A4- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 30, 1997

TERRACE

STANDARD

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

A Division of Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd.
ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2
TELEPHONE: (251) 638-7283 * FAX: (250) 638-8432
EMAIL: standard@kermode.net

Here’s a plan

WAY BACK when first presented, Forest
Renewal B.C. was welcomed ‘as a sure-fire,
never-been-done-before way of ensuring there’d
always be a forestry industry in B.C. All that
money that had been vacuumed up at the border
with the States in the form of a tax to appease
our southern cousins who felt forestry companies
here were being subsidized would instead go to
finance this new venture.

But Forest Renewal B.C. has since been criti-
cized for either spending too much money, not
spending enough, spending it in the wrong places
or knuckling under by agreeing to turn over dol-
lars to help ease a provincial budget crisis.

So perhaps it’s time for Forest Renewal B.C, to
return and renew itself based on its original in-
tent — an agency that’!] provide for a healthy
and sustainable forest industry.

It could do so by reinforcing its intent of not
being tied to the cyclical nature of either politics
or the forest industry and by acting as an inde-

pendent yet responsive agency to nurture the.

province’s economic mainstay.

And one way to do that is to start talking about
the long, long term. Not one-year plans, or three-
year plans or even five-year plans. Instead,
Forest Renewal should start talking about a 20-
year vision of tree planting and maintenance. A
20-year plan to diversify into value-added or
smaller business operations.

Because Forest Renewal B.C. has a secure
source of money and because, for the most part,
all British Columbians buy into the idea of an
agency dedicated to sustaining the forest indus-
try, thinking in terms of a 20-year cycle is not
far-fetched.

Twenty years is a working generation of
people; it’s: enough: for people to consider a
career in various forest fields, it’s enough to start
and mraintain new forests to feet into the annual
allowable cut, it’s a sense of security and an op-
portunity for businesses to invest and to grow.

Best of all, a 20-year plan presents B.C. with a
vision and that’s something we all lack
nowadays.

Hup two three

HOW MANY people can a government irritate?
We’re not even halfway into the new year and
already this city has experienced a demonstration
by loggers about Repap and how the provincial
government handled the crisis, two demonstra-
tions from college students about course cuts,
two demonstrations about fishing licence fee
hikes and a study session from social workers
about the pressures of dealing with child pro-
tection. And last week IWA members held an in-
formation picket line and marched to Skeena
Sawmills because their bush work is still closed
down.

All told, that makes for at least 1,000 local
people who felt strongly enough about provincial
government policy to take to the streets.

While governments aren’t generally known for
bowing to street demonstrations, all of this ac-
tivity has to send a strong message south.

a A
PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link
_ ADVERTISING MANAGER: Rick Passmore
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NEWS Jeff Nagel * NEWS SPORTS: Dave ‘Taylor
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brawl

Now heres a real fish

VICTORIA — The only time
people can expect a good deal
from their governments is
when an election looms.

Once elected, governments
feel free to dump on us, They
hike taxes and user fees with

abandon, slash social programs

with impunity, safe in the
knowledge that we can’t turf
the rascals out for the next
three to four years.

But hey, we take what we
can get during that short time
leading up to an election. And
thanks to Prime Minister Jean

_Chretien’s determination to
wrestle another mandate from
voters, British Columbla just
_got a pretty good deal from Ot-
lawa,

For the first time in history,
British Columbia, will now
play a role in the future of the

~ west coast salmon fishery.

While opinions are split on
just how effective a role B.C,
will be able to assume in the
management of the resource,

, Most experts agree that any-

thing is better than the status
quo.

Here's what we got: A
Canada-B.C. council of minis-
ters will be established to co-
ordinate salmon resources and
_ habitat, a fisheries renewal ad-
visory board, comprising rep-
.resentatives from all

I’M NEITHER an artist nor an
art connoisseur. Therefore I'll
not comment on the artistic
merit of the censored art works
so high-handedly banished
from the R.E.M. Lee theatre
except to say one drawing
looked like a Fifth Estate photo
of a Newfoundland woman

who’s suing her _ plastic
surgeon for incompetence after
her reconstructive breast
surgery.

What concems me is the
wimpy way trustees shirked
their responsibility, leaving
these drawings to be arbitrarily
censored by an unelected em-
ployee.

Last November trustee candi-
dates promised improved coim-
munication with all
stakeholders, more community

involvement in — decision
making. The board now has a
36-member broad spectrum
committee advising them on
every budget or curriculum is-
sue.

Then along comes the first
test of that promised openness

—

HUBERT BEYER

stakeholders, will be set up,
and the two governments will
reduce overlap and duplication
in the management of the
fishery resource.

True, Ottawa is still in the
driver’s seat, but B.C. now
firmly occupies the passenger
seat, making it infinitely more
difficult for the federal govern-
ment to do as it pleases.

The deal isn’t retroactive,
which means the Mifflin Plan
to reduce the size of the fishing
lect is still in place. Initial
reaction to the new dea] was
one of cautious optimism.

Premier Glen Clark said the
agreement marks ‘‘a tuming
point in the history of the
resource.’’ From now on, he
said, ‘‘no major decision

‘THROUGH BIFOCAL

CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

and what happens? The Board.

cannot be convened.

Despite having every modern
communication device at their
disposal — faxes, internet,
laser printers, polaroid and
digital cameras, even confer-
ence calls — there’s no way to
let these nine people see
photos of the disputed draw-
ings. And no way to have them
discuss the merits of the
anonymous complaint or the
drawings.

We're told the drawings

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regarding this vilal resource
will be made without the direct
involvement of the people
closest to the fish: the people
up and down our coast in fish-
ing communitics, in First Na-
tions communitics, in the sport
fishery and in the commercial
fishery.”’

One of the people pretty
close to the fish is John Mur-
ray, president of the B.C.
Gillnetters Association and
head of the Coalition of Con-
cerned Fishermen,

“T ike il, but I’m nat quite
ecstatic. Il reaffirms the De-
partment of Fisheries and
Oceans’ position as the final
authority, which is important.
And it ckeans up the overlap
between the governments on
protecting habitat,” he said.

Jim; Fulton, bead of the
Suzuki”. Foundation, says a
major factor in thé agreement
is that it opens fisheries man-
agement to more public scruti-
ny and makes scientific data
available to all interested
parties,

British Columbia,
said, emerges with greater
*‘moral authority’ and the
ability to use public pressure to
influence the federal fisheries
department.

“It's the first time in this
century that Oltawa has

Fulton

were hastily removed so as not
to embarrass students attending
the Pacific Northwest Music
Festival.

This festival draws young
folk fom all over the north-
west, well beyond School Dis-
trict 827s boundaries. All the
more reason for the full ninc-
member board to make a deci-
sion as representative as pos-
sible of widely held com-
munity standards.

Since the Terrace Art Gallery
has @ one year waiting list, the
REM, Lee is roulinely used
as an art gallery. Permission
for this display was granted by
the school district employee in
charge of the theatre,

Yet when one or two
anonymous callers complained
— soon bolstered no doubt by
others outraged at what they
hadnt seen — nine of the
drawings were whisked from
the walls,

Before CFTK-TV had a
chance to broadcast any photos
of the nude drawings dis-
played, CBC moming radio let

_ CAWADA |S THE BEST FRIEND WE EVER HAD JEAN. WHICH DOES NOT

ALTER THE FACT, WE CAN SIT ON YOUR FACE ANY TIME WE WANT7O.

story

listened to the pleas from Brit-
ish Columbia, This is an im-
mensely good document,’’ he
added.

The B.C. government would,
of course, have been happier
had Ottawa got out of the
fisheries business altogether,
but perhaps it’s better this way
for all concerned.

Bruce Hill, past president of
the Steelhead Society of B.C,
certainly is pleased that Ottawa
still has the primary responsi- -
bility for the resource because
he believes B.C. isn’t capable
of running the fishery.

On the whole, however, the
agreement appears fo be wel-
come news to both politicians
and stakeholders. The very fact
that Ottawa is willing to share
a previously fiercely-guarded
jurisdiction is encouraging be-
cause il proves that Canadian
federalism is! ‘capable of
change. 7

Just how well the agreement
will work won’t be known for
quite some time. Meanwhile,
British Columbia will at least
have some say over one of its
most important natural
resources.

And that’s got to be better
than nothing.

Beyer can be reached at Tel:
920-9300; Fax: 385-6783; E-
Mail: habert@coolcom.com

just that call?

us hear listeners’ comments in
response to an interview with
one of the censored artists.

One listener was a Fort St.
John trucker. He admitted he
hadn’t seen any of the draw-
ings. Nonetheless he agreed
with the school district’s swift
removal of the first nine draw-
ings.

I marveled at the caller's
blind faith; his keen sense of
fairness; his keen sense of Eair-
ness; his commitment to due
process.

Ordinarily a school district
administrator is harder to sway
than a determined pitbull. For
one anonymous complaint to
instandy banish nine drawings
from the R.E.M. Lee, the com-
plainant must have been none
other than the Pope, Or some-
one equally influential.

Where is this influential cal-
ler when parents lobby the
board on behalf of special
needs student for an additional
elementary school counselor or
for more kindergarien spaces
at Upiands?

So! AFTER THE.

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