parks Branch of the B.C. government are used to being shuffled from ministry to ministry. In recent years they have gone from the ministry of recreation and con- servation, to lands, parks and housing, to environment and parks. Now B.C. Parks is a separate mini-ministry included in the responsibilities of Terry Huberts, the new minister of state for the Vancouver Island/Coast and North Coast development regions. Similarly, environment, crown land, and native affairs have each been assigned to a regional development minister. This shuffle would have made more sense if those four areas of responsibility were added to each development region. The big winner in the shuffle is Cliff Michael. As Minister of Government Management Ser- vices, his portfolio includes several crown corporations and responsibility to prepare a pro- posal for coordination and rationalization of major government-owned facilities for consideration by cabinet. The ministry is not excep- tional but his cabinet commit- tee membership is. He is on the planning and priorities commit- tee which is responsible for in- itiating and coordinating the broad strategic planning for government, the social policy committee, and treasury board which controls the govern- ment’s purse strings. Not bad for a man who resigned his cabinet portfolio in disgrace last November over conflict of interest allegations. Major cabinet shuffles of this sort tend to be happy af- ‘fairs and the Office of the Premier did its best to make this one a celebration. The chosen ones were invited to Government House for break- fast and pep-talks before the ceremony. In this era of open government, that strategy could not possibly be connected to preventing leaks to the news media, could it? The chairs in the ballroom for family members and office staff were carefully roped off to keep reporters out of the way. One of the government’s infor- mation-suppression officers even had the nerve to try to prevent me from interviewing some cabinet ministers after the ceremony. No matter how upbeat the Premier’s message, the resigna- tions of Grace McCarthy and Brian Smith have overshadow- ed his shuffle. He knows it and he has taken defensive action. By appointing a cabinet of 22 ministers plus 12 parliamentary secretaries, the Premier has used our tax dollars to broaden the base of his personal sup- port and reduce the chances of a rebellion by caucus dissidents. Even after carving up the ministries of govern- ment, by having three ministers of state look after two regions each, there are three cabinet positions easily available for. future rewards.