- Smoke and smokescreens —

_ Mere hours after Skylink flight 070 went down near
the Terrace-Kitimat Airport, killing seven people, a lot
of uninformed and ill-conceived clamoring began for
the prohibition of prescribed burning on logged-over.
forest sites. a .

In this particular situation, opinions on whether the.
prescribed burn technique is a legitimate silviculture
tool are irrelevant. What is being called into question
is whether. the smoke from the burns set on the
Lakelse River and in the Thunderbird area adjacent to
the airport on Sept. 25 caused a fatal air crash the
next day by reducing visibility. The answer is that they
didn’t, and the use of this incident by opponents of
prescribed burning as a sort of launching platform
against the practice obscures the primary issue, which
is discovering what actually caused the crash. .

There are a number of weather conditions that can
reduce visibility in landing areas, and each has dif-
ferent characteristics. The one thing they do have in
common is that caution and experience are required |
on the part of any pilot attempting to land in limited
visibility, whether it’s ‘caused by fog, smoke, rain or
snow. The aircraft has to be well-maintained and

- mechanically sound to be safe in any weather.

It is becoming apparent from developments since
the accident that Skylink’s maintenance practices and:
policies regarding assignment of flight crews are, at

the very least, questionable. Revokation of an airline’s ©

operating certificate, the action taken against Skylink
by the federal regulators, is the most: serious punitive _
measure Transport Canada can take against a com- .
mercial: ait carrier. It'can be interpreted as an indica-
tion that there were deplorable flaws in Skylink’s
operations. | a

If the problems were that serious, the real under-
lying question that arises here is why Skylink was
allowed to continue flying until seven people were
killed. Who will investigate the investigators?

While the real causes of the Skylink 070 disaster are
being probed, let’s not allow a smokescreen to obscure

the issues. Let’s leave the practice of prescribed burn-

ing where it belongs, in the venue of forestry, not ©

aviation.

| ey kk ACE Ee

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OK. THE ROCK GOES INQ = |
~~ HESIING IKE THS..NOE..
(ORE LIKE THiS Ht, MAYBE =<)
J.) SELHOWTHE SUING DIFFERENTLY... 7-
yo »GEE-WHAT WAS THAT NODES... -

- Me send
y

LEAS

opens oe

VICTORIA —- A house di-
vided.

. That’s how Attorney-General .
‘Bud Smith described Social

Credit during this exceptional
week in B.C. politics, and he

‘has never been more accurate.

_ Regardidss of how the caucus
and Premier Bill Vander Zalm
might now sing ‘‘Solidarity
Forever’’ for the cameras after’
a week of public political —
bloodletting, that divided house
will still be that way next week,
and the next, for some while
yet.

One thing has become in-
creasingly apparent — even to
Vander Zalm. Rightly or
wrongly, he is viewed as the
primary cause of the turmoil,
angst, envy, anger and fear
within the house of Social
Credit.

‘And those emotions, coupled
with bruised egos, which
prompted four backbenchers to
resign from the government
caucus, will not be changed .
overnight. In fact, a number of
Socred MLAs still believe that
they have no hope-of winning a
general election if the premier. -
stays. - o

Why? Because of all the
many things Bill Vander Zalm
is — super salesman, optimistic
cheerleader, wheeler dealer —
he is not a good leader. .

Now I have few qualifica-
tions to permit me to be so ar-
rogant as to tell him what a
good leader is, or does, or how
he or she deals with difficult
situations and people, But Ido
know, after-three years of
watching him and his govern-
ment daily, and of listening to .
senior members of his caucus -
and cabinet in their most can-

The view from |
_ Victoria—  — |

by John Pifer

Ty bait td FLA Ree cS
ia

did moments, that he is not a’ 7

good leader, oo
Decisive action for the good
of the province and the good
of his own party should take
precedence over self-interest

' and personal preferences or

prejudices. With the Zalm, that
has not appeared to be the
case. -—
- Decisive action to deal with
those who plot against him, —

and an understanding that con-
flict and compromise go hand- |

in-hand in life and politics

~ would have served him well...

but they have not.
During the week of ‘‘divide

_and conquer” meetings he held
with his backbenchers before
Friday’s crucial. caucus °
meeting, Vander Zalm was told
a few truths which would have
been self-evident to anyone but
a man who steadfastly, stub-
bornly believes that his way,
his mission, his vision is the
only true, right and perfect
one. 7

- Behind the.eyes of a zealot
lurks a refusal to see things as
they are, and an inability to ac-
cept that others with different
views, visions or ideas may not
be the enemy. .

This reporter has spoken
with a number of the MLAs
since their meetings with the.
premier; and all seemed to be
convinced that he was listening
and actually heard what they
were telling him. ‘

And that included everything
from concerns about the vin-
dictive nature of a leader who
would punish Vancouver by
keeping a representative
metnber out of his Cabinet, to.
anger that he would threaten to

-take them all down with them:

in what.would:be-an ill-tim
general election: if they got out.
ofline; ce
The messages delivered to.
Mr. Vander Zalm through the
past 18 months have rarely.
changed. He has given ab-
solutely no indication that he _.
heard them — whether it be the

. crushing by-election defeats in

seats which used to be ‘‘auto-
matic’’ wins, or the repeated .
appeals to back .off on his ;
righteous attitudes which are so
out of step with today’s
modern world. .

"Maybe this time, something
has sunk in, got through to
him. Maybe. ;

Mr. Vander Zalm will not be

announcing his departure now,
nor after his Hawaiian holiday
(if he still goes), or even at the
convention at the end of the
month, He cannot be seen to
be leaving under pressure from
the defectors or others in his

caucus who just wish he would.

disappear. —

_ An immediate departure
- would alienate the Zalmoid sec-
tor of the party who would

then go looking for the Reform
Party or the Christian Heritage

- Party, thus splitting the free-

enterprise vote even more. |

Bot those in his cabinet,
caucus and party executive who
want Social Credit to survive, —
and to prevail, in British Col- .
umbia have not and will not
change their minds that he
must depart.

Most are leaving that deci- -

sion, and its timing, to Mr.
Vander Zalm: Caucus chairman
Carol Gran put it. best this past
week when she said that every.

MLA had.a right to'question =.
a * @Ontinued on page 6 -

ed: |