_Ad- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 2, 2003 - 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 WEB: www.terracestandard.com EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard.com Four day week THERE’S A well-known Sesame Street song which invites a listener to compare a list of items and then to decide which of them doesn’t belong. Here’s a list for modern-day B.C, — trees, fish farms, grizzly bears, the 2010 Winter Olympic bid, offshore oil and gas, the four-day school week. If you’ve chosen the four-day school week, you’re correct. That’s because for each of the items, with the exception of the four-day week, the provincial Liberal government has wrapped itself in a warm blanket of science and studies. Science, says the government, will decide the future of fish farms. And science, the govern- ment continues, will decide if it’s environment- ally sound to drill for offshore oil and gas. Sci- ence has determined it is OK to shoot grizzly bears. It is also science that will underscore the province’s plan to increase the annual allowable cut. And studies, the province says, makes it feasible to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. But nowhere is there any comprehensive body of work that indicates it is educationally sound or desirable to bring in a four-day school week. Of course, a four-day is not of the Coast Mountains School District’s own choosing. Faced with a a budget deficit, it has decided the four-day week is the best of a bad situation. Single parents,.the majority of whom are women, and low income families will face the additional cost of securing daycare. It is down- loading of the worst kind. eS Under-performing students will lose a day of instruction and continuity in a district that is al- ready in agony over graduation rates which are below the provincial average. It’s ironic that a four-day week is happening under the watch of deputy education minister Elmer Dosdall who, before he came to B.C., was in charge of the Edmonton school district. It instituted summer refresher schools in some neighbourhoods because it feared students would forget too much and not be ready when school resumed in the fall. So label the four-day week as a financial ex- ercise as opposed to an attempt at scholastic achievement, That being the case, why Friday as the off-day? Wednesday would seem to be an alternative, particularly for younger students, to rest up from two longer school days and to pre- pare for the next two. Monday is also worth a look. It is the de- signated statutory holiday day. Extending this principle to all Mondays might fit in with an al- ready-established social and economic rhythm. If we have the ugly tasking of experimenting on students, then look at all the alternatives. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Jeff Nagel NEWS/SPORTS Sarah A. Zimmerman 2002 WINNER NEWS/COMMUNITY: Jennifer Lang A BETTER FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping & Carol McKay NSPAPERS CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Terri Gordon PETITION ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Bert Husband & Stacy Gyger TELEMARKETER: Stacy Gyger COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $57,94 (+$4.06 GST)=62.00 per year; Seniors $50.98 (+$3.57 GST)=54.55; Out of Province $65.17 (+$4.56 GST)=69.73 Outside of Canada (6 months) $156.91(+10.98 GST)=167,89 WEMBER OF 5 B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION ( ~ CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION (lhe CONIA, cosser rece: D aca eebaertieong B.C, PRESS COUNCIL (ww.beprestcouncll.org) Serving the Tartace and Thorhill area. Published on Wadnesday of aach week at 3210 Clinton Street, ‘Fortace, British Columbia, V8G 5A2. Stories, photographs, illustralions, designs and typestyles In the Tarraca Standard are the property of the copyright holders, including Cariboo Prass (1869) Ltd. Its itustation repro services and advariising agencies. ; Repioduction in whola or in part, without writen permission, s specifically prohibited. ‘ Authorized as sacond-class mail panding the Post Offics Department, for nt of postage In cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for thelr time and talents We're on the w VICTORIA -— What do think would happen if Woody Allan lived next door to Mike Tyson and shouted over the garden fence “I hate you, you bastard?” Now think of Woody and Mike as Canada and the Uni- ted States. We pot the answer last week from Paul Cellucci, the U.S. ambassador to Canada in a speech to the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto. Our neighbour is ticked. “There is a stowing percep- tion,” Celluczi said, “among Americans that Canada, like France, is a source of knee- jerk reaction to U.S. foreign policy.” I wonder where he got that idea. Couldn’t it be the small sampling below of bon mots that have come out of the mouths of our politicians and one high-ranking aide in the past few months? Liberal MP Carolyn Par-- fish: “Damn. Americans, [ hate. those bastards.” Herb Dhaliwal, a cabinet * minister, no less: “I think the world expects someone who is President of a superpower to be a statesman. I think he has let, not only Americans, but the world down by not being a statesman.” Or MP Colleen Beaumier: “This is a war against child- ren. No matter how you slice it, there is more to this war aft FROM THE CAPITAL. HUBERT BEYER than the Bush regime and the Saddam Hussein regime. How many children are we going to kill to replace that regime?” ° And finally, Francoise Du- cros, who has since resigned from the Prime Minister's of- fice, describing George W. Bush: “What a moron,” None of the remarks earned the boors the slightest rebuke from Jean Chrétien, the Prime . . Minister, . In fact, the only politician rebuked by the Prime Minister was Ralph Klein, the Alberta Premier, who sent a letter of support to Bush. Chrétien told him he was “out of line.” Just imagine for a moment, the outcry in Canada, had U.S. politicians uttered those re- marks about our leaders. Of course, they would have no reason to do so, since we're so BOE ow dee GUN REGISTRY PROGRAM EXPLAINED rong side here morally superior. Now Canada is tying itself up in knots because Cellucci has told us how Americans feel about us. And Canadians are screaming blue murder be- cause an ambassador isn’t sup- posed to say those things. Well, maybe he is in this case because his boss told him 50. Cellucci, rebuked Jean Chrétien’s government for re- fusing to join the war on Iraq and criticized the Prime Mini- ster for allowing a stream of anti-American comments by Liberal MPs to go unpunished. The U.S. might have accep- ted one of the two, but the double-whammy appears to have been too much. “There is no security threat to Canada that the United States would not be ready, willing and able to help with,” Cellucci said. “There would be no debate. ‘There would be no: hesitation. We-would be there for Cana-"" da, part of our family. And that’”’ is why so many in the United States are disappointed and upset that Canada is not fully supporting us now.” And it isn’t as if the United States hadn't come to the aid of nations in need before. In two world wars, it was the U.S. that saved Europe. Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, hasn't forgot- ten that, although he is too young to have personal memor- ies of those conflicts. But Canada seems to have suppressed any memory of those dark days. © Some of the obvious real- ities in the war on Iraq are sur- real. By all accounts coming out of Iraq, the Iraqi civilian populations stands most firmly behind the U.S. and British coalition. They can’t wait until the tyrant is defeated. The only ones opposing the invasion are, of course, those with weapons, They stand to lose everything, Meanwhile, nations formerly oppressed by the Soviet Union, like Poland and the Czech Re- public, are supporting the U.S., while complacent and self- righteous Canadian politicians call Americans bastards. As for the thousands of children being killed, | wonder where those images of caali- tion, soldiers ‘being besieged by Iriqi kids for bit of chocdlate aré coming from. It has become clear that the - invading coalition forces are trying everything to avoid civilian casualties, a fact not lost on the Iraqi population, but evidently en Canadian politi- cians. Beyer can be reached at: E-mail: huberi@ cooicom.com; Tel (250) 381-6900 Suffering from Iraqi overload IF AN America’s Most Wanted viewer hadn't found Utah's ab- ducted 15-year-old, Elizabeth Smart, before President George Bush ordered firing the first shot at a “target of oppor- tunity” in Baghdad, we'd still not know of her rescue. For more than a week, CNN has been broadcasting the Iraqi war as though nothing newsworthy has happened in the U.S. War coverage re- placed even Larry King and Jay Leno, two of my favourite escape programs, Now I’m riveted to CNN as America moves the goalpost. Bush’s whole reason for de- claring war on Iraq was to “take out’ Saddam Hussein. For the first few days, it was thought Hussein might have been seriously injured or killed. Now they’re not sure if they even scratched him. so now Hussein’s fate is unimportant. Now the goal is to free the Iraqi people of weapons of mass destruction - WMD. I've heard so many letter groups spoken: by retired gen- erals helping TV anchors ana- lyze the battle moves, it’s like ge CAN'T MAKE A LIVING: fam ON THE FAMILY FARM | meSOTTA HAVE A SECOND § 508-10 STAY ON! i THROUGH BIFOCALS: CLAUDETTE SANDECKI the bird section of a zoo, hear- ing fowl language such as ARP and FAWP. We all know what a MASH unit was during the Korean War. In this war it’s an FRRP, for Forward Rapid Recovery Post, or some such. Two words I’ve heard more than enough are target and capability, Washington has targeted Canada for not going to-war beside it, though Cana- da all along held out for a sec- ond UN resolution. I back Chretien on this one. you can’t blow up a country to TSHovLp Qutt | EXCEPT T. LOVETHE LAND! rid them of their leader be- cause you don’t happen to agree with their choice. How mary times have Ca- nadians longed for a swift toss- ing of our PM or premier? Still, we’d be upset if some outsider did it for us. We've earned at least thal satisfac- tion after four more years of legislated abuse. I'd like to remind Pau! Cel- luci, U.S. ambassador to Cana- da, of how U.S. duties on our prairie wheat and softwood lumber are hurting our farmers and loggers. Yet he complains we didn’t leap in to foxholes with his coalition forces on the premise Traq has WMD, America worries about pay- ing for this war. In the 1991 Guif War, American paid only $7 billion of the cost; 35 part- ner countries paid the- rest, This time, America is footing the entire bill. At the Oscars, Michael Moore won for his non-fiction documentary, Bowling for Co- fumbine. As Moore hoisted his golden statue, he spoke against the Iraqi war, eliciting a battle of boos among the au- START A WE SHOULD BYSINESS dience as Bush supporters booed his stance, and in turn — audience members booed those who baced Moore. : In a CNN interview with an- chor Aaron Brown, Moore said “Bush is teaching American kids to resolve conflict with violence,” something teachers, parents, and students are work- ing to eliminate among play- ground bullies. One drawback to America’s precise bombing is the comfort is gives to Hussein and: his closest bodyguards. Because U.S. air strikes are so precise, ali Hussein has to do is stay away from major tar- pets. He can linger in the un- derground tunnels connecting his many palaces and head- quarters, unseen by satellite tracking, L, , CNN's coverage has taught “me things I can’t profit from knowing, for instance that stra- tegic planners have a lawyer at their elbow to make sure they do things within the Geneva Conventions. However, a week of tracking the war on CNN makes books look even more inviting.