Reading between the lines [

Reading the tea leaves. of the Throne Speech in |
- order to forecast the provincial budget has become a.

respectable, if inexact, sort of prognostication in every

form of news media. Let’s take a crack at it.

The speech. was issued March 16 and it’s supposed’

to provide some indication of the direction the provin-
cial legislature is going to take during its next session. |
That direction will be largely determined by the annual
budget,. which will be disclosed tomorrow afternoon.
Following that premise, the policies put forward by. -_
the Throne Speech and the financial.framework in-
dicated in the budget. should walk in lockstep through
the coming year. ;
The speech, 19 pages in length, gets down to
business on page 4: ‘“‘My Government will continue to
focus on three sustaining priorities for British Colum-
bians; continued economic growth and diversification,
the preservation of our environment, and education
policy to meet our future needs.”’ oo |
Punctuation and the meaning of the word ‘continue’
aside, there are several implications here: .
@ The variety of business development programs the
government has spawned over the past two years will
continue to get funding and may increase. ‘What's in .
this for the Northwest is anyone’s guess.

@ Green has become the color of the session. in much.

the same way as ice cream parlors establish the flavor
of the month, England’s Prime. Minister, Margaret —
‘Iron Lady” Thatcher, has suddenly gone green
‘beyond recognition, a sure sign that envrionmental .

issues have attained the sort of public'status that savvy -

' politicians have to take notice of. On the issue of
whether major oil companies should be allowed to ex-
plore for oil and gas in the seabed off the coast of
B.C., Environment Minister Bruce Strachan recently
made a truly remarkable statement, totally at odds

with his fellow minister and caucus colleague Energy
Minister Jack Davis: ‘‘I would ‘be opposed to such ac-
tivity, in view of the fact that it is my mandate as En-
vironment Minister to wean the public of British Col-_

-umbia off the use of fossil fuels.”” Timely words in-
deed in view of recent oil spills in American coastal
waters to the north and south of us. -

@ The Royat Commission on Education recommenda- -

“ gontinued on page 22

VERIFIEO
CARCULATION.

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Wednesday —

by Bob Jackman

- Class acts. They come in a
variety of shapes, sizes and
styles, but they’re easy to
recognize. Too often, they
don’t get the attention they
deserve, because we’re too busy
‘looking out for number one’

‘or because they happen in an

area or field where we’re not
expecting to find them..

One morning last week, I ar-.
rived at the office to find on
my desk a framed print. I
hadn’t retired from anything
lately, and some-things I had
retired from hadn’t resulted in.
a framed print, so I was just a
little. astonished. And J started
thinking about class acts.

For about seven months last
year, I was employed.on
Skeena Cellulose’s Starship .
project. The salary kept the
wolf from my door, I gained a

” free education on computers

and met'a great bunch of peo-
ple besides. The manager, Jim
Davis, sat down with me for a
while and we looked at objec-
tives and time frames. When
situations changed, as they do
on fast-track construction pro-
jects, we'd look at what we’d
done, where we were going,
and what changes we'd have to
make, The unwritten rule was
‘meet the objectives’, Period.
Like a lot of other people on

the project, I found Jim’s style -

a little different. The
Pygmalion Effect (where peo-
ple rise or fall to the level you
expect of them) was a big part ©
of Jim’s management
philosophy. He expected you to

' do the best you could. Period.

And you did.

Jim’s class act apparently -
hasn’t gone unnoticed. He
received an offer he couldn’t
refuse from another forest .
company and has headed...

south. He leaves behind prob-
ably the cleanest, most:
employee-oriented operation in
the province, and not surpris-
ingly, his replacement was pro-
moted from within. |
The framed print? Just a

- schematic drawing of the.

sawmill. Nothing special. (Ex-
cept I couldn’t wait to hang it
on the wall behind my desk),
Class acts? They’re easy to

Tecognize. Thanks, Jim, and

good luck in your new job.

Society?

administrators, two public _
works superintendents, two
personnel managers? Not —

without a horrendous uproar . sy .

from the taxpayers, you
wouldn’t! Should we expect
less from the new management
(board) of the Health Care
David Lane and the rest of
the Health Care Board have
taken a courageous position,
one that has incurred the wrath
of the medical staff.and others -

_. within the hospital, but to my

"@ Change is never easy. While

it has become the only constant -
in our society, change neverthe-
less provokes opposition, and
the most dedicated agents of

change bear the brunt. .
I was privileged while on

Council to have been appointed
liaison to Terraceview Lodge,
and though not directly in-
volved, saw the birth of the

Health Care Society which -
amalgamated the Lodge and

Hospital under one umbrella.

David Lane played a major
role, spending countless hours
shepherding the new Society
through the bureaucratic maze.
His efforts were rewarded (or is
that punished) with his election |

_as president of the new society.

It’s apparent that Norm
Careltus is (was) a popular ad- *.
ministrator, but I wonder if the
frustration at his leaving hasn’t
been misdirected. Reorganiza-
tion is a given in industry —
when two companies merge,
positions change, middle

‘managers performing identical

functions lose their job security
{at least one of them does!),

and new bosses inject new
ideas,

If Terrace anid Kitimat

| amalgamated, for example,

would you expect to see two.

‘mind it’s a reasonable position
— one boss (CEO) responsible
for both facilities, witha man-
date to review possibly redin-
dant positions so that funding
(always in short supply) can be
channelled to direct care rather
than administration. The
CEO’s job description even
contains a set of objectives and -
a bonus for achievement. I
don’t think that’s out of line
for a public service position
paying more than $60,000 per

year.

Council has been trying to
get a performance appraisal
system off the ground at City
Hall, and is running into
similar resistance, The problem
with goals and objectives is
that suddenly there is a —
measurable yardstick for ac: .
countability, And account-
ability requires decisive action, ©
not just by employees but by
managers, councils and boards,

That people like David Lane
are willing to serve in voluntary
positions, and not only respond
to change but encourage and
‘take responsibility for it, is
laudable. Clarity of vision is
rare enough — the courage to’
hold a course in the face of.op- _
position is doubly rare. Class

“. acts. ‘