Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 23, 2002 TERRACE ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS; 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 * FAX: (250) 638-8432 WEE: www.terracestandard.com EMAIL: standard@kermode.net a How they do it PERHAPS IF we had a Quebec postal code, things would be very much different here. That province is about to experience the re- opening of a mothballed newsprint mill thanks to a $465 million investment over two years. The Chandler newsprint mill in the Gaspe area, traditionally an economically depressed region of Quebec, was closed in 1999 by former owner Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. because its costs were too high and too much was needed to modernize the facility. Step forward the Quebec provincial govern- ment and the union-backed Quebec Solidarity Fund. They took over the mill and brought in for- est products company Tembec Inc. to run the the facility in return for a piece of the action. That set in motion $120 million from the Que- bec government, the participation of a special agency set up to aid pulp and paper moderniza- tion, $35 million from a provincially-owned in- vestment company, $70 million from the Solidar- ity Fund, $35 million from Tembec and $80 mil- lion from the federal government. The remaining $125 million will be borrowed with the goal of installing a new machine to produce high-grade coated magazine paper. This is in marked contrast to the northwest where the provincial Liberal government is set to _ turn over Skeena Cellulose to an uncertain future for basically nothing. Of course, Quebec is a very different place than B.C. It has its own identity, viewing itself as a na- tion within a nation. Quebec governments, re- .gardless of which party:.is in-power, blend in the , ‘idéa Of ‘natidriliood With ééonomic development sO that the latter strengthens the former. It also obviously doesn’t hurt that any political party which wants to form the federal govern- ment needs Quebec votes. Hence that $80 million from Ottawa. There’s never been a hint of any- thing similar from Ottawa when it came to Skee- na Cellulose, Not a whiff. Not a whisper. We had that Quebec kind of thinking under Socred premier W.A.C, Bennett who viewed provincial participation in industrial development (B.C. Hydro is a prime example) as a building block to a strong province. The same was true for the NDP but it failed because it didn’t understand that a strong province first required the money that would flow from healthy industries. The Liberal government in Victoria clearly wants out of the business of being in business, which is fair enough. But it also, judging from the massive cuts to provincial services, wants out of the business of doing what governments do in the first place. It’s one thing to change the role a government plays in society. It’s another thing to abandon the field altogether. By the way, the postal code for Chandler, Que- - bec is GOC 1K0. New address labels anyone? PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Jctf Nagel 2001 WINNER NEWS/SPORTS Sarah Zimmerman CCNA BETTE '. . RE NEWS /COMMUNITY: Jennifer Lang COMPETITION FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping & Carol McKay CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Terri Gordon ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Bert Husband & Stacy Gyger TELEMARKETER: Stacy Gyger DARKROOM/COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $55,15(+$3.86 GST) per year: Seniors $48.85 (+$3,42 GST); Out of Province $61.98 (+$4.34 GST) Outside of Canada (6 months) $152.34 (+$10.66 GST) MEMBER OF 8.0. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION CNA Faiah Cefvatn aa Teka AND B.C, PRESS COUNCIL (www.bcpresscouncl!.org) Serving the Terrace and Thornhill area. Published on Wednesday of each weak al 3210 Clinton Steel, aan Terrace, Brilish Columbia, V8G 5R2. Storlas, photographs, ilusteations, designs and typastyles In the Terrace Standard are the property of the copyright holders, Including Carlboo Press (1969) Lid., its illustration repro services and advertising agencies. : . Fleproduction In whole of in part, without written permission, is specifically prohibited. Authorized as sacond-class mail pending the Post Otfica Dapartmant, for payment of postage in cash. Special thanks to all our conteibutors and correspondents for their time and talents | SSO) CS 3 SO ALWAYS REMEMBER, BILLY, THE ONLY THINGS CERTAIN IN THIS WORLD ARE DEATH, TAXES AND CHRETIEN. = Ts a SO dg) Se MAsone Z S STS WV S/E 8c. GOVT 35 SS ORIN SS) 2 op CUTS 2 = = 2a Ss SS POL Tee z ARGENT eS 2 con CORRS 2 UbesiDENt A 2 ses SS 2 Sin cl DECEMBES alll, as : 3 — == = ; = Politics can cos' VICTORIA — In no Canadian province is politics as polar- ized as in British Columbia. Here you lose friends over po- litical differences, Some 10 years ago, I wan- ted to write a series of articles about placer mining. Placer mining is the extraction of precious metals from the bo- wels of the earth , mainly gold, by small operators, often mom-and pop outfits. I asked editors in interior and northern towns where pla- cer mining was occurring to put me in touch with someone who could take me around and show me what placer mining was all about. Somehow the name Jim Gunn came up. I didn’t know Jim Gunn from Adam, but what’s a city slicker to do? Jim appeared ta be an expert . on placer mining, and who was I to argue? Jim: picked me up at the Prince George airport. He was your regular kind of guy Bill Bennett used to describe as a “teal British Columbian.” As I found out during my time ahead with Jim, he had a number of active claims in the area we were going to visit, Our first stop was a placer mining operation near Ques- nel. It belonged to Norm Olar- son, an oldtimer in the area. “Who’s there?” a loud voice greeted us, as we ap- RO HE. CAPITAL - HUBERT BEYER proached his camp. There was an old coot holding a gun, aimed at our direction. “It’s Jim Gunn, with Hubert,” Jim said. “You got any beer?” Sud- denly, I understood why Jim had told me that we had better buy a few cases of beer before mining camp. oe Norm, Jim and ] consumed - Tespectable amounts of beer: that night. In the process, Norm showed me just about everything there is to know about placer mining. Norm had one backhoe dig- ging up the dirt on his claim and feeding it into a machine that washed the dirt, constant- ly fed by water, moving the dirt back and forth, separating heavy metal, speak gold, from the lighter gravel and sand. we ventured into any placer. While we were polishing off’, the second twelve-pack, Norm was doing what's called the “cleanup.” That’s when the gold dust and small nuggets are poured into a form and later emerge as a beautiful gold bar. Norm threw the bar at me. “Catch it,” he said. I promptly dropped it. The bar was far heavier that anything I expect that size ta be. Norm, Jim and 1 got glor- iously drunk that night. I can’t remember iow I got to Narm’s home, but that’s where I woke up next morning. We spent a few days with Norm, He showed me his nug- get traps, adding that he would put out a contract on my life if I ever revealed his secret, The last evening, Jim, Norm, his wife and I sat in the Olarsons’, living room. Norm threw, .. something At IMG. ““Thait's yours,” he said. [twas ‘a beautiful gold nugget,’the only: gift, present, bribe’ or whatever you want to call it, I ever accepted. Somehow, it seemed wrong to refuse this gesture from a man I had gotten drunk with, a man who had shared his nug- get-trap secrets with me and who had put down his gun only when he was sure that we had a good supply of beer, In the week that followed, Jim would take me to a half- you friends here dozen other placer mining camps, some equally small as Norm’s, others sizable opera- tions. Jim introduced me to a Brit- ish Columbia that city folks cannot begin to imagine. And it was always Jim who made sure the people I] met would accept me. During that assignment, Jim became what I would call a friend, Since then, Jim and I have been in touch off and on. He used to get my columns, which I make available to anyone who might not be able to: read them in their local newspaper. Jim stayed with me when I lambasted the NDP, The odd time, he would e-mail me that I was right on the money. Last week, I received a terse message from Jim: not accept my ‘criticism of Gordon Campbell’s Liberal list, Thank you,’ It appgars dim ‘government. ‘Pity, Jim. You once told me you thought I was your friend. Now I am saying I thought you were my friend. Is politics in British Columbia that power- ful? In closing, Norm Olarson died a few years ago. 1 remem- ber him fondly. Beyer can be reached at: E-mail: hubert@coolcom.com; Tel (250) 381-6900; Web http://www. hubertbeyer.com to have fun in a line up LINEUPS CAN be as much fun as a TV talk show depend- ing upon the mix of people, and the reason for the lineup. A few talkative folk can entertain a queue with more switchbacks than an Idaho highway. And if you knew be- fore you left home you would face a lineup, why complain? I’ve learned to make the best of lineups, kibitzing, ea- vesdropping, and observing people close up without risk of being labelled either a snoop or a voyeur. When those in line fail to amuse, I read signs, do iso- metric exercises, practice " deep breathing (not so deep as to frighten a bystander into calling an ambulance), and daydream. Sometimes 1] play word games with myself. For in- Stance, a queue is like a what? A conga line playing ‘Simon Says’? A centipede confused about which foot to move next? Or [ pretend I’m an unwitting victim in a Can- did Camera setup, What sort of scenario might be about to THROUGH BiFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI unfold? And where could Funt’s camera be hiding? On Christmas Eve I was halfway along a 15-person lineup waiting to have an en- velope weighed to be sure it wouldn’t be postage due. Be- hind me were two laid off log- gers airing their views on the snail sale of SCI, environmen- talists, and the pine beetle. All this arguing by civil lib- ettarians that camera surveil- lance in public places such as street intersections is an inva- THS IS A GREAT LAND USE PLAN! WE HAD LOGGERS, TRAPPERS, OUTFITTERS TOUR GUIDES, MINER'S OILMEN, ENVIROS.. sion of privacy is bunk. People in lineups bare their souls for all to hear, without worrying who might be within earshot, And that’s one of the free- doms of a lineup. Whether it’s at the post office, before the opening of a Harry Potter film, or trapped along with a stres- sed planeload of passengers who have just missed their connecting flight, you feel you're among strangers. Who cares what you say, Although queues do have etiquette rules. You should ap- pear oblivious to everyone else’s conversations; keep your face immobile and don’t choke no matter how funny the co- median at work before you; never try to jump the line; and don’t expect anyone to hold your position so you can nip off to do better errands. So IJ listened to these two loggers. One had suffered through a party the night be- fore where the music was so loud he felt like something in a microwave being heated by waves from the inside out, First they berated the postal .. AND THEY ALLLEFT ABou NEQUALLY PISSED OFF I system for being shorthanded at a busy time of year, then they took on environmentalists. “Environmentalists should be given an ice cream bucket and a knife and be sent out in the bush to dig out a bucketful of beetles before they get any- more welfare,” said one. That’s when [ broke a firm tule of queue behaviour. I laughed. Both men looked at me in horror, brows puckered, as thaugh I had done something naughty. , Government’s upcoming 30 per cent cuts will guarantee lineups at every service coun- ter from liquor stores to licen: sing agencies. so we better learn to cope with and enjoy them. Campbell's layoffs could lead to an entirely new entre’ preneur, one we could hire to take our place waiting in line-° ups, for a small fee, Bonded; of course. s I aim to mail Christmas: par- cels earlier next year, and as- sign the waiting to someone else. St-9 ‘ +