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A6 Terrace Review — Wednesday, April 10, 1991

Handcuffed

7 The board of School District 88 last night brought forward a budget
bylaw for $36,146,264. Of that amount, $156,450 was discretionary

funding — money the board will be able to spend in whatever way it

deems fit, if in fact it passes the budget. It is a balanced budget and
there will be no local referendum for additional money.
_ While the board laboriously attempts to negotiate a new contract
with its teachers, it does so with the knowledge that a settlement
could be vetoed by the province’s Compensation Fairness Com-
missioner. Programming, including the Year 2000 curriculum intro-
duction, is almost entirely directed from Victoria. A $600,000 expan-
sion to Kiti Kshan school was bid on by seven companies. If the
board does not elect to go with the lowest bidder, a Kamloops
company, in all likelihood the ministry will overturn their decision.
The discretionary funding in this year’s operating budget, if the

board ratifies it, amounts to four-tenths of one percent of the total

amount.

While the city has a good chance of getting $25 million over 25 or
30 years for pavement from local taxpayers, an educational program
of that magnitude and ambition would almost certainly be doomed to
failure, if it were statutorily permitted to appear on a ballot, which it
is not. The maximum period to which tax question referendum can
apply for school districts is one year. It’s a question the voters won't
be asked, and won’t have a chance to answer. ;

The unevenness Of it all

pot-hol |e 2.,& v.i1.n. (Geol.) deep cylindrical hole formed esp. by
wearing away of rock. 2. deep hole in ground or river-bed;
depression in road surface caused by traffic, etc. 3. vi, explore pot-
holes; hence ~ER’ n, [f. POT+HOLE']

\

Every place that has roads has potholes: Every place that has
drivers has roads, and all the drivers in all those places complain,
grind their molars and curse at the potholes in the roads they drive

on.

In Terrace potholes are a logical and excusable consequence of
ubiquitous and penetrating moisture combined with winter |
temperatures that fluctuate like the stock price of a junior mining
company. Since we can’t elect the weather, we gripe at the civic

politicians and their underlings. There is comfort in the reflection that

many other places have as many potholes with far fewer excuses.

We didn’t know that "pothole" could be used as an intransitive verb

until we discovered that it is something Stephanie Wiebe does, in the
manner that other people go "caving", but somewhat less risky and
claustrophobic, She apparently fecls they are phenoma to be

_ examined with a degree of wonder, to write songs about, to revel in.
She does so on pages B8 and B9 of this issue.

We think she’s right. If we quit taking these things seriously

perhaps we could start griping about something with a bit more
substance, something we could do something about... like the

weather.

eTFACE

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ATS THE NEW
PREMIER OF BC.
ONTHE LINE...

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The view from
Victoria —

by John Pifer

VICTORIA — I have been ask-
ed why the news media ap-
peared not to give B.C.’s new
premier, Rita Johnston, a
“honeymoon period” in office
before asking tough questions.
The query came in the wake
of the tone of Premier
Johnston’s first press con-
ference, held barely 19 hours
after she was sworn in to"
replace the disgraced Bill
Vander Zalm, her close friend

. and advisor of 20-plus years.

That tone was firm but
polite, perhaps bordering at
times on rude when B.C.’s First
Lady repeatedly refused to con-
demn the actions of Vander
Zalm.

She chose not even to express
how she felt about learning
how often, how slickly, he had
lied to her, to Cabinet and to
the people of the province.

As one of those who asked
some of the nearly-rude ques-
tions, I will try to explain brief-
ly why the gloves were off
from the opening round with
the new premier.

But first, here is the ex-
change, verbatim:

Q: Premier Johnston, how
do you look upon the fact that
Ted Hughes found that just
about everything the premier
(Vander Zalm) has been accus-
ed of lying about, was proved?
How did you feel personally
when you saw that document
with that evidence?

A: I’m really not here to talk
about Bill Vander Zalm.

Q: I’m asking how you feel.

A: Or the Hughes Report,
and 1 feel very optimistic for
the future in this province, and
1 feel really very good and proud
about the fact that my col-

leagues, by unanimous support,
have chosen a female as their
leader,

Q: Forgive me, do you con-
sider it wise not to respond to
questions about this man that
you were so supportive of for
so long, who you found out
was leading a lot of you down
a garden path?

A: I really don’t think that
that question requires an

answer. That chapter was clos-
ed yesterday, and if you want

to talk about Bill Vander Zalm,
I think you should go and talk

to (him). I’m here to talk about
Rita Johnston, and the govern-
ment and the door that was
opened yesterday.

Now, to the reasons for the
line of questioning:

1, The media gave the
allegedly-charismatic Vander
Zaim a free ride for the first
few months after Whistler in
1986, and look what happened
then. (No close examination of
the Fantasy Gardens holdings,
no pursuit of his hidden agenda
during the ’86 election cam-
paign, no review of his dances
with rezoning and controversy,
etc. while mayor of Surrey, and
so forth).

Perhaps we are determined
not to make the same mistake
twice.

2. Until or unless Mrs. .
Johnston is prepared to let the
people know that she does
NOT condone Vander Zalm’s
actions, she is unlikely to at-
tract back into the fold the
disaffected voters or party
members whom he alienated.

While it is true that the new
Premier says she is ‘‘disap-
pointed” in the findings of the
Hughes Inquiry, that is hardly

the kind of firm statement in
support of Ted Hughes’ work
which most common-sense peo-
ple would expect.

3, As soon as she began talk-
ing about the Vander Zalm
mess being ‘‘a closed chapter’,
it was obvious that Mrs.
Johnston was going to try to
protect her predecessor, or at
least to deflect attention away
from his indiscretions.

It could be argued — and is
being argued by some caucus

‘members — that Vander Zalm
is still a sitting Socred MLA,
and therefore ‘‘is one of us,”’
and should be given an easier
time of it.

What a crock.

Instead of appearing to rally
behind this deluded twister
whose concept of impropriety
seems to be that anything goes
unless you get caught, Socred
caucus members would have
been much wiser, one suggests,
to cut him adrift entirely, even
to pressing for his immediate
resignation as an MLA.

Now, before any of you ac-
cuse this humble scribe of want-
ing revenge on Vander Zalm,
hold your fire. What many
people in the province, in the
Social Credit Party and in his
own government want is not
revenge, but justice.

When you consider what Mr.
Hughes uncovered while just
pursuing ONE of the bizarre
chapters written by the ex-king
of the Fantasy castle, one
wonders what might be lurking
in the pages of some of the
other chapters.

In that initial press con-
ference, Premier Johnston said

— Continued on page A7

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