Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 20, 2002

TERRACE —

STANDARD

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, L988

PUBLISHER: ROD LINK
ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2_
TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 » FAX: (250) 638-8432
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EMAIL: newsraom@terracestandard.com .

Another one

ANOTHER ONE bites the dust, that is. This is
the quiet word in the world of the public school
system in predicting the eventual demise of
school districts and their elected boards.

If that sounds familiar, consider what has
happened to the health system. For years local
societies ran hospitals and other health care soc-
ieties. Society members elected their boards on
which were placed provincial appointees.

That changed in the mid-1990s when the for-
mer NDP government put in a system of health
councils. The local councils were then grouped
together with one larger regional council for-
med of a representative from each local council.
A year ago large regional health authorities
were created. Directors are appointed by the
province, working under explicit instructions
from the folks down south.

There’s good reason to expect the same when
it comes to education. Local school boards have
already lost their direct taxing authority. Their
money comes right from the province. They
have lost the ability to bargain directly with
their employees in favour of province-wide Ja-
bour negotiations.

What’s left is coping with less and less money
each year. It can grind down even the most op-
timistic and vigorous person who wants to runs
for local elected office.

The provincial Liberals say something differ-
ent. New school councils soliciting active parent
support, they say, will restore confidence and
participation by giving parents more control
over what’s happening.:

?

That may be so, but parent énergy has now

been diverted to raising money to make things
work. From the old days of helping to pay for
extra-curricular activities, parents now act as an
auxiliary, albeit voluntary, taxing authority to
finance the basics. Expect this to continue with
parents on the verge of becoming unpaid tea-
cher assistants and the like. It’s hard for volun-
teers to think about policy issues when organiz-
ing a bake sale.

The school board here has passed a non-con-
fidence motion in the provincial government.
It’s mostly a symbolic act and can play into the
government’s hands. If you won't do it, the
province will say, we'll put in a system that will
do what we want.

Things weren’t helped by the scant interest in
school district elections. Perhaps it’s a feeling of
helplessness. Perhaps it’s exhaustion on the part
of people who do want to make a difference but
who are already heavily involved.

But if school closures and larger class sizes
won't motivate interest, the road is open for a
provincial government to step right in and make
a legitimate claim to impose a system more re-
sponsive to it than to the citizenry at large.

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR: Rod Link
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Speclal thanks to all cur contributors and correspondents
for their time and talents

UH OH, BIN LADENS
“THREATENING CANADA
FOR OUR ROLE IN THE

WAR AGAINST TERRORISM
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A COPY OF THE

SENATE REPORT

Parking lot fix a must for winter

BARGAIN STORE’S share of
the 4600 block Lakelse Ave-
nue mall parking lot has been
4 moonscape of potholes since
at least early last winter.

Far from resembling Suafe-
way’s smooth inviting pave-
ment, Bargain Store’s eastern
portion looks like a rundown
ghetto or the loading area of a
dilapidated warehouse.

If it’s rough now, think what
it will be when freezing adds
ice and slush to hide the sharp
edges. Besides the risk of pe-
destrian fatls, tires could be
damaged.

During peak shopping times
as Christmas approaches,
shoppers will jockey for pre-
cious parking spaces dodging
jagged pothules. Not a big
draw for any business.

Bargain Store’s landlord is
none other than Grace McCar-
thy, resident of a posh Van-
couver home in an. upscale
neighbourhood, and her -hus-
band, Ray. She owns more
than one choice property in
downtown Terrace. Another
way the northwest supports the
lower mainland with litle in
return.

THROUGH BIFOCALS
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

» .an afford to
treat her tenants fairly, it
should be McCarthy, former
deputy under the Socreds, re-
tired on a cabinet minister’s
generous pension. Media
spokesperson for a charity re-
presenting people suffering
from Crohn’s disease. Of all
absentee landlords, shé- has
the bucks to do right by her te-
nants. She’s chosen not to.

The plan for the mall is to
have Safeway expand into a
portion of the Bargain Store. It
was scheduled to take place

this year, but how has been put
off until next year.

Along with that expansion
would come repairs to the
parking lot in front of the Bar-
gain Store, along with other
improvements.

But a tenant-landlord rela-
tionship implies responsibili-
ties, regardless of other factors
such as the planned Safeway
expansion.

In this case, it is McCar-
thy’s responsibility to maintain
the parking lot in a condition
on a par with surrounding park-
ing lots, a condition that in-
vites the store’s customers.
This McCarthy has “sailed to do
for years.

Every landlord knows the
headache of keeping up with
maintenance.

Wind storms tear off shin-
gles, break trees which must
be trimmed or removed,
wrench storm doors .off their
hinges. Freezing rainstorms
send tenants to the phone for
repair of a leaking roof, soggy
carpets, and sagging ceilings.

Then there’s the urgent
need for a mechanic to start a
furnace on Christmas morning,

re-light a water tank pilot light,
or thaw a water pipe along an
outer wall.

Every earnest landlord keeps
next to his phone a list of reli-
able and accommodating

plumbers, electricians, carpen- —

ters and backhoe operators,
McCarthy should add a paver.

Of caurse repairs sap the
landlord’s profit. No matter, the
deal is, the tenant pays the

rent, the landlord maintains the

property in good running order.

Unfortunately for Bargain .
Store, its customers and Ter- -

tace’s downtown core landlord
McCarthy has ignored the
managers pleas for pothole re-
pairs, Customers must step over
two pavement breaks to enter
the store.

No doubt McCarthy is
pleading cold weather now. But
these potholes existed in July
and August, when Terrace
_basked in one of the warmest,.
rr) nad pee oerilid beg Etter as
driest summers ever recorded... :

Despite the delayed expan-
sion, cold weather is no ex-
cuse. Effective cold weather
metheds of repair exist and are
used by pavers regularly in this |
area.

Don‘t repeat War in the Woods

VICTORIA -— What former
premier Mike Harcourt called
(he War in the Woods may
soon be on again.

Just recently, forests mini-
ster Mike de Jong introduced
the Forest and Range Prac-
tices Act, which is basically a
rewrite of the Forest Practices
Code brought in by the Har-
court government.

Having said on numerous
occasions that the Code was
too bureaucratic, too cumber-
some, too unrealistic, placing
impossible burdens on forest
companies, | am somewhat
loathe to predict that the
changes are not going to im-
prove either the relations be-
tween the industry and envir-
onmental groups, nor the act-
ual balancing act between
economic necessity and envir-
onmental protection.

The first bad amen was thal
industry reps were present and
dutifully introduced by: the
minister, while there was no
sign of any environmental or-
ganization in the legislature.

Still, in the time-honoured
spirit of cabinet ministers in-
troducing new legislation, de
Jong waxed effusive about the
wonderful things the new law,
once passed, would do for
British Columbia. .

The new “results-based”

‘HE INTERNET
DOESN'T Count!

FROM THE CAPITAL
HUBERT BEYER

forest practices code will help
create jobs and economic
growth by promoling industry
innovation without compro-
mising the high environmental
standards that protect British
Columbia’s forests, he said.
“We made a New Era com-
mitment to streamline the For-
est Practices Code to establish
a workable results-based cade
wilh tough penalties for non-
compliance,” de Jong. said.
“Today, we started delivering
on that promise,” he added.
“We're cutling through red
tape so government and the
forest sector can practice
smart management. Forest
sector professionals will spend
time and resources on man-
aging forest values instead of

shuffling paper.”

“We'll maintain or exceed
the protection that’s in place
for watersheds, habitat or any
other key forest value. But we
will eliminate 18 approval
steps that wasted effort without
improving protection.”

Sounds absolutely great.
Also sounds like every other
claptrap speech accompanying
new legislation I have heard in
my 40 years in this racket.

1 instinctively mistrust gov-
ermments on a mission as
much as | mistrust militant en-
vironmentalist. And boy, is this
government oa a mission.

In all the years 1 have been
writing from the fringes of po-
litics, no government has ever
been as determined to change
on a massive scale the social
fabric of the jurisdiction it
governs,

I recognize government spin
doctor prose when I see it. De
Jong spoke of “clear stan-
dards” that will be enforced.
Yet, the bill does not define
any clear standards.

He spoke of large fines.
Well, there was a provision for
fines up to $1 million in the
old Forest Practices Code, but
few fines exceeded $10,000.
Most were in the $1,000 range.

Heaven knows the forest in-
dustry needs all the help it can

get. The U.S. tariff on our soft-
wood lumber imports is crip-
pling the industry.

Therefore, | hope that re-
diced red tape will provide
some help.

On the other hand, if the °
new legislation lets forestry
companies get away with the
kind of practices that led to the
introduction of the original Faor-
est Practices Code, we will be
in for big trouble.

Environmental organizations
have in the past successfully
incited boycotts against the
imports of lumber from Canada
in the U.S. and Europe.

1 didn’t agree with those
tactics, but that is neither here |
nor there. They happened and
they hurt.

The last thing British Co-
lumbia needs right now is an-
other War in the Woods. But
depending on how the govern-
ment’s new forestry policies
will play out, that’s exactly
what we will get. a

For the sake of the industry,
the communities that depend
on it, and the people who still
have jobs in it, I hope it won’t
happen.

Beyer can be reached at:
E-mail: hubert@coolcom.com;
Tel (250) 381-6900; Web
hup://www.hubertbeyer. com

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