Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 18, 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 Northpolitik THE TURBULENT reign of Glen Clark, while driving B.C. deeper in debt and setting new na- tional benchmarks for mismanagement and snake oil salesmanship, may also be remembered as one of the rare times a provincia] government was truly responsive to the needs of the north. Victoria’s attentiveness to the regions was like- ly heightened by the narrowness of the NDP’s majority, the threat of recall campaigns, and the strength and number of cabinet ministers outside the lower mainland. A more urban-rooted party might have turned a blind eye to the recession that bludgeoned the sticks-and-stones resource economy of rural B.C. Instead the NDP embarked on a series of manoeuvres to trim stumpage, ease the Forest Practices Code and boost smaller scale forestry. The innovative Job Protection Commission had a free hand and provincial backing to nurse wounded areas through the downturn. And the government, through deputy premier Dan Miller, chose to take political body blows in the south on behalf of the north to save Skeena Cellulose and now to float the idea of lifting the moratorium on offshore oil and gas exploration. Many of the Clark government’s initiatives — the three fictitious aluminum smelters, the now laughable Jobs and Timber Accord, not to men- tion fast ferries — were dismal failures amplified by the premier’s penchant for hype. But it cannot be said that the north was ignored. And that’s exactly what many fear will happen when the B.C. Liberals inevitably take power. The party is Vancouver-focused and the growth of the lower mainland has reached the point where there are now enough seats there to elect a majority government without a single member from any other part of the province. Even ardent unite-the-right proponents fear a huge Liberal majority with a strong urban base will have little understanding of the north or need to support it. B.C, Reform members refuse to fold their tent and some even look to the Social Credit party as a home rather than join the Liberals, who they see as being out to simply steamrol] over them. Liberals up here are keenly aware the party must be more north-friendly if there’s to be a clean unification of the right under their banner. Talk of alternatives among the skeptics goes as far as fielding independent candidates or starting a new party to represent the north. All this defies conventional wisdom. Anywhere else politicos would be scrambling to get on the bandwagon of a sure winner. But the north isn’t anywhere else. Representa- tion is a scarce thing up here getting scarcer with each new redrawing of the electoral map. The vast distances between centres make the issues here seem more about survival than the metro- dwellers’ obsession with traffic congestion and home invasions, Entire communities can live or die as a result of government decisions. The life-and-death stakes, the age-old northern suspicion of the south and our contrarian nature means northerners will do whatever they think it takes to get results. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS Jelf Nagel * NEWS/SPORTS: Christiana Wiens 1356 INNER NEWS/COMMUNITY: Alex Hamilton NEWSPAPERS FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping COMPETITION CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Carole Kirkaldy ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: 5am Bedford, Bunnie Cote, Mark Beaupre 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 (ALL PRICES INCLUDE GST) MEMBER OF B.C, AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSCCLATION. ee CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION @ CN. AND B.C. PRESS COUNCIL Serving lhe Terrace and Thomhil area. Published on Wednesday of each week at 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace, Batish Coltumbla, VaG 5A2. Stories, photographs, illustrations, designs and typestyies in the Terrace Standard are the property of the copyright holders, including Cariboo Press (1969) Lid., ifs ilustration repro services and advertising agendes. Reproduction in whole or in part, without writlen permission, is Specifically prohibited, Authorized as second-class mail ponding the Post Offica Deparment, fr payment of posiaga in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents — ~ for thelr time and talents COMMUNITY Hitecte trent rors IMMIGRATION vers MUCH AS MY CLIENTS APPRECIATED THE Ret dans opens ‘MEDICALS, LEGAL AID FEY WONDER DENTE WIL GET THEIR 36000 DOLLARS BACK... . VICTORIA -— For years extolling the virtues of coming that’s the way it should be. Time to open our hearts 2 now, the spacious grounds of Victoria General Hospital, situ- ated in a beautiful rural setting, have been home to scores of rabbits. Believed to have descended from a few abandoned pets, the little rascals multiplied like, well, rabbits, until the hospital recently announced it would terminate the entire population, of rabbits, that is. The animals, the explanation went, posed a health hazard. The plan sparked immediate controversy. A local woman began stalking the grounds at night, catching rabbits to save them from “death row.” The public has been cheering her on, The story of the rabbits’ - plight spread quickly, prompt- ing the House Rabbit Society of Seattle ta swing into action. It wants ta save the rabbits and find homes for them. I have, so far, not found any- one, aside from the hospital officials, who doesn’t want to help the rabbits, which makes the animals a lot more popular than the boatload of Chinese washed up on the shores of Vancouver Island recently. Few people have spoken up for the refugees. And that’s what they are, regardless of what Canada’s immigration vocabulary may call them. FROM THE CAPITAL. HUBERT BEYER When people risk their lives to brave a 30-day passage aboard a rust bucket that could just as well have sunk a day out, live in conditions that can only be described as inhuman, they are refugees, period. I must say that [ got consid- erably better treatment when I decided I wanted to emigrate to Canada in 1957, The folks. at the -Canadian consulate in _ Cologne couldn’t have been nicer. We need people like you, they said. Did I have enongh money for the passage? No problem, we will advance you the money. All you have to do is pay it back within two years. Ah yes, I didn’t jump the queue, Not that there was one, at least not for people whose skin was white and who could speak English. The Canadian government placed ads in newspapers at the time, to Canada. Less than a month from the day I applied, I was on my way, with a little help by way of Assisted Passage, courtesy the Canadian taxpayer, And yes, 1 paid the money back within a year. Now, I would dearly like to know just where the queues are for immigration to Canada in China. Perhaps the Chinese government, benevolent and warm-hearted as it is tawards its citizens, has some comfort- able quarters in Tiananmen Square where people wait until they can leave their country for a better life in Canada. The old jumping-the-queue excuse can hide a multitude of less acceptable feelings, rang- ing from “they’re taking jobs from Canadians” to outright bigotry. So, instead of welcoming people who have endured the hardships they did just to come - to our country as just the kind of people we want, we lock them up in a compound until they can be “processed” by immigration officials. Most of them are now allowed to leave their tempo- Tary quarters at the Navy base in Esquimalt, except for those who are believed to have been involved in the people-smug- gling operation. And maybe But those who came because: they were told there is a betler- life in Canada, who probably: agreed to indenture themselves: for years, should be welcomed: with open arms. * A friend of mine, Victoria: Councillor Bob Friediand, tells: the story of his grandmother who, at the age of 16, set out on: a 25,000-kilometre journey* from a Minsk ghetto for Amer-‘ ica, where freedam beckoned. She didn’t join any queue. cither, She fled oppression. Isn't it time we looked at- human beings with at least the- same compassion we appear to: have for rabbits? And although - the words were written as an- inscription for the Statue of: Liberty in New York Harbor, the sight that greeted every: immigrant seeking a better life‘ in America, they ought to be a: reminder for free people every-: where when someone knacks: on their door and seeks accep-" tance: - “Give me your tired, your: poor, your huddled miasses,« yearning to be free. The: wretched refuse of your teem-- ing shore, the homeless, tem-* pest tossed to me. I lift my light: beyond the golden door,” " a Contact Hubert: e-mail: hubert@coolcom.com; Fax:: (978) 477-5656; web: http:/Avww. hubertbeyer.com/ They‘re building a mystery ANY HOME worth renovat- ing ought to rate a sign out front explaining to neighbors what’s in the offing. Major construction contrac- tors always advertise their goals: Site of the Future Golden Years Apartments, or some such. I'd get more done if a sign told me what my neigh- bor’s up to. But homeowners make a point of not tipping off their intentions. You have no inkling the neighbourhood is about to change until you notice a stack of new lumber or a cement mixer drepped in the driveway. Of course, neighbors are under no obligation to divulge their building plans even to kib- itzers next door, but it would ease my mind to know before- hand. I could estimate by haw much the refit might notch up everyone’s assessment. Sometimes the first hint of THROUGH. BIFOCALS. CLAUDETTE SANDECKI x renovations is an unusual clus- tering of trucks, mid-morning on a weekend. The volunteer crew has arrived, fueled by thermal mugs of coffee or sweaty cans of cola, You can tell they’re volun- teer; no one rushes to pick up tools. The number of crew assembled says nothing about the size of the project, Jt says more about how many friends owe your neighbor in kind. Committees are out. Nonetheless everyone gathers near the stockpiled building supplies like mourners at a gravesite while they decide their plan of attack. Watching, it’s difficult to tell whether the crew is so canfi- dent they can afford to ease in to the work, or so insecure they're skitlish about launching into it. After they’ve beavered for a time, observe them standing back gazing at their handiwork. Are they admiring a job well done so far? Or cussing their mistakes? The only clue comes from their stance. Satisfied, they lean back on their heels, a thumb hooked nonchalantly in a jeans pocket. Disgalisfied, they stand with feet wide sptead, a belligerent pose thought to cow the work into bf ov. iN? Bae, Lopnw yet IN # © og cin'#, mow 75-52 1 GREAT CHW MUSIC, EW?!! shape. es Some jobs reveal themselves « quickly. Ladders, saw horses, : and table saws point to carpen- ° iry. but sometimes the job is: half done before you can be. sure what they’re up to, partic- « ularly if your line of sight is « sideways to the field of activity. « A certain unease exists : unless I recognize one of the : Red Greens asa qualified trade- person in the line of work that” seems to swaying the project. * Still, 1 feel compelled to lend » my moral support in the form of frequent peeks from a vanlage window. My one construction skill is: a natural ability to judge when - something is level or perpen- : dicular. Whether . they've? braced thelr rafters adequately - or sunk their fence posts suffi- . ciently, [ wouldn’t know. : Think how anxious | might ; : be if I did know, OAK SOUTHERNERS DN CAN'T EVEN APPRECIATE THEIR TRADITION AL music!