Aa - The Terrace Standard, pacing July 23, 1997 “STANDARD > 4647 Laretla Ave., Terrace, B.C. V8G 150 (604) G3B-7283 Fax (604) 638-8432 ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 A Division of Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd. ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 + FAX: (250) 638-8432 EMAIL: standard@kermode.net Never again THE REPORT by northwest mayors on what, should happen to the region’s forest industry is a solid and rational document. Its recommenda- tions, stemming from the Repap/Skeena Cel- lulose crash and burn, call for forest policy that makes sense for the kind of wood we have here and offers suggestions on new kinds of employ- ment that can be had by processing our wood. But its most important recommendation is a general call for joint ownership between forest companies and their workers. This comes close to what many are saying is the heart of what hap- pened to Skeena Celullose — distant ownership which slotted its northwest holdings into a much larger game of financial intrigue that, in the end, had little to do with the hopes and goals of those who live and work here. Would the Skeena Cellulose disaster have oc; curred had there been people within its power, structure from northwest communities with the’ authority to report regularly on the company’s activities? Witness the reaction by Prince Rupert pulp mill workers to the edict by the banks which now. control Skeena Cellulose that as many as one- third of their jobs will have to disappear because , modernization is needed to turn the mil] around. Even if Skeena Cellulose was still operating, that issue of efficiency would still have to be ad- dressed. It w2s a central theme just last year when the former owners made their pitch to take over the forest licence of Orenda Forest Produc- , ts. They said they needed the licence as collateral to borrow money to make improvements. Everybody knew then those improvements’ would have meant iob loss but it was never fully brought out. Instead it was left to simmer and has ,,Bow. erupted as part of the overall anguish at- ,, tached to the Skeena Cellulose failure. Had there been a different kind of ownership structure, would those pulp workers now fee] themselves victims? The company or companies which will take over Skeena Cellulose’s assets must know they are coming to an area coming out of a bad rela- tionship with the traditional way of doing busi- ness in the woods. The trees in the northwest represent the region’s stake in its future and that has to be recognized. It can’t be business as usual ever again. Enough IT’S MORE than ironic that just as northwest mayors last week advocated closer ties between forest companics and their workers, Skeena Cel- lulose gave its Prince Rupert pulp workers a take it or else threat. The ‘take’ was to accept job loss and work flexibility provisions while the ‘else’ was to sell the company’s sawmills and dismantle the pulp mill. Now that’s just the kind of thing the northwest doesn’t need right now -— head office corporate. warriors striding across a_ battlefield with weapons at the ready. 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Stories, photograpts, Hustrations, designs and typestyies In the Terrace Standard ara the property of the copyright holders, Including Cariboo Prass ee Ltd., 15 illustration repro services and advertising B.C. PRESS COUNCIL (1989) Flaproduction in whole or in part, without written permission, ls specifically prohibtted. ™ Authorized os s20ond-class mali pending tha Post Office Departmont, for payment of postage in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for their time and talents ; cc AN le p a\ pre ee a a II ‘I Wg WN ENN 6) Fy’ As | Ay oy - .. INRESPONSE TO YOUR THREAT OF HOLDING YOUR BREATH , “THEIR ANSWER STILLIS NO. x — These girls’ a bit too Spicy VICTORIA — I wasn’t going to touch this story with a ten- foot pole, but then it got so out of hand that I decided I could no longer ignore it At the heart of it is the ques- tion: what behavior on (he part of our elected representatives is acceptable and what isn’t. You may already have seen, heard and read the news storics conceming ihe incidents in question; if not, | should wam you: if you're easily offended, you should stop reading now. As for kids, I?m fairly certain, they aren’t too interested in reading political columns. One incident occurred about a week ago. With the session droning on and providing lite respite, women MLAs from both the NDP and Liberal caucuses decided to have an impromptu party. Also invited were female support staff and” female members of the press gallery, of whom only one at- tended. , Sometime during the all-girls partly, at which alcohol appar- ently flowed quile freely, for- mer women’s equality minister Penny Priddy came into the room carrying a tray with burning candles arranged around an object covered by a shroud. When she whipped off the cover, a toy penis was revealed, the Kind you can buy in joke shops, with little feet FROM ‘THE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER attached that make the thing jump when wound up. Had the joke stopped there, the story would never have found its way into the public domain. Unfortunately, the women decided to carry the joke further by taking the ob- jéct ‘into: the tegislative cham- ber; where Liberal MLA Ted Nebbeling was on his feet, holding a speech. With great aplomb, two women of the Liberal caucus presented the offending evi- dence to Nebbeling, after which Linda’ Reid bowed ceremoniously to the cameras, which had recorded the entire incident for posterity. The second incident bap- pened a day later and involves Liberal MLA Mike de Jong. As a sign of his undying affec- tion, de Jong presented health minister Joy MacPhail with a fake bomb, accompanying his presentation with some advice on where and when to open it. De Jong’s stunt was outright stupid. Had he done something like that at an airport, he’d have been arrested, charged, convicted and probably sent to jail to cool his heels. Joking about bombs is particularly in- appropriate for a man touted by McLean’s Magazine as one of 100 Canadians 1o watch. The earlier prank could be dismissed as a joke that got out of and, but the very fact that it got out of hand, makes it un- acceplable. In all fairness, I admit that ri Jaughed uncontrollably when I first heard about it. ’m not a prude, and [ can understand how something like his -can _ Spin out of control. If T bad been involved in a caper like this, I would apologize,. take my lumps and hope that people woulda’t hate me too much. Not so with the ‘girls’ who got caught. They believe everylhing would have been fine if only the media scum had kept quiet. Because female members of the press gallery had been invited, the women MLAs claim the = incident should have been off the record. In other words, we broke confidence. Once again the messenger is lined up and shot. The moment the women took their ill-advised prank into the legislature, it was a public dis- play, duly recorded by the electronic Hansard. No con- fidence was broken. Others, including Rosemary Brown, former NDP MLA and life-long women’s rights ac- tivist, have condemned the in- cident as sexist, 1 don’t agree. Even the argument that had it been men playing this prank on women, they would have. been © hung out to dry, doesn’! hold water. In any human rights situa- tion, the minority can do what the majority can’t, Jewish co- - medians can tell Jewish jokes, non-Jews can’t and shouldn’t Blacks in the U.S. can have all-black universities, whites can’t have all-white institu- tions and shouidn’t. And even though women are a majority in numbers in our society, for the purposes of equality, they arc far from a majority, That’s why it would be sexist if men had done what the women did. But that still doesn’ t make it - acceptable behavior for an’ the MLA. To their credit, women later apologized, but in future, a little more common sense would also be in order. Beyer can be reached at: Tel: (250) 920-9300; Fax: (250) 385-6783; hubert(@coolcom.com E-mail: - sex toy prank.! ONB NIGHT recently in Vic- toria many female MLAs and staff — both NDP and Libel -—- took part in a private, women-only party that later spilled into the legislature to be captured on $1000/hour Hansard TV. The cameras caught two of the women — Liberals Bounie McKinnon and Linda Reid — turning loose a windup plastic penis with feet to dance past on forestry critic Ted Nebbel- ing’s desk as he debated the forestry budget in another late night sitting of the house. Coincidence had no part in targeting Nebbeling for this on-camera prank. He’s openly gay. But why they chose to subject him to more public harassment of the sort he's withstood all his life, I don’t know. I fail to see the humour that had them rocking in their chairs and made one legislative clerk titter coyly behind her hand. For once I find myself in full agreement with Reform MLA Jack Weisgerber who said the SOMETHING FUNINT W% ame SONG ON! THOSE md MAGMA CORP 1307S mae ARE USING CODE! Roger! That's more LUCY at ie in core. ‘THROUGH BIFOCALS, CLAUDETTE SANDECKI behaviour of these women trivializes the activities of the house,” I also agree with Progressive Democratic Alliance MLA Gordon Wilson who said, if a man had pulled a stunt like this on a female MLA, outrage would lead to parliamentary discipline, Instead, speaker Lyle Lovick dismissed the episode. Of 365 calis responding ta a Province column detailing this party prank, 341 callers ex- is an outrage pressed oulrage at women’s actions in the house, My call would have made it 342. MLAs themselves grinned and shrugged, saying it was a way of letting off steam after “working hard 14 hours a day.”’ Maybe if MLAs shelved shenanigans on the job and ac- tually paid attention to the budget debate, they could do a better job of what we elected them to do, in less time, at less cost to us. How, I wonder, do these women’s families feel sitting in front of their home TV watching their wife, Mom, or daughter snorting with mirth at the discomfiture of Nebbeling, goosing him so be jumped. Social services minister Penny Priddy is credited with introducing the sex toy to the party. If she’s so overworked, where did she find the time — and the store — to buy. this sex toy? After this disgraceful lapse of judgment, I no longer think THE SKY WITH | DIAMONDS: of her as I did — u caring, compassionate former nurse who courageously fought her own breast cancer. She’s the first minister of so- cial services I ever heard call welfare mothers moms rather than clients. I liked that. I had high hopes she’d quickly im- plement Judge Gove’s recom- mendations to protect ‘foster children. More than any other B.C. social services minister, Priddy gave me confidence: we'd finally treat children in care as they should be treated, Then this. As for Jay McPhail, I’m not surprised she participated in. this disruption of house protocol. The two Liberals — McKinnon aad Reid — [ don’t know. I hope they’re proud of themselves. I doubt their con-— stituents are. I'm embarrassed and augered by these elected women’s antics. They demeaned all - women with their poor judg- -. ment and lack of respect for themselves. DIAMONDS? HAR: HAR’ ‘war! — —s EVERY PROSPECToR KNOWS Lucy Ins) THERE'S NO DIAMONDS INTHE NORTH IL *)