4 Terrace Review — Wednesday, October 2, 1991

Candidates’ debate
to be broadcast ©
on Skeena Journal

A pre-recorded All Candidates
Forum will be aired on CFTK’s
Skeena Journal next Tuesday, Oct.
8 at 7 p.m. Under the direction of
moderator Roger Millions, TK’s
Tara Nelson asked Skeena riding
candidates five questions and cach
was given 90 seconds for their
Tesponse.

To help you make the most of
this opportunity to analyze the
differing views of the various
candidates, Terrace Review
reporter Tod Strachan sat in on the
taping of the show and. recorded
the questions and responses.

The folowing is an overview of
their answers to the first two ques-
tions. Next week, we will cover

‘the responses offered by NDP
candidate Helmut Giesbrecht, B.C.
Liberal candidate Juanita Hatton
and incumbent MLA and Social
Credit candidate Dave Parker to
the final three questions which
involve health care, small business
and some party specific views.

Question: Js the Major Project
Review Process working? Is it
doing what we want. Is it doing
enough, or does it take too long?

Dave Parker: The process is
based on the Mine Development

Review Process which was cited in.

the Brundtland Commission as one
of the foremost processes available
in the world. "So the MPRP is a
provincial initiative and it is an
objective process that includes
local government, local representa-
tives, the provincial government
and the federal government."
Parker went on to explain that the
process can take as long as a year,
which he admits is a "long period
of time", but he said the important
thing is "that local views are
heard”.

Question: Does the MPRP have
a future under the Liberals? Is it
doing what it was set out to do?

Juanita Hatton: "I think the
local people who will be affected
by Orenda, for instance, are not
being heard." Hatton explains that
most people are not accustomed to
speaking in public, and many who
want to speak out, don’t. Hatton
suggested that there may be some
people who don’t want the public
to speak out, and they can use this
general lack of speaking skills to
their advantage. And even if an
individual tries, they are sure to
lose the debate. Sticking to the
Orenda issue, Hatton suggested
there should be more input from
the native community and more
questions asked about the selected
site. _

Question: Does it have a future
under an NDP government?

Helmet Giesbrecht: "By and
large, my scnse of the MPRP is
that it works reasonably well."
With this said, however, Gies-
brecht added that some fine tuning
is necessary 16 make the process

impartial. "And we’re committed
to an impartial review process," he

said. "I’m thinking specifically of |. ;

the final say in the Major Project

Review Process still.rests with |

politicians. And J think we have to
‘fine tune that a little bit to make

sure that the decisions that are “im

made are not political decisions."

Question: What is the future for
forestry? Are we being too protec-

tive now? What areas should be

protected... And what areas should
be given to logging? ©

Juanita Hatton: “The damage
has been done already and I think
they should restrain from doing
any further damage." Hatton
explained this assessment by not-
ing the large areas of clear cut
between here and Vancouver that
can be seen from the air. And
much of it she said,-has never been
replanted, "Are we going to suffer
for it?" she asked. And in
response, she added: "You may
not. But your grandchildren may."
And as for what areas should be
logged and what should be saved,

Hatton said, "Well it’s already

been given to logging. That’s the
problem."

Question: What is the future of
forestry in the Skeena region?

Helmet Giesbrecht: Forestry is
the number one industry in the
province and that status will con-
tinue. "At least we’re going to try
to make sure that it stays with that
kind of importance," Giesbrecht
said. He added that the first prior-
ity should be to stop the historic
confrontation between loggers and
environmentalists. Following that,
an inventory is required in order to
correctly decide which areas
should be logged. And the Minis-

. try of Forests should hire more

staff to enforce their proposed
Forest Practices Act. Another area
of concern that needs to be
addressed, he said, is the matter of
the number of forest related jobs
compared to the number of cubic
metres cut. This number can be
increased, he said, by encouraging
a value added industry here.

Question: Protected areas versus
logging... Does the Social Credit
party want to make any changes in
the next five years?

Dave Parker: The groundwork

for deciding what should happen
where, said Parker, has already
begun with the parks and wilder-
ness review process. "There have
been several hundreds of public
meetings. There have been thou-
sands of responses. And the Kit-
lope, certainly, is one of the areas
that hes been proposed in this
investigation." And he added, "It’s
this way, I believe, that commun-
ities like Terrace will have their
opportunity to help formulate
provincial legislation.” °

CFTK’s Skeena Journal will feature an informative All Candidates Forum next Tuesday at 7:30
p.m. At the heart of the taping of this timely feature production was TK’s television production

director Tim Morton.

+

Lottery grants to sports part
of health care, Parker states ©

According to Skeena Social
Credit candidate Dave Parker,
there are a number of issues and
concerns in the field of health care,
and one of the primary consider-
ations for government is keeping
people healthy in order to reduce
the pressure of the health care
system.

"And one of the things this gov-
emment espouses is the sports and
recreation aspect," says Parker.
"Lifestyle." To this he adds, "As a.
government we have been encour-
aging it. Since the “75 election
there have been substantial funds
made available to communities and
regions for sporting and recreation
events.”

As examples, Parker describes:
events like the B.C. Seniors

Johnston
as factor

by Tod Strachan

A crowd of a hundred or so
patient supporters were on hand to
greet Premier Rita Johnston to
Terrace last Wednesday. Patient,
because they waited more than an
hour for her arrival. She apolo-
gized for the delay, explaining that
an incident had occurred that
required a "bit of attention", but
never mentioned Bulkley Valley-
Stikine incumbent Jack Kempf by
name.

“We don’t make a lot of provi-
sion for uncxpected events," she
said. "But we had one today." This
was followed by a specch that
included terms like “honesty in
government”, "ethics" and "the
integrity of our elected officials".

Games, Special Olympics and the
B.C. Summer Games, He also
notes that the Skeena riding plays
an important role in these kinds of
events. It was just last week that
the a board of directors for the
1993 B.C. Winter Games in Kiti-
mat was selected.

The money to pay for these
events comes from the B.C. Lot-
tery Fund, says Parker, and in that
respect much of the lottery fund is
being channelled into our health
care system. And more lotlery
money goes directly into the health
care system, he adds. About half
of all lottery revenues go into
general revenue, and 72 percent of
general revenue expenditure goes
to health care, social services and
education.

"There’s very little goes into
blacktop, or forest management,
fisheries management, hunting
regulations, pollution control regu-
lations... It pretty well all gets back

to the people in the community,"
says Parker.

On the local scene, Parker talks
about Mills Memorial Hospital and
how it now has regional status in
the province. He applauds the hard
work of the Terrace Regional
Health Care Society who have
worked hard to attract specialists,

add a nuclear medicine facility, -

and soon a CT scanner. All these
things were important consider-
ations in a recent consultant’s

‘yeport that gave Mills regional

status.

And as far as the CT scanner is
concerned, Parker says his govern-
ment will live up to the promise
made by Health Minister John
Jansen and support the CT scanner
once it is in place at Mills Memor-
ial. "That commitment looms large
in my mind and it’s certainly large
in the directors’ minds of the
Health Care Society," says Parker.

_— Continued on page 30

cites ‘performance’

in Kempt

Johnston suggested these were
traits expected of politicians today,
but at the same time offered these
thoughts: "You know, we’ve had
some problems in the last five
years. And they don’t revolve
necessarily around : integrity or
honesty. Some of them revolve
around perception. And you know,
in politics, perception becomes
very, very important. Particularly,
when you're going into the second
week of a campaign."

And with this idea of "percep-
tion" in place, Johnston said she
had asked “the candidate" to sicp
down. It was the honourable thing
to do. But, "Unfortunately, he
refused to do that. So I did advise
him, and I have contacted the
headquarters of the Social Credit

issue

party and the wheels are now in’

motion that will see one of our
candidates... And it’s never hap-
pened before... But it will see one
of our candidates who had been
duly nominated in his constituency,
not receiving the support to go
forward as a Social Credit candi-
date. It’s a sad event. But it’s one

.1 believe we have to follow

through on."

With this bit of business out of
the way, Johnston launched into
the other half of the picture. The
Socreds are “back in the poils”
and, "We have won every election,
with the exception of one in 1972, ,
for the past 40 years. So why
should this election in 1991 be any
different." Areas of public concern

— Continued on page 30

els