Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 10, 2002 *
ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988
ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G SR2
TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 © FAX: (250) 638-8432
EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard.com
Jack's dream
of a 2010 Winter Olympics. And Terrace
mayor Jack Talstra has his dream of a multi-

Full marks to Mr. Talstra for sticking to his
vision. It’s been his primary focus all the years
1980s. The dream has met with mixed reaction
over the years due to the thorny problem of
ject of referenda, the latest being in 1999 when,
in an attempt to spread out the debt, Terrace
gave it a thumbs down.

There are very real parallels to the provincial
tiplex. Both are regarded not so much for what
they are, but for what they will mean after-

The provincial government says the billions
required for a Winter Olympics will be paid
business investment. The multiplex is touted as a
facility that will make the city a better place in
city’s future and as a symbol to attract business
and jobs.
comes to money. How many billions the Winter
Olympics will cost isn’t yet known. Although
thanks to a $2 million federal-provincial pro-
gram, there’s a huge gap between that amount

S
PUBLISHER: ROD LINK
WEB: www.terracestandard.com

THE PROVINCIAL government has its dream
plex.

Mr. Talstra has been in office dating back to the
how to finance a multiplex. It has been the sub-
voters said ‘yes’ while regional district voters
dream of a Winter Olympics and that of a mul-
ward.
back over the years in increased tourism and
which to live, a mark of confidence for the
But both dreams have a problem when it
the multiplex has some cold hard cash behind it
and the $7 million-plus construction cost.

And both dreams exist during, a time ofan.

unsettled. economy, leading to quéstions of af-
fordability. There’s also a debate over the mer-
its of governments citing deficits and debt as
justifications for reducing social services yet
being able to find the money for showcase pro-
jects.

Mr. Talstra ambitiously and optimistically
says he wants the first shovel in the ground next
spring for the multiplex project. For that to
happen, multiplex supporters will have to work
hard and fast. The 1999 plans will have to be
dusted off to see.if they still make sense. Costs
will have to be updated.

There’s talk of finding private partners. Yet
it’s doubtful if enough private money can be
found to make up the difference between the $2
million federal-provincial grant and the con-
struction cost.

That means public borrowing and that means
a referendum, an opportunity for a healthy and
vigorous examination of the proposal.

This will lead to a rehash of past multiplex
debates, but it is a small price to pay. Otherwise
dreams can turn into nightmares and optimism
can too easily be quashed.

PUBLISHER /EDITOR: Rod Link
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Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents
for thelr time and talents

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The gospel according to Gordon

VICTORIA —- In 1921, the fa-
mous American journalist
Walter Lippmann said that the
art of democracy requires the
“manufacture of consent.”

The equally famous, albeit
more controversial Noam
Chomsky, champion of Ameri-
ca’s left, calls it propaganda.

“In totalitarian societies
where there’s a Ministry of
Truth, propaganda doesn’t
really try to control your
thoughts. It just gives you the
party line. It says, “Here’s the
official doctrine; don’t disobey
and you won’t get in trouble.
What you think is not of great
importance to anyone. If you
get aul of line we'll do some-
thing to you because we have
force.” Chomsky says.

“Democratic societies can't
work like that, because the
state is much more limited in
its capacity to control beha-
viour by force. Since the voice
of the people is allowed to

.. Speak out, those in. power, bets.
ler control what. that voice ~

says — in, other words, control
what people think. One of the
ways to do this is to create po-
litical debate that appears to
embrace many opinions, but
actually stays within very nar-
row margins. You have to
make sure that both sides in
the debate accept certain as-
sumptions ~ and that those as-
sumptions are the basis of the
propaganda system. As long as

It all sta

A TAPE recorder with a hand
held microphone is a great in-
ieractive toy. With my $40
older model, my granddaugh-
ter amuses herself for hours.

She rehearses songs for the
end-of-year school assembly,
reads chapters of Nancy Drew
to hear her own voice (always
a thrill and a shock}. I can
help her read and understand
new unusual words, something
I could not do if she were
reading silently to herself.

Toward the end of prade
four, her class studied TV
commercials, and videotaped
their own commercial which
they devised, wrote dialogue
for, and acted while teacher
held the camera. Through it
all, she got a taste of micro-
phones and interviewing.

Now she matches her new
skill with my old style tape re-
corder to interview live guests.
Only problem is, we have few
visitors before 3 p.m. on a
Sunday. She deals with that by
following Robin Williams’ ex-
ample, inventing voices for
her interviewees.

On Sunday she went live,
when she noticed Grandpa was

“FROM THE: CAPITAL

HUBERT BEYER

everyone accepts the propa-
ganda system, the debate is
permissible.”

Gordon Campbell, the Pre-
mier of all British Colum-
bians, must have read Choms-
ky because he’s hell bent for
leather to implement a gov-
ernment communications ap-
paratus that will do his bidding
along the lines af the old

,lefty/s: warnings. . !

‘The premier ‘is*in’ “the: pro-)
cess of firing about 270 public
servants working in what is
loosely called government
communicalions. The premier,
it appears, is blaming them for
getting out the wrong message
about his New Era govern-
ment.

In an interview with the
Vancouver Sun’s Craig Mc-
Innes, the premier sald he
wants to “stop” the campaigns

ted wit

THROUGH BIFOCALS.
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

stretched out on the sofa,
waiting for lunch or a nap,
whichever came first.

Many of us prow up know-
ing little about the daily lives
of our grandparents when they
were young. Our knowledge is
limited by our reluctance to
intrude, lack of time to sit to-
gether and chat, or not need-
ing to know until we’re older;
by then our grandparents have
passed on,

And too often when fami-
lies gather, chatter skims the
surface. Only during rare mo-

TRASHING ann TI HAT 2
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of misinformation, although he
later said he meant “counter”
said campaigns.

By misinformation, the pre-
mier refers, for example, to the
popular belief that his govern-
ment is cutting funding in the
areas of health and education.

Wherever does the public
come up with that idea.

Here is how the premier
will stop or counter all that
pesky misinformation:

First he will get rid of the
270 or so public servants
whose job is to convey infor-
mation to the public. Next, he
will hire information pecple
not as public servants but via
cabinet appointment. ,

Can you spell political
flunky? As public servants, in-
formation officers were
responsible to us, the public.
As political appointments,
they answer to their masters,
namely Campbell and his gov-
emment.

J can’t recall the number of,

times’ Campbell, while opposi- “? *

tion leader, attacked the NDP
government for having politi-
cized the public service.
While that claim was true, it
must also be said that the poli-
ticization of the public service
began a lot earlier,

No government. before,
however, placed responsibility
for information entirely in the
hands of political hacks.

George Heyman, president
of the B.C. Government’ and
Service Employees’ Union, .
isn’t impressed with Camp-
bell’s idea of getting informa-
tion to the public.

“The premier promised a
non-partisan, non-political pub-
lic service. Now he’s telling
the people of British Columbia
that the information they are
going to get about what gov- |
ernment is doing is going 10 be
filtered through Liberal hand-
picked spin doctors that frankly
should be paid for by the Lib-
eral party, not the taxpayers of
British Columbia,” he said.

He’s tight. The premier did
premise a non-political com-
munication system. He even
hired a person, Irene Chanin, to
oversee that process, but ac-
cording to the premier it didn’t
work. So Chanin was trans-
ferred to the B.C. Buildings
Corporation, where she still re-
ceives her deputy minister's

salary sts boats fear,

4 That, leaves the: rpremien free

lo credte a propaganda, ma-
chine entirely under his con-
trol, a politician's dream come
Irue.

And he complains about the
media sending the wrong mes-
sage to the public.

Beyer can be reached at: ~
E-mail: hubert@coolcom.com;
Tel (250) 381-6900; -Web
fips /iwww. dimbertbeyer.com

h Grandpa

ments of rapport one-on-one is
it likely you'll learn something
profound about your ancestors.

Arranging time for a grand-
child to converse, to connect
with a prandparent, can be
more than useful. It can lead to
insights transferred directly
without the conduit of a cen-
soring parent.

Before her interview with
Grandpa, | did two things:
asked Grandpa for permission
to do the interview, and ran
through a list of possible ques-
tians for her to ask. [ didn’t
want to spring the interview on
him and have him say ‘no’.
That would have crushed her.

So when I pulled up a stool
beside him and plugged her
tape recorder into the nearest
outlet, Grandpa was in a frame
of mind to cooperate.

Beginning with our re-
hearsed questions, she asked
him-where he was born, how
many siblings he had, their
Names, ages and so on. In ten
minutes she learned more
about Grandpa than | could tell

her. Whenever he veered she —

pursued that angle as deftly as

Ol-37

LINKED 10 PROSTATE
CANCER (N MALE

GRIZZLIES OVER.207

Dip you KNOW. THAT
ENGINE OILHAS BEEN WHERE IT Hues!

Peter Gzowski might have
done.

If we were doing this with a
view to recording for posterity,
we would buy tapes special for
this purpose and file them later.
But for now, she’s getting to
know Grandpa better, and
amusing herself while Grandma
prepares lunch.

Bath enjoyed their initial in-
terview. Her interest in his past
boosted his morale, and she in
turn gained confidence in con-
trolling the process.

I don’t have nations this i in-
troduction to sound equipment
might lead to a life work as an-
other Pamela Wallin, Although
many people have gone on to
iilustrious careers from equally
inconsequential introductions
to media. Nor do | dream of her
achieving another Angela's
Ashes. Our family lacks both
the alcoholism and the poverty
underpinning Frank -McCourt’s
memoir,

But public speaking which.
she does comfortably, facing a
sea of strangers is one thing.
Interviewing Grandpa is quite
another achievement..

GOTTA HiT EN