Dear Sir: . Recently your paper published an ar- ticle which featured the Northern Health ‘ Authority (NHA). voicing unabashed praise and value of Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) and the college here in the northwest that is graduating them. Furthermore, the article mentions how ‘LPNs are helping an overloaded health care system cope with the current Regis- _ tered Nurse: shortage. .) Global warming simply cannot be brushed off u : ‘ a ’ _ Dear Sir: ° - Although carbon-mediated ’ climate change has been recognized by responsible. scientists, government officials around the world, and many industry officials (including oil industry personnel) as perhaps the greatest and least con-° trolled weapon of mass destruction, we have managed to en- . trust Canada’s public policy to a man and a party that owes a huge part of its Support to an industry which generates its income from creating global warming. © It seems fairly clear that the Conservative. _government, © ‘which was supported by every constituency in Alberta, was © bought and paid for by the oil industry. This rather cynical : conclusion is reinforced by the fact that Prime Minister Ste- phen Harper and his cabinet have made plain that they wish |. "to withdraw from Canada’s promised, obligations under the ~ Kyoto Protocol. (Imagine the howl the press would emit’if a “Canadian . government decided to withdraw from NAFTA. But there’s been barely a peep regarding this government’s intention to withdraw from Kyoto.) : Twenty years from now (an eyeblink’s measure, really) al per cent cut in the GST will be nearly meaningless and .. almost certainly forgotten. But in twenty years an extra 1. ; degree C in.average global temperature will be catastroph- * ic, and its resulting damage to ecosystems, decreased wa-: _ * ter availability, damaged agricultural production, increased .. global disease and the damage from extreme weather events. will be on everyone’s mind (at least everyone who i is still © ° _ alive to notice the difference). Our MP, Nathan Cullen, is the NDP’s environment crit- ic, as well as our Member of Parliament. Skeena residents . should be making it plain to him, as well as to the Prime _ Minister’s office, that the Conservative government’s ac- | ~ tions and policies on this issue so far are counterproductive. Jf Unless the Conservative government takes positive action on -. this issue soon they will be guilty of a corruption that makes the Gomery Inquiry’ s revelations trivial by comparison. Al Lehmann, Terrace, B.C. Point missed — on Aican sales Dear Sir: In a recent column Roger Harris once again misses the point in his persistent attempts to represent the interests of © Alcan. Yes, the District of Kitimat continues to seek out new development opportunities, and the Mayor, Council and I went to raise the issue. of power sales at the Alcan AGM. The agreement between Alcan and the province refers to the vicinity of the works as the Kitimat/Terrace aréa, not the Highway 16 corridor to Vanderhoof, and certainly not outside of British Columbia to power air conditioners in’ California. The water that generates this power is a pub- lic resource and when the resulting power is sold at market rates the enormous revenues go to line the pockets of Alcan, with no benefit'to British Columbians, and most definitely no benefit to all of us in the Skeenariding. . The examples of Skeena Cellulose and Methanex losing their competitive edge is not relevant in this circumstance as © water is a renewable public resource which Alcan agreed to use for the purpose of smelting aluminum: All those working I, a full scope LPN, found the article quite laughable for the following reasons. Recently the CLPNBC (governing body | for LPNs) has created a course which, upon completion, would allow LPNs to give vaccinations. _ LPNs were told by the NHA not to ‘take the course, as it appears vaccinations : were going to become a certified practice for RNs in the future: This is very frustrating for the LPNs 4 up here since nurses in the rest of the province will be giving immunizations. The NHA is holding us back when our own governing body, whose purpose is to protect the public from Licensed Practi- cal Nurses, says it is a skill we can and should be able to perform. I contacted Northwest Community College regarding the RN program also offered there. I was told that I would have to complete the four years it takes to get a rT Z “ 4) The Terrace 5 Standard, Wednesday, June 14, 2006 - AS | Nurses are being held back here degree despite my current nursing educa- tion and training. In essence, | have to re-do a year of schooling | already completed. That's rather irritating since a student _in the RN program is cligible to write the LPN exam after completing that same _ one year in the RN program. The north has to get with the times and compete with the Lower Mainland, which has several bridge-in programs for LPNs. With the current health care crisis and shortage of RNs, why is our own em- ployer holding us back from additionally helping with the situation? Why is a school so bent on helping © this crisis by graduating LPNs not creat- - ing a bridge-in program for the LPN. to become the much coveted RN? --. 2 ' . K. Garrod, LPN, re Terrace, B.C. CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD - ALL KINDS OF taxpayers contribute to facilities within the city limits, such as the Mills Memorial Hospital dialysis unit which i is shown . ; here nearly finished i in this. 2003 photo with former hospital administrator Cholly Boland, states letter writer James lppel af Tax payments and the ecanomy: . “occupy the thoughts of writer Dear Sirs . The picture on the front page of the May 24th edition should tell us just how bad the economy force of 900 employees. The Kitimat smelter has an annual capacity of 245,000 tons with a. workforce of 1,600 employees. Do the math.° “new incentives.” : _ T just got my tax notice Mr Basanti and list- ed on it is a list outlining where my tax dollars - on this issue fully accept and understand the consequences . of technological change. Alcan is obligated to use the ben- |, efit of this public resource to produce aluminum, rather than windfall profits. _ __ Finally, the title “Kitimat is finally reaching out” leaves the impression that the power sales issue is only a Kitimat issue. Alcan is the largest private sector employer in Ter- race and the majority of the disposable income from Alcan - employees is spent buying goods and services in Terrace. Though this is a provincial issue, as all British Colum- | bians own the water, the northwest feels the effects more ‘acutely as this sell-out by the government is happening in our communities. This incredible public resource was ex- _changed in return for jobs in the northwest and we hope we can continue to obtain the benefits that are associated with the smelter. Alcan is selling power only because the Liberal * government allows them to do so. Why has the Liberal gov- ernment, of which Mr. Harris was a part, abandoned north- west British Columbia by allowing the sale of one of our most precious resources for private profit? We still have a hardcore group of people who insist we need a second sheet of ice/ sportsplex. Terrace has not yet revived from the mill closure of a few years ago. protection. Now with Bear Creek Contracting laying off ' The last time I checked, all of these services” | , 150 people, we can expect another exodus of. are located within the bounderies of the City of | people from Terrace going elsewhere to look Terrace. * a oe for employment. . Each and every: property owner outside of . This will impact on our schools with a re- city limits pays these taxes, so an apology will duction of students, on local businesses with be. accepted on behalf of all of us who live out- fs reduced sales and possible closures. This in turn side of city limits. , will impact on the taxes paid to the City of Ter- And we also contribute to the Terrace et econo-.. race. "my by patronizing local business’ and services. _. Talso take exception to a portion of the letter ‘Let us try and get to back where we. were: - written recently by Bob Basanti of Richmond. _ before-the closure of the mill, and then look. at He writes, “the other frustrating i issue is that ‘expanding our sports facilities. Right now we | _ citizens who reside outside of Terrace city lim- can’t afford it. a. e . its continue to use the facilities but.do not con- , ™ James B Ippel, 7 - tribute tax dollars to paying for them or to fund Terrace, B.C." go. A portion of my taxes:go to the following: ( Mills Memorial Hospital, the cemetary, the |; arena in Terrace, the public library, and: fire, oe in the northwest is. We see 150 fulltime jobs, 12 million plus in annual wages, and who knows how many spin jobs sailing off into the sunset. Where is our government and our local MLA in all ofthis. It seems that the government is more interested in 2010, and taking Terrace’s symbol, the Kermodei bear, for ils own. Our MLA, Robin. Austin, is so wrapped up in fish farming on the coast, and Alcan’s sale of electricity, that he is neglecting a large number _ of his constituents. Would not the North Coast MLA be bet- ter informed on the perceived damage of fish. farms, than Mr Austin, and if Alcan decides to dramatically modernize its smelter in Kitimat, expect a large job loss to go with it. The Weekend Advertiser of May’27, 2006 shows us the Alouette’ aluminum smelter Has* - a annual capacity of 550,000 tons with a work- ‘Robin Austin, MLA, (Skeena) jet on-line shopping take over _ Don’t k ‘local, as that way you are dealing i in per- and the best price I could get locally’ was : © In talking with others. about this eX-. An open letter to:, ings; just because something is adver- ase i in the weekly flyer, doesn’ t mean ‘son with someone who has a vested inter- over $270 before taxes. -_ ample, T found a large number: of people © Northwest Retailers: s a deal. est in keeping the customer happy. I was able to obtain this same part, who have moved some of their shopping [have been a yesident of the northwest for almost 20 years now, and I can appre- ciate the fact that goods and services will always cost more than in major centres. I believe that most others here also ac- cept the “quality of life” surcharge, as the benefits of northwest living are so great. It is also understood that local retail- ers are feeling the squeeze of the big-box . stores, as shoppers are attracted to the . * Many local retailers seem to be ignor- ing their toughest competition however. It’s not the new store down the street, or the big-box on the edge of town.. It can either be a mom-and-pop out- fit in Oshawa, or a huge multinational in Vancouver. All they need to know is how to use the on-line world. In my profession, I am often asked It helps that this is one area where lo- cal retailers are in fact very competetive price-wise with the online world. Too many local retailers however, are | relying on business-as-usual — “we’re the only ones in town, so we charge what we like.” As ‘a recent. personal experience _ shows, not only are some local retailers not paying attention to the changes, they willingly ignore them even when time is from a supplier in the US for under $180 (Cdn), exchange, smpping, and taxes in- . . cluded. This was not some. rare part, ‘but a common item on a popular vehicle. I pointed this out to one local supplier,-and the response was a polite “so what?” The “so what” is that while I wouldn’t mind paying a $10-$20 “quality of life” tax, just to support local businesses and - local jobs, a price difference of over $100 on-line, for much the. same reason. So my message to all'the locally owned. _ retail businesses in the northwest: I know that for some of you, the mar-- gins are slim, but it is time to re-examine _your sources and supply chains. I don’t mind helping put bread on your table and your kids through college. But I will not spring for filet mignon and Harvard. perceived bargains. about recommendations I may have about The savvy shopper knows that the brand names and best places to buy. taken to point this out. is still a lot of money in my books, and Ken Hawkins they must still shop around for true sav- I always encourage these folks to buy I was shopping for a part for r my truck, hence a local business lost a sale. — Terrace, B.C.