fe fi sateen me * the aluminum city. : the Libs have the advantage of name recognition. And they ‘ are out there hustling for votes. In theory, therefore, the ly supported ‘scab’ labour in a highly unionized town. “umpb in the last federal election and by the knowledge he oY. i a agen - foria, | TERRACE STANDARD . ELECTION ‘96 Kitimat is key to NDP By MALCOLM BAXTER AS KITIMAT goes, so goes the NDP — that’s the mes- sage from the 1991 provincial election. Excluding the absentee votes which cannot be pinned down to a specific community, New Democrat winner Hel- _ faut Giesbrecht polled 852 votes more there than Socred incumbent Dave Parker, ; es ~ And thal was 21 votes more than his overall majority. _. Giesbrecht’s Kitimat total was also 152 more than the combined opposition vote. But there are some interesting differences this tlme ‘around which could affect the Kitimat — therefore Skecna — result and not necessarily to Giesbrecht’s disadvantage. The big question, of course, is where will Parker’s 1991 Skeena Electoral District 10 bat) vote go? Granted there is a Socred minning again, but it is clear the vast majority of voters have consigned that party to the pages of B.C, political history. Which leaves Reform and the Liberals to fight over the spoils. _In-1991 the Liberals fielded Juanita Hatton, A Terrace resident not well known to Kitimat voters, she did not run any sort of campaign and yet still picked up 710 votes in Represented this time by Kitimat mayor Rick Wozney, Liberals should be able to improve on the 1991 showing, However, it secms unlikely that would be at the expense - of the New Democrats, especially given Wozney has open- bey. Reformers are likely encouraged by Mike Scott's tri- 8 look his hometown of Kitimat by more than 650 votes. yn But that was against an NDP campaign in disarray from ; "day one following the disastrous mistake of bringing in fy Also, Reform candidate Andy Burton is probably better known to Terrace agea voters. - Much will depend on how successful Reform is at con- vincing Kitimat's non-NDP voters that he is their best hope of unseating Giesbrecht. . i]: ‘Al both the Terrace and Kitimat all-candidates meetings Burton called on electors to think about the implications of splitting the vote. . If those leaning toward the Liberals ignore Burton’s call and the NDP can get out its Kitimat vote, Giesbrecht could S sce his margin of victory in that community climb from 1991. And that should translate to a return ticket to Vic- parachute candidate Joe Barrett. é i HANNEE As for Terrace and surrounding communities in the 1991 i, sei provincial election, Parker outpolled Giesbrecht by only 135 votes with Hatton picking up 786 in her hometown. But this time Giesbrecht has the advantages of being the only candidate who comes from Terrace and lots of name , recognition. The city has been on a boom for the entire pe- riod of Giesbrecht’s and the NDP’s tenure and taht should yl translate into good news for he and the party on election “|” day. If the support of high profile Liberals such as Terrace mayor Jack Talstra translates into the Libs taking a bigger junk of the non-NDP vote there at the expense of Reform, Giesbrecht might just find himself coming out on top across the riding, But then as British prime minister Harold Wilson once remarked, a week in politics is a long time. KITIMAT A Sh changes oy if HTWANGAK KITAMAAT VILLAGE {HAISLA) A BARAT REACH WHDHE® REACH ae How they did in 91 HERE ARE the results of the 1991 provincial election. Helmut Giesbrecht (NDP) 5,597 Dave Parker (Socred) 4,766 Juanita Hatton (Lib) 1,629 past two provincial elections, larger tumout. Voter turnout: 72.5 per cent Eligible ta vate: 16,828 Frank Howard by 308, And it is the NDP who benefits from a In 1986 Socred Dave Parker received 4,706 votes, beating out NDP incumbent Five years later, in the face of a province- wide tide of retribution running against the Turnout crucial here IT’S NOT so much who Skeena voters sup- port as whether they come out to voie at all. That appears to be the lesson from the Socreds, Parker actually increased his tally by 60. And lost by 831 votes. That’s because NDP leaning voters who had backed away from Howard in 1986 returmed to the fold in droves to catapult Helmut Giesbrecht to the top of the heap on election night. With '91 voter turnout better than five per cent higher than °86, Giesbrecht's total was 1,999 more than Howard had received in going down to defeat. It’s not easy being a Green THERE’S A NEW candidate in the Skeena riding and he’s pretty green. Bodnar has had no interest in politics until recently. Green Party candidate Doug Bodnar admits that he doesn’t have much experience in politics, but he thinks its time for a change. ‘*T have a lot to learn,’’ he says, ‘‘But I know the issues and I’ve got to explain to people what the Green Party is about.’ The 29-year-old part-time resident of Ter- race has lived in the northwest for five years. Bodnar works as a BC Tel electronic communications technician out of Prince Rupert during the week. But his wife works in Terrace, so he spends his weekends here. ‘ Alberta-bom, Bodnar has lived in B.C. for ten years and is dedicated outdoor enthusiast. He has spent a great deal of time travelling in the backcountry. “T’ve always felt alienated from the other parties’ positions economically and politi- cally,” he says. ‘‘Until I met a previous fed- eral Green Party representative, Peter Mehl- ing. I was shocked to find out how closely our ideas paralleled,’* Bodnar says that the Green Party doesn’t see the source of wealth as coming from capital or labour, but rather the environment. “We now have the power to destroy our own wealth — nature,’’ he says. ‘And our mistakes will be felt for hundreds of years,” Bodnar says that blind wealth acquisition is distracting people from other forms of wealth. He argues that quality of life issues like freedom, and time spent with family and friends are more important than monetary gain. . According to Bodnar, the Green Party doesn’t accept corporate donations and it runs a very low budget campaign, so don’t expect io see-many big, fancy signs. And Bodnar has no problem with financial disclosures, ‘‘I’m pretty harmless in that respect,”’ he says. Bodnar feels that the Green Parly is grow- ing in B.C,, He says that they will be a force in 5-10 years when they are better organized. Right now he will concentrate on exposing people to Green Party ideas. “People have to know that there is a Green Party,”” he says. ‘‘And we’re not going away.” Reform rejected united right offer tion was called. ager Linda Ron Town REFORMERS claim local Liberals ticd to talk them out of fielding a candidate in the days before the elec- Former candidate Ron Town, who wilhdrew afler suffering a heart at- tack, claims Liberal campaign man- ‘Hawes Reformers bow out and not enter a candidate — and thereby improve Liberal candidate Rick Wozney’s chances of unseating NDP incumbent Helmut Giesbrecht. He said the idea was dismissed and Reformers went on to nominate Stewart mayor Andy Burton the week before the election was called. too far to do that,”’ suggested as candidate. Hawes denied she “Tt was ridiculous,” Town said, “A lot of people around here who were approached were quite insulled.”’ “They don’t know Reformers very well,’” he added. ‘‘We worked too hard and come along the trail a liltle But he conceded they would have enterlained the idea if it had been put to them immediately after Town suf- fered a heart atiack and stepped down approached Reform organizers on the topic. She said members of both parties have talked to cach olher unofficially about the need to avoid splitting the It.” right-wing vote, “T think there have been several conversations,” she said. ‘‘But I don’t think they were ever done on an offi- cial level.” Both candidates Andy Burton and Rick Wozney deny any knowledge of any such talk. ~ Town claimed Reform support is stronger than that of the Liberals in this constituency, and suggested it’s Liberals who should be worried about splitting the vate. ‘This is Reform country and the fight is between the NDP and the Reform party. The Liberals are out of The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 22, 1996 - AS CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag The real election issues . Dear Sir: ] want to tatk about the real issucs in the provincial election. 1) Native land claims Native land claims simply have to be resolved as the uncertainty is delaying many projects that could have brought in revenue to help support our social programs. There is no question that the Indian Act should go and the land transferred to the native. bands, Negatia- tion on the size of the core areas or ‘‘homelands’’ must go on and, hopefully, be resolved soon, Once this is achieved, there should be no extra man- agement rights outside this core area, other than those enjoyed by all other ethnic groups on land manage- ment. Otherwise, it will divide society even worse than the Indian Act. 2). Debt Taxes and Excessive Regulations If this isn’t brought under control quickly, it will leave a lasting disgrace on the heads of all of us in my generation. Many will quickly point out that all the other provinces have a greater problem, but it is no ex- cuse to have doubled our debt in the last five years. More than $1 billion 4 year is paid out in interest which doesn’t hire one person or support one social program. Worse still, it passes the debt on to our chil- dren and grandchildren. If interest on debt continues to rise, then programs suffer by that amount or more unless taxes are in- creased. We don't need increased taxation if our econo- may and employment are to grow. Some. economists say the consumer is too nervous to spend and is dragging the economy down. Not true. . The real reason is that governments at doth levels have increased taxes during the last five years by over $3,500 a family. People just don’t have the same amount of money to spend even if they had all the faith in the world. _ 3) The future for our young people Those coming owt of schools and universities have a tough time getting started mainly because of the huge debt we are piling on their heads to pay off. _ This is the Number One national and provincial dis- grace of our time. All the promises of tuition, freezes, hydro freezes, ICBC, etc, mean nothing when dealing with the long term. All we are doing is shirking our re- sponsibility to pay our own bills. This is done to support a standard of living which is above what we eam and which will be passed on to fu- ture generations, Governments and unions are willing to support building projects at {op wage rates without competition. This is mostly all for the good of the pres- ent generation with little or no thought for the next one. The union position is excusable, as they are there to Tepresent the present workers. But you can’t excuse governments who should be making the best deal pos- sible for the taxpayer, Governments must be well aware that as wages and costs go up it simply means less money is available to hire new people coming into the work force. .. 4} Health’ care, education and the social-safety\net The future success or failure of these - programs depends entirely on how well the next government faces up to resolving the first three problems we face. I'm sure all political partics recognize the value of our social programs; however, I’m not at all satisfied so far that they understand the facts. “ This next government will likely have the last chance to resolve these issues without unnecessary hardship in later years, The election promises made every day will be empty promises unless these other issues are resolved, as no government of any party will be able to pay for them. , ' . - Cyril Shelford, * Victoria, B.C, ‘Ban them all. Dear Sir; ; Why are we on the brink of bankruptcy? Why are honest innocent citizens denied a fair unbiased trial? Why are criminals like Clifford Olson treated like kings? Why are criminals from other countries allowed to stay in Canada? Why do criminals have rights? Why do honest innocent citizens in Canada have no. rights? Why arc victims of crime not cared for? Why is the Canadian judicial system so corrupt? The Canadian people have for years elected lawyers into parliament. They have turned Canada into lawyers heaven by introducing legislation that favours lawyers. Clifford Olson pays no lawyers fee because the governments foot the bill for him, and the lawyers have no problem collecting their fees from the government because the lawyers in governinent have made if easy for the criminal element to benefit lawyers, Vote as you like but think two or three times before you vote fora lawyer. Also think a while before voting for gays or lesbians. Men who marry men and women who marry women are far from normal and farther from normal is allowing them to adopt children. In future let us vote for bakers, bar tenders, butchers, cab drivers, carpenters, clerks, electricians, farmers, foresters, loggers, mechanics, millwrights, plumbers and truck drivers, Gays, lawyers, lesbians or politicians should not be allowed to hold office in any government be it federal, provincial, city, municipal or regional. Randy C. Haigh, .- Terrace, B.C, Ciark stumble Dear Sir: . , Aller weeks of Glen Clark. sneering his $3 billion credibifity gap catch phrase in regard to the Liberal economic plan, it was with some pleasure that I listened to him stumble and waffle on the Rafe Mair show recently. When Mr. Clark was asked if his NDP government takes in more money than it spends, he could not give Mr. Mair a straight answer. Not surprising with the ob- vious results of the NDP’s ludicrous fiscal pollcies. Price Waterhouse agrees that the Liberal plan is do- able. It appears Mr. Clark’s NDP government can’t agree with it because there is no allowance for the friends and family of the NDP. oe oe ..+ Sharon Taylor, Terrace, B.C.