Editorial

Parker should get out

Forests Minister Dave Parker is not one of the forward-thinking members of the
Vander Zalm cabinet as his repugnant and appallingly ignorant comments on AIDS
this week demonstrated. But there was no mistaking the political source of his similarly
outrageous remarks about the work of environmental groups in the province.

Inan interview with a radio reporter Aug. 11, Parker claimed that the agenda of the
environmental movement is to upset the economic well-being of the province in order
to create the instability necessary for political change.

“One of the best ways to get economic chaos in North America is to stymie
development,” he said. “One of the best ways to stymie development is to get an
environmental preservationist movement going.”

That’s the line being peddled by the multinational forest companies which cast
anyone challenging their control over the forests as an enemy barring the way to
economic development and progress. Having stripped much of the forest resource with
wasteful logging practices, massive raw log exports and poor reforestation, those
companies now covet the last stands of old-growth timber — and anyone pusuing a
conservationist policy is threatening jobs and economic stability.

At least that’s the way the MacMillan Bloedels and Fletcher Challenges present
it — and Parker dutifully mouths the lines. He even goes them one better, suggesting
that environmentalists are somehow undermining the economy and the country. Not
surprisingly, he labels environmentalists as “preservationists” — the term coined by
Ron Arnold of the Centre for the Defence of Free Enterprise in the U.S. Who has
devised the industry’s “multiple use” strategy.

For Parker, as for the forest companies, environmental concerns have no place in

forest policy. That’s why there are thousands of hectares of forest land not sufficiently
restocked; that’s why logs have been exported, unprocessed; that’s why companies such
as B.C. Forest Products have allowed to leave hundreds of truckloads of timber on the
ground to rot; that’s why the Howe Sound fishery has been poisoned by dioxins from
pulp mill effluent.

And that’s what environmentalists have been trying to say for a long time’

now — that it’s time for a change, time to establish a forest policy which will enable
environmentally-sound, sustainable development, and the preservation of some areas
for wilderness.

That’s not the vision of a few people or a small sect, as Parker would imply — that’s
the vision of the majority of the people in this province, whether they’re in an
environmental group or not. That was shown clearly in the public hearings on forest
policy that were held across the province earlier this year.

But obviously Parker wasn’t seins Snes that time, he’s closed his mind as well as
his:ears. ;

He should resign as sheet minister. And the Bocas shoot = on with the job ef
setting up a royal commission that can set the framework for the kind of forest policy
the people of this province have demanded.

VAS + 7-8a.e

WTIRIBUNE

* EDITOR

Sean Griffin

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Dan Keeton
BUSINESS & CIRCULATION MANAGER
Mike Proniuk
Angela Kenyon

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el

he three wearing number 1189 didn’t
exactly finish up their with the Olym-
pian front-runners (they never intended
too, anyway) but the Committee of Pro-
gressive Elector’s intrepid triathlon relay

team — Libby Davies, Joe Arnaud and utes, it caught the attention of the

Harry Rankin “had a great time”’ in the
Vancouver International Triathlon held at
English Bay Sunday, says Davies. The
Vancouver city councillor, who puts in
laps at the pool every morning, took the
swim leg of the three-part race while
COPE parks board candidate Joe Arnaud
put in the cycling portion and councillor
Harry Rankin did the run.

There were various levels of athletes in
the event, which is sponsored by various
corporations.

The Non-Partisan Association will
likely make much of the fact that its team
came in ahead of the COPE group but
Davies notes that the NPA fudged on
participation — they got a parks board
employee, a lifeguard, to do the swim
portion — and “‘our combined ages were
about double that of the NPA. But it was
still a lot of fun,” she adds.

Three days earlier, Davies was one of
some 20-odd swimmers who put their
skills to use in the global disarmament
campaign as they joined Greenpeace in
protesting the presence in Vancouver har-
bour of the U.S. nuclear capable warship
USS

Just after dawn, in a protest organized
by Vancouver swim coach Leslie Beatson,
the swimmers ferried out to the huge U.S.

aircraft carrier in zodiacs and proceeded _

to swim around it to demonstrate their
opposition to nuclear warships in the har-
bour.

Although the swim took only 20 min-

media — and the admiration of people
throughout the city. Most important, it
delivered a message.

“Tt was a very important statement for
these people to make — not only for
themselves but for the people of Van-
couver,” says Davies.

“Tt was just one action but people were
using their own skill and putting it to a just
cause and supporting a global issue,” she’
says.

Davies noted that a spokesperson from
the U.S. warship said during a media
interview that Vancouver is the place
where the U.S. Navy expects to encounter
protest because of the peace movement in
the province and the city’s support of a
nuclear-free harbour.

“It was one small action in the
world — but maybe it will be the start of
something,” Davies adds.

* * *

he report from the other side of the

world that has dominated the news for
the past several days has been the resigna-
tion of New Zealand Prime Minister David
Lange. The well-known Labour Party
leader, who became a household name
internationally with his government’s ref-
usal to allow nuclear-equipped warships
into New Zealand harbours, stepped
down earlier this month, ostensibly
because of his health, but also under the
pressure of the right wing within the party,
led by former finance minister Roger

People and Issues

Douglas, who was re-elected to cabinet
over Lange’s opposition.

What the reports have not mentioned is
the intense campaign that was waged in.
the weeks leading to Lange’s resignation
by the right wing “Backbone Club” within
the New Zealand Labour Party led by
Douglas and others. The group — the
nickname is its own — has been pressing
for a the adoption of more free market,
neo-conservative policies, including further
cuts in government spending and public
services, privatization, de-regulation of the
labour market and the dismantling of
much of the public health system. It also
wants an end to the affiliation of trade
unions to the Labour Party.

Also missing from the reports was any
mention of the recent formation of the
New Labour Party founded by a New Zea-
land leader whose name will also be famil-
iar to many Tribune readers — Jim
Anderton. Anderton, a long-time left-wing
Labour MP, and one of the foremost
advocates of the anti-nuclear movement in
New Zealand, has taken part on two occa-

-sions in Vancouver's Annual Walk for

Peace.

The frustration with the rightward
direction of many of the government’s
economic policies, the increasing influence
of the “Backbone Club” and the desire of
Anderton and others to return to the orig-
inal principles of social justice apparently
led to the establishment of the new party.

Understandably, the left in New Zea-
land is somewhat ambivalent about the

formation of the NLP, in part because the
split may make it easier for the conserva-
tive National Party, which dominated
New Zealand for years, to take back the
government in the next election.

Our counterpart in New Zealand, the
NZ Tribune, notes that the Socialist Unity
Party recognized the frustration that many
of those who founded the New Labour
Party had with the policies of the govern-
ment. But it adds: “The SUP has consist-
ently fought against the New Right
direction of this government and fought
for the broadest possible unity around
alternative policies. We believe that the

fragmentation of social democratic forces _

will not assist this process.”
she kere ok

A: Nicaragua moves closer to the
important February elections, the
USS. has been directing more of its desta-
bilization efforts to the electoral front,
helping to finance the opposition parties
and maintaining a constant barrage of
diplomatic and news propaganda about
“democracy.” For Nicaragua, interna-_
tional monitoring of the election process is
crucial.

Tools for Peace is calling on Canadians *

to write External Affairs Minister Joe
Clark, urging him to provide the logistical
assistance for the elections that has been
requested by Nicaragua and to give active
support to Nicaragua’s request for UN
monitoring, including participation in the
UN observer delegation. Those writing
should also call on the government to pro-
test the U.S. policy of continuing aid to the
contras.
Letters should be sent to Joe Clark, ©

House of Commons, Ottawa, K1A 0A6-
No postage is required.

« Pacific Tribune, August 21, 1989