PAGE 4, THE HERALD, Wednesday, April 26, 1978

EDITORIA

SOTO EERE

area ata ae

The public, at election time, votes for citiznes
to represent them — on the city council and on
the school boards, and on the hospital boards,
ete.

Strange then, is it not (for wont of stronger
language) that these so elected should
decide, more and more, to hold portions of the
council meetings, and schol beard meetings “in
camera’ — from which we — who have elected
them — are excluded?

Once a subject is discussed “in camera” does
this then absolve the elected members from
being accountable to those who elected them?

Should the public not be told — every time a
meeting is held in camera — why it was

necessary to do so?

Who of us — now, jet’s be honest about this —
has not been told by the privileged few — with
whispered admonitions to keep it in confidence
— about some of the matters thus discussed in
secret?

"Lets take a look at what, by any stretch of the
imaginion is so ‘‘confidential” it must be
discussed only behind closed doors:—

The possible purchase .‘ ~eal estate, under the
excuse that if word got out the city was going to
purchase land or buildings the owners would
jack the price up or engage in land specula:-on?

Abuse of Privilege

This can be overcome by expropriation when
the owner demands an exorbitant price.

Personalities, eviction notices, raises in utility
rates, neighbourhood problems? To suppose a
dozen or so men and women are going to keep the
matter ‘private’ with beneficial effects is pure
presumption. Next we will have the city fathers.
and mothers and trustees deciding to censor
our mail, our newspapers, radio and TV
programs because a select-few presumably
know better than we do what we should or should
not be allowed to hear and see.

Hospital Boards? Ah! Some say. That is dif-
ferent. In medicine and health care there is a
sensitive area where ‘'privacy’, ‘‘con-
fidentiality”’, ‘‘ethics” and a host of other social
mores come into play.

Rubbish! So the minister’s wife contracts a
social disease, and Doctor so-and-so has had a
shocking percentage of. his patients ‘‘cured” by
the undertaker! When there was Blank number
of deaths at a local institution during a flu
epidemic two or three years ago it was decided,
by someone that it would not be in the public
interest to release the figures. ‘‘The public would
panic.” Had the public known, who is to say
there would not have been an immediate in-
vestigation — and the causes of the high death

rate eliminated, and a few well placed firings of
staff taken place!

Jane Doe, schoolteacher, becomes pregnant.
The school board goes into an ‘‘incamera”’
session to discuss the pros and cons of the.
“‘problem’’, That is how it used to be — back in
the “good old days”. Jane Doe would ‘leave
quietly”’ — and “all would be well.”’ True? Not
So, The knowing winks and nods. The gossip that
the REAL reason she had left was she was seeing
too much of. the married principal — and so on,

Pregnancies — of school staff and students,
like sex education, social disease, theft, rape and
other misconduct, — can, if need be, dealt with
out in the open ina much healthier way than the
“closed door’, in camera, routine. It is the

secrecy, the cloak and dagger effect, that turns .

the pure and wholesome into the pornographic,
Sleazy, dirty, gossip-tainted subject matter fit
only for the graffitti — covered walls of public
‘oilets,

John Doe isn’t shaping up 50 well as a teacher.
He has slipped quite a bit, arid the superin-

tendent is seriously contemplating firing him — .

or recommending his dismissal.. But the
superinendent is afraid that if he does recom-
mend his resignation J. Doe will make a fuss. So
he wants to meet in camera-with the School

Board to discuss it, first, Would this be a
legitimate reason for an in-camera session? |
Should the public be allowed to sit in on such a
meeting? Would it not embarrass J. Doe — who
is nearing retirement, and any undue, adverse
publicity could affect his chances for em-
ployment for the few teaching years he has left?
If the super. is worth his salt, he will be quite
capable of handling J. Doe without having to get
the support of the board at an in camera session.
If he isn’t HE should be reptaced! -

O.K. Then. What’s left that requires regular, -
in-camera sessions in city council or school
board, or hospital board, or Skeenaview board,
or district board, or in the various departments.
of government and civil service — such as let’s
say, Department of Human Resources, Unions —
(government and non-government). Church.
boards — too — and so on down (or up) through
the myriad groups, organizations councils,
cabinets, political parties, our society is con-
founded by?

The public has a right to demand an ex-
planation for every occasion the deliberations of
its elected members are conducted behind
“closed” doors, ona regular basis. There HAS to
be an exception to every rule. Exceptions, yes —
to this rule too. But exceptions — only; and

‘nothing more,

a

GUEST EDITORIAL (LOCAL) : Oo
. ‘Little Fat Dave Act” Just Isn’t_A

That

The most significant result of former premier
Dave Barrett’s swing through the Northwest
may have been one the Socreds would have
desired to bring about but almost certainly
would have failed to do as effectively.

I'm referring to Barret and Co.’s demon-
stration that the party. has learned very little.
from it's defeat in 1975 and consequently their
chances of seriously challenging the Socreds are

poor.

Judging by the large crowds in Prince Rupert
and Kitimat, the old strategies would appear to a
casual observer to be still relevant, The locals
warmed to the Barrett charm and laughed af all
the old gags in the absence of any new ones. They
hooted on cue when he trotted out the Socred roll-
back of succesion duties, a nasty capitalist trick
that he has. turned te comic advantage and used

self-deprecating ‘“little Fat Dave’’ number
which has formed the backbone of his routine
since 1972, was given an enthusiastic reception
once again.

Neverthless, party members might do well to
look a little harder at the act and it’s probable
consequences. They should remember that a
similar routine, characterized by an avoidance
of discussion of topical issues formed the bulk of
the parties defences in the last election cam-
paign. And while David left the voters holding
ineir sides with his witty repartee they
recovered to vote for dry earnest Bill Bennett
who was determinedly plugging issues on every
platform in the province. They had simply gone
for what appeared to be leadership.

The party should also remind themselves that
after the ‘75 disaster there was a general
determination among members not to fight

‘

another election on the basig of little fat Dave,
armed only with his flashing wit, standing alone
against the capitalist Goliath while the
remainder of the party watched in confident
expectation from a safe vantage-point. It would
appear from this visit, that those lessons have
again been forgotten. a

t is difficult, when watching Barreit's per-
formance and his interaction with party
members not to be reminded of John Diefen-
baker and that honoured gentleman’s relation to
the federal conservatives. Like Barrett, Dief led
his party. almost singlehandedly to: victory in
1958 but was turfed out five years later when

voters realized that while he was a‘lovable guy

his talents didn’t include organization. To be fair
to Barrett, his record of passing good legislation

- puts Dief in the shade and for that matter, nearly

every other politician in Canadian history. The

am *

Winner!

analogy becomes stronger when we observe
their influence on their respectiveparties aiter
their defeats. Dief drove a deep rift in the Con-
servatives through his failure to step aside |
gracefully and hung on to bedevil the leadership
of Bob Stanfield and even’ that of Joe Clarke.
Barrett is deemed irreplaceable by N.D.P.
regulars, even by those who fully recognize his
deficiencies. A sense of futility in regard to the
leadership pervades the party.

The Conservatives never came to grips with
the problem presented by ‘the ‘‘Chief’’ who
recently, at age 84, again won the nomination in
Prince Albert. The N.D.P. in B.C. has no better
prospects of resolving the Barrett situation
which almost certainly means a victory for the
Socreds in a ‘78 or early ‘79 election. It is, all in

constantly since it’s passage two years ago. The

chee ok

For the past few weeks the Herald has been
getting a steady barrage of letters and telephone
calls complaining of abuses in the hiring and
favouring of teachers by the School Board.

The callers and writers and visitors — some of
them, certainly sounded sincere, to us. We
listened. We published the letters of a few who
wrote for publication. We refrained from
publishing others the writers intended for our
eyes only.

In most cases we urged them to attend the-
School Board meetings and raise their

Letters to the
Calls Offer A “C

see *

rr eee
ho aot sa .
y oo. a a

_ grievances. We assured them the shcool board
would give them a hearing, and we would be
there, too. ae
. Well — Monday night was School Board night,
in Terrace. How many of these grieved writers,
phoners, and callers turned up at the meeting —
which was attended also by members of the news
media who would have assured them their
grievances would have received public .repor-

ge?
Can you guess how many?
Not a single one!

editor

Editor, Terrace Daily.

Herald;

_ What a “cop-out” —
inviting the public. No
School Board will discuss
anything to do with em-
ployees or hirings at a

Public Meeting.

Everything will be
“contidential’’. ,
Discrimination is a secret

weapon, held behind
closed doors,
That’s when you are

_Teally ‘‘fighting phan-
tem’s” and are told that
you just “have an axe to
grind’’. The trustee can
get her husband to be
righteously indignant but
the employee and family’

have to suffer in silence
and not be a nuisance to
anyone. And they have
been “devoting all their

time and energy to the -

job”, too.
LL.W.

Feels Staff Unfairly Treated

Editor, Terrace Daily

erald;

The letter to you from
Mr. Harrison is at hand. I
presume you would like
me to respond.

My letter to you which
seems to have started all
this, raised questions of
pe cy changes in regard

promotions and hirin
outside District No. 886,
and also asked par-
ticularly for the

dispelling of the ugly
rumors of vindictiveness
and discrimination.

It appears that Mr.
Harrison believes that his
wife was being singled
out, Of that, he is the best
judge.

As to the ‘Pandora's
Box” of letters which

& followed, that . is

significant as they must
have been latent waiting
for someone to start.

Horsewoman wanted

ny

By Joy Allen.

The Kispiox Valley Rodeo club is looking for a
young, talented horsewoman, between the ages
of 14 and 24 single, good personality,. and in-

terested in rodeo, publici

ty and fun,

The rodeo, scheduled this year for June 10 and
11, has a young woman represent them every
year. The queen is presented with flowers and
gifts and is a major attraction throughout the.
rodeo. She also present the awards and prizes
after the rodeo and attend the rodeo dances.

Last years queen was Yvonne Hobensheild, a
resident of the valley, and will pass her crown to

this years queen.

If you are interested in competing and would”

like a set of rules, please phone 842-6287,

If “Doc’’ is going to
respond. everytime the
School, _—‘- Board is
criticized, he is going to
be a busy man. Many
others work hard and put
in long hours, inclu
Board Members, Staff, .
secretaries and main-
_ tenance but that has not
absolyed them from
biting criticism in -the

st. The teaching staff
in particular is very

dedicated and yet has

‘received ‘severe abuse, .

often as a result of the
decisions of, others. And
that . is. why these
decisions have to be
questioned and why,
above all; those. making
those decisions must be

free of .the taint of

prejudice. ;
“Still questioning”

"B.C, Teachers’ . “The higher . figure.
. Federation president Pat would -have increased -
- Brady said he was pressure anschool boards

Open Letter:

Open letter to owner of.
female dog and pups left
abandoned on Terrace
. Kitimat Highway

Hi there. I'm the one who
stopped and picked up
your half-starved badly
neglected and abandoned
dogs 2 % miles fram the
Terrace-Kitimat airport.
I just though you would
like to know you have now
joined ever-
ncreasing ranks of dog-
abusers in the Terrace-
Thornhill area. You're in
fine company with others

' who have left their pets to

starve to death, beaten
them, left them aban-
doned,, or tortued or
isoned other pets. I
hope public support will
e

fering “of these animals
and bring about some
charges. .

(signed) Mrs. C. Meijer

P.S. Incidentiy, the
mother and pups above
mentioned have beén
taken to another com-
munity to find - loving
homes for them, but then
you wouldn't care about
that would you!

ip alleviate the suf- .
‘Finance Minister Evan

only 2.25 mills, to a total

all, a dreary choice for the electorate.

ear WSS eu tee ilé

Gnb OF THE
THBNEST STHHPARPS
us i THE

WORLD® Too BA

oe

“Iwas afraid of this — we’ve made more money this vear than.we can afford,”

BCTF President happy
with tax levy

leased that the 1978
ncrease. in the basic
property-tax levy for
school purposes has
turned out to be less than
anticipated,

“This should put local
school boards throughout
B.C. in a strong position
to °* maintain their
budgets,” Brady said.

He was commenting on
the announcement by

o cut their ‘budgets,
Which were — tentatively
set Feb. 15. Brady said
-the lower-than-expected
increase should relieve
this pressure,

The net effect of the
2.25-mill increase, he
said, is that the provin-
cial government will’ pay
a larger share of public
school costs than would
have been the case under
a 5-mill increase.
BCTF calculates that the
provincial government's
share of school costs will
be $351.8 million, and
increase of only $108
miticn. With ‘a 5-mill
increase the government

Wolfe in his «budget
speech Monday that the
basic levy’ will rise by

of 39,75. Earlier,
Education Minister Pat
McGeer had forecast a 5-
mill increase, for-a .val

of 42.5 mills. ° million.

The |

would have paid only $318 _

Local school taxes will be
$33.8 million tess than
they would have been‘had had not yet moved to |
the 5-mill increase adopt the recom-
materialized, Brady said. mendations of the ‘Mc-
He added he was -MathCommission.- -

“TERRACE/KITIMAT |

. daily herald

. | Published by
Sterling Publishers,

disappointed that ‘the
rovincial government

General Office - 635-6357
} Circulation - 635-6357,
4

PUBLISHER...Den Cramack
MANAGING EDITOR...Ernest Senior |
REPORTERS...Conna Valtleres {Terrace-Thornhi!l)
REPORTERS...Scott Browes (Kitimat-Kitamaat)

Published every weekday at 3212 Kalum 5t., Terrace,
B.G. Amember of Varifled Cleculation, Authorizedas |

_secand class mall. Registration number 1201. Postage
pajd in cash, return postage guaranteed. ;

; NOTE OF COPYRIGHT
The Herald retains full. complete and sole copyright
ij any advertisement produced and-or any editorlal ar
otographic content published in the Herald.
Reproduction Is not permiited without the written
fermission of ihe Publisher.

Habs