4 Terrace Review — Wednesday, November 25, 1987

ODINIONS

Is this the

independent loggers? -

Sometime in the not too dis-
tant future, Terrace may have
two major logging. companies
but no logging contractors.

That’s what many small. log-
ging contractors are -saying.
Because of the new forestry

policy and increased stumpage’

fees, they are experiencing dif-
ficulty i in negotiating with major
companies and may be better off
going out of business. i

by Tod Strachan

Northwest Loggers Associa-
tion President Alex Houlden has
said that even though member
logging contractors don’t hold

timber licences and aren’t af--

fected directly by the higher
stumpage rates, “‘the people we.
deal with here are tightening up
a little bit,’’ and, “‘the contrac-
tors are saying it’s becoming a
little bit more difficult to deai’’.

Tom Hovland of Terrace Log-
ging said that although he hasn’t
felt the effect yet, he expects to
soon because the indication is
that the larger companies are go-
ing to make up the difference by

“cutting the contractors down in
order to make the dollars’.

A company spokesman -for

Jasak Logging said: that his ex-’

perience

indicated the same
trend. ,

““We seem to be running into .

a bit of a problem as far as

negotiating’ contracts this year,’

and I would think that the stum-
TE

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_ Review

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“bring the logging rates down.

_ the timber and transport it to the

end of

page has some reflection on the

situation,’’ he said. ‘‘They’re
telling us that they can’t afford
to pay us any increases, and in
some senses they seem to want to

Which is one thing we can’t
tolerate. Our rates are too low as
itis. But they’re telling us it’s the:
extra stumpage they have to pay
and. they’re going to cut costs,
and they think the contractor
should pick up some of that.”’
‘*1 don’t think they realize the
problems that we're going
through,’’ he explained. ‘‘We
have a union, we have to pay
union rates, and so there really is
no way that we can cut costs.”’
He explained that the major
logging firms own the mills
and the timber rights and rely on
the logging contractor to harvest

‘continued on page 21

Confrontation’ S back - and it’ S about t time _

For a while there, I-was worried that the
“spirit of co-operation’, sO passionately

the opposition, would turn the two parties
into a mutual admiration society and B.C.’s
political arena into a honeymoon hotel...
«| I’m happy to report that my fears were un-
grounded. The next session of. the B.C.
_ Legislature, which began this week, prom-
ises.to:.be.as peppery. and. ‘uncompromising, as
we have come to expect.
_.The main reason. for ‘the co- operative
spirit’s sudden death is the vengeance with
which the premier has been riding his hobby horses — decentraliza-
tion and privatization. The latter in particular has the opposition
extremely upset, and if NDP leader Mike Harcourt’s reaction is an
indication, there'll be fireworks in the House during this legislative

in 1 Victoria

sitting.

The privatization scheme is ill-considered, Harcourt says, and

; given the government’s track record with regard to the decentraliza-

tion scheme and the huge cost overruns on the Coquihalla Highway,
British Columbians are justified in withholding their trust.

**The closed-door dpproach he has.taken raises serious questions
about the potentia! for insider trading, undervaluing of public
assets, and benefits for a privileged few,” Harcourt says.

‘*Across British Columbia, the premier’s plan is creating fear and ©
uncertainty. There’s a storm brewing and Bill Vander Zatm is caus-

ing it. People are angry and they’re scared,’ he says.

Let the premier put that in his co-operative pipe and smoke it. Let
him go over the speech he gave on the last day of the summer ses-
sion and ponder where he went wrong. The co-operation that was
clearly evident in the last session is out the window, and none too
soon.

Governments, even those in parliamentary democracies, have
assumed far too much power over the years. The role of the
legislature hias been systematically eroded. Where governments once
couldn’t spend a-penny without legislative approval, they can now
spend billions by cabinet decree.

The one thing, however, governments must still endure i is the op- -

position. When opposition members raise their voices, governments
must sit still and take it on the chin: When their voices are muted,

the last line of defense will fall to government forces, And it doesn’t.

much matter whether the voices are stilled by intimidation or co-
Operation, better described as co-option. The result is the same:
quasi-dictatorship, benevolent or otherwise.

The danger of that happening was probably never great, but it -

was there. ‘The-praise government and opposition heaped on each

other at the end of the last session as alarming. It almost seemed as:

if the NDP felt uncomfortable in its role as critic of the government.

Perhaps the opposition thought the public was sick and tired of
the confrontational style of B.C. politics. Maybe their suspicions
were correct, but that doesn’t mean they had to cave in to the

populist demand for co-operation, thereby abrogating their respon-.

sibilities as members of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, which
consist of unrelenting criticism rather than collaboration.

The fall session won't last long, no more than two or three weeks,
but I have a feeling it will be lively. The NDP will go after the
government with all guns blazing. They will want to have answers to
their questions about the privatization plan. And they won't settle
for rhetoric,

The premier has said he doesn’t really want all the details of the
privatization scheme debated in the legislature. I wonder why not.
The plan involves the sale of assets worth multi-millions. It is also
such a radical departure from the status quo, that its implementa-
tion without full debate would make a mockery of the legislative

sought by Premier Vander Zalm’s Socreds,
and so willingly embraced earlier this year: by.

process. I should also think that if the plan i is an good as the. premier
says it is, it should stand up to the scrutiny of the legislature.

In fact, I_like Harcourt’s proposal even better. He: says the
privatization plan should be subjected to an: independent review, I
think that’s an excellent idea. We already know the premier likes it.
That means the Socred MLAs will support it, even if they don't like
it.

We also know that the dyed-in- the-wool Socred supporters can’t ©
wait until the last government function has been sold to the highest
bidder. What we don’t know is how the average British Columbian
with. few or, no_ partisan leanings feels about it. Why. not shop

around for a few opinions?

Meanwhile, stick around for the action in Victoria. Unless I read
it all wrong, there'll be plenty of it.

Letter

Committee wants |

help to fig

ht

CFPR relocation |

To the editor, ©

As you and your readers are
aware, the CBC Radio recently
announced its plan to dismantle

our regional radio station ‘CFPR:
next summer. Fortunately, the

CBC cannot do this without the

approval of the CRTC (Cana-} to take on the :

dian Radio and Telecommunica-
tions Committee). This approval
process will involve at least one
public hearing where citizens of
northwest and central, B.C, can
express their opinion and
hopefully influerice the outcome
of the proceedings.

Several individuals in Prince
Rupert were so concerned about
the prospect of losing CFPR and
its five hours of regional pro-
gramming daily. that’ they’ve
formed a Northwest Citizens
Committee to ‘try and do
something about it. At the
minimum, our Committee in-
tends to prepare a brief and peti-
tion for submission to the CRTC
supporting the view that CFPR
not be closed, that regional pro-
gramming from Prince Rupert

-be continued, and that existing

production facilities be retained.
We also wish to assist any in-
dividual or group to present
their own brief or petition.
Although we are seeking as
broadly-based a membership as
possible for our committee, it is

clear that people opposed to this
closure would have more impact:
on the CRTC if they organized
and presented briefs from their
own communities. We have
written to encourage an in-
dividual, group or association

organizing the protest in your.
community. We would also like
to. make contact with this in-

dividual and group so that we

might share information and be.
of assistance to each other. If
you would like to talk to us,

please call this toll free number, -

1-800-663-5033, or write North-
west Citizens Committee to
Keep CFPR, Box 266, Prince
Rupert, B.C, V83 3P6. | ;
“* ‘Rhoda Witherly,

Prince Rupert, B.C..

tn court

In Terrace provincial court on
Friday; November 6 Bradley
Ruchotzke was sentenced to six
months in jail for impaired driv-
ing and given a concurrent 14
day jail sentence for driving
while disqualified.

In Terrace provincial court on:

Friday, November 6 Robert
Ermoeff was sentenced to four
months in jail for escape from
custody,

mportant task of: . .

eas Ye ee