Page 4, The Herald, Thursday, Oclober 5, 1978 TERRACE/KITIMAT daily herald General Office. 635-6357 Published by Circulation - 635-6357 Sterling Publishars PUBLISHER - Laurle Maltett GEN. MANAGER - Knox Coupland EDITOR - Greg Middleton CIRCULATION - TERRACE - Andy Wightman 635-6357 KITIMAT . Pat Zelinsk! 632-2747 KITIMAT OFFICE - 632-2747 Published every weekday at 3212 Kaim Street, Terrace, B.C. A member of Varitled Circulation, Authorized as second class mall. Registration number 7201. Postage pald in cash, return postage guaranteed. NOTE OF COPYRIGHT The Herald retains full, complete and sole copyright in any advertisement produced and-or any editorial or photographic content published [In the Herald. . Reproduction Is not permilted without the written permission of the Publisher. _ Please sign those letters The Herald continues to receive anonymous Jetters to the editor, in spite of a stated policy that all letters must be signed. it is axiomatic that if you have anything that is worthwhile to say, you shauld be prepared to put yeur name to it. For sound legal reasons, we will not consider a letter which comes in unsigned. Everything which is published in this paper, the paper takes responsibility for. - Local news stories are eltner written by or vetted by the staff. Natlonal or international stories come through Canadian Press and other material comes through well known. and - responsible news and feature services. For ethical reasons we will not consider letters . Which come in signed, but the author refuses to allow us to use his name. We will not sign you anonymous. it Is unfair to allow someone to make remarks wader the veil of anonymity. If we allow it to begin, where do we draw the line? Do we release the names to people who want to reply? How do the readers judge the value of the statements made if they do not know who made them. No! We will not run unsigned letters. ; What Is annoying is that most of the letters need not be unsigned. A lady writes and praises a lacal supermarket, A man writes criticizing the j.move to beangmmore French language TV to this “grea. Surely’ these people cavid stand behind bhetrostatementys-.e aes. rr ee _ The letters fo the editor column is and always will be a free and open forum, but only to those who have the courage of their convictions. It’s an insult to the brolly LONDON (CP) — Like French surgeons the bowler hat, the removed ae peliet— Ughtly-furled, long, black identical to the one taken ‘unb has become a = from Markov--from Kos- symbol of London over tov's back. It had been the years. fired at him in a Paris Even on fine days, subway. ‘cautious Britons can be Like Markov and seexi pointing direciions Simeonov, Kostoy was a with it. They wave itlike journalist. a sword to flag down Scotland Yard placed taxis. They swing it with a the two British cases PIA snes “As I was telling Irving here, just because a handful of c doesn’t mean people are deserting me.” binet ministers left _ REGINA(CP) — Initial reaction to Saskatchewan losing two major taxation cases in the Supreme Court of Canada varied Tuesday from gloomy predictions to a suggestion the province would suffer little from the rulings. The high court, in separate cases, ruled thal a tax plan to control potash production was invalid and that the province had to pay in- terest on tax money it collected from an oil company under another Unconstitutional measure. The potash case has implications for the province's ability to manage and conserve re- sources, But the oil tax interest decision is unlikely to mean a crowd of private companies banging at the govern- ment's door looking for money, said Robert Moncur, deputy minister of mineral resources. But Liberal Leader Ted Malone, campaigning for election, said the province's whole laxalion system for resources might come “crashing down" because of the decisions, Dick Collver, the Progressive Conservative leader, used the decisions as a springboard for criticism of the NDP government for getting the province into dif- ficulties in the first place. the Oct. 18 Saskatchewan | POTASH DECISION In the potash case, the Supreme Court declared that potash prorationing, introduced by the former Liberal government in 1969, was invalid. But no damages were awarded to the company hat challenged the plan, Lid. Moncur said proralioning has not bee! in use in Saskatchewan since 1972 because the market for potash, an in- gredient in fertilizer, has been sirong and companies .could sell all they could:produce. . « He said he wauld be surprised if other com- panies lined up to seek damages for the period when prorationing was in effect, Some of them have been bought out by the government in the last lwo years. Other potash com- panies have launched a similar challenge to the constitutionality of prora- tioning, a tax designed to prevent over-production, but that case is stil] in the lower courts. The oii interest case relates to a Supreme Court of Canada decision vf November, 1977. The court ruled that Saskatchewan’s tax on the production of crude oil was unconstitutional. The challenge to that tax came from Canadian Industrial Gas and Oil Ltd. (Cigol), now part of Norcen Energy. Resources Ltd. When Central Canada Potash . Norcen asked for the re- urn of the money it had paid under the un- constitutional tax, Saskatchewan asked the court Lo rule whether the money had to be returned with interest. The court ruled Tuesday that interest had lo be paid. Meanwhile, Saskat- chewan has passed a retroactive tax on oil well incomes to protect the money it collected under . the tax on oil production. Using Cigol as the test case, the interest on about $500 million collected between 1974 and 1976 from the whole industry is Involved, But Moncur said that money is protected by the income tax on oil wells and by thedesire of the oil companies to agree that the government should keep what it has collec- ted. The government is negotiating with the oil companies to see if future taxes can be collected on the old basis of pro- duction, rather than in- come, which is difficult to calculate, Mencur said. - He said Cigol paid about $3 million under the unconstitutional tax and ean ask for that back, plus about $500,000 in Interest, However, Norcen has argued that all of its taxes, not just that paid by its subsidiary Cigol, should be returned, ‘amounting to about $9 ‘government Mixed reaction to ruling million. And the interest due on the whole $500 million collected from the industry during the pe- riod in question could amount to about $100 million. . Attorney-General Roy Romanowwithheld comment until he had seen the judgments and Premier Allan Blakeney did the same, except to say the Cigul decision was expected, But at a Swift Current news conference, Malone said the decisions prove the Blakeney government is the most incompetent in North America when it comeg to resource management. Malone said if the Liberals win Oct. 18, “not one penny” of the money Saskatchewan has collected would be returned to the polash or oll companies. He said a Liberal guvernment would negutiate future tax schedules allowing resource companies io gel a fair return on their inveslment. That, he said, would mean lowering the rates charged on the income earned [rom oil wells. Cullver said a Cun- servative government alsu would negoliate with the private seclor to ensure the province did nol lose any money. He said most of what had been collected would never have been placed in jeopardy if it had been properly managed. jaunty alr as they stride past the stock exchange. _ Now the traditional “broliy” has become something else—a symbol of murder, as Scotland Yard's anti-terror squad investigates two bizarre deaths. Somewhere in London is an umbrella either sharpened like a lance or fitted with a compressed- air pistol attachment. . Dead are two British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) workers. Both were Bulgarian defec- wera, Georgi Markov was the first to die a month ago when he complained of being stabbed with a polson-lipped umbrella by a man who vanished in a cab. Doctors found a ‘pinheadsized tnetal ball under his skin, [t has been drilled out to take either poison or a deadly virus, His widow said he had ved in fear of Bulgaria's secret police. The second man to die was Viadimir Simeonov, afriend and co-worker of Markov. Doctors diagnosed cause of death as asphyxia from Ing bod ftom a broken nose. Police want to know what caused him to {fall and injure himself. A victim who survived was also a Bulgarian emirgre, Vladimir Koatov, based in Paris. under Jim Nevill, chief of the antierror squad who stated cautiously: “It is fair to say we are looking at all. . . possibilities.” The investigation is focussed on the BBC's exiernal services area, “There are a lot of very, very unhappy peuple here—I'’m pretty upset myself,” sald David Buckley, head of the Bulgarian section. While the ingenious umbrella weapon cap- lures headlines here, questions are being raised whether other such slayings have gone un- detected. A Soviet emigre working with the BBC's Russian service said: “Until now, all the exiles from the Soviet and Communist states who work for the BBC thought it was only people {ike Solzhenitsyn and prominent dissidents like Sakharov who were under threat.’ “We thought ourselves small fry and beneath the interest of secret ser- vices. Bul now, with this latest death, who knows?” As an indication that people are getting jittery, there was a case Tuesday when a Bulgarian stopped a police special patrol group vehicle in Oxford Street and asked for help. Scotland Yard is still evaluating that case, UNITED CHURCH COMMENT Pollution must be stopped before we are Ontario Government Fails to Give Moral Leadership Murdering ali of the people in one family Is wrong; murderingthe same number ina variety of families, at random, is acceptable. That, essentially, was the moral message presented by the Ontario government when it- decided that the International Nickel Company af Canada (Inco) could continue to pump 3,600: tons per day of sulphur dioxide Into the at- mosphere. SS Originally, Inco was to have reduced emissions to 750 tons per day by end of this year. That order has now been changed. Government spokesmen say the research on which the 750 ton figure was based has been superseded; Inco’s new stack, at 1,250 feet the world’s tallest chimney, has produced ‘acceptable’ sulphur dioxide levels in Sudbury and beyond. Acid rains that have been affecting lakes and vegetation In northern Ontario can’t be blamed entirely on Sudbury’s emissions, they say much of it results from other industrial! polluters. Now, noone would imply that emitting sulphur dioxide is the same as committing murder. The damage is not intentional, for one thing. Sut the all murdered facts remain: sulphur dioxide gas is a poison which has caused Industrial deaths, has harmed health in Sudbury, and had converted jands nearby Into a wasteland used by U.S. astronauts for moonscape practice. moisture In the air, sulphur dioxide gas becomes an acid which, in falling, gradually alters soil and water conditions, upsetting delicate ecological balances. And Inco’s Sudbury stack, emitting 3,600 tons of sulphur dioxide every day, is North America’s largest industrial source of sulphur dioxide in the air. The new 1,250 foot stack distrubutes emissions over a far wider area, protecting Sudbury itself. It still supplies three percent of North America’s total emissions, or about one percent of the total world emissions. And that’s just not good enough; Canada ought not to hold such an unenviable distinction. The Ontario government has ruled that 3,600 fons per day of pollutants are acceptable now that they're spread around more thinly. As an economic verdice, or a scientific assessment, that may be ‘acceptable’.As an indication of moral! leadership, it Is not. The Ontarlo governinent should again reverse ifs stand and demand that Inco Clean up Its act. Combined with COMMENT BY GRAHAM LEA . PRINCE RUPERT MLA © Bankruptcies in B.C. continue to increase as small businesses and individuals struggle to make ends meet.in the midst of economic stagnation which the Socreds refuse to take seriously, | The latest flgures, released by the federal consumer and corporate affairs department, Show a total of 141 bankruptcies recorded in B.C. during August, a marked increase from August, 1977, when 107 bankruptcies were declared. It’s no secret that smal! businesses are facing hard times in this province, at least not to anyone except Economic Developmen: Minister Don Phillips, who Insists that our economy is in great shape and has just spent $70,000 to publish a glossy magazine telling us about our booming economy. But as we look ahead to another winter of high unemployment, a bleak outlook for the construction industry, a steadily declining dollar, and; for those of us in the north, continued increases in an already high cost of good and services, it is evident that many people will face a shortage of cash, and that, for small business people, is a gloomy forecast. It is time toqualify the belief that Socia! Credit government is good fer business and thai the New Democrats are hostile to the business community. In fact, the reverse can be argued — that the Socreds have hurt smail business in this Province. There is no need to remind people of the disastrous effects on the economy caused by Socred decisions to raise ferry rates, |CBC rates, sales tax, personal income tax efc. Now as a result of this over-laxing, they car. claim a budget surplus, which may be reassuring far corporate Investors, but does nothing for the smail community-based business. The B.C. Development Corporation, created by the NDP to provide ald to business in B.C., had the interests of the small business and secondary industry in mind. But since 1976, when the Socreds came to office, the government has been moving away from a policy of supporting the community businessman to one of supporting large corporations, often foreign-owned. In fact, the board of directors of BCDC voted a resolution to move away from a support of small business and to get Involved In large joint venture operations. The NDP governmeni, in 1975, was also in the process of setting up B.C. Savings and Trust, a — financial institution which would have worked in cooperation with the extensive network of credit unions In the province to provide a decen- tralizing distribution systems for loans to small businesses. Though the Social Credit members, including Mr. Bennett, endorsed the legislation “i'1975, they abandoned it when they took office. During its term of office in B.C., the NDP government also reduced provincial corporate income fax rate for small firms fram twelve to ten per cent and introduced for the first time a distinction between small firms and big businesses, that allowed small businesses to pay a lower rate. The myth that has been fostered throughout the years — that the NDP Is hostile to business — has been dragged out too many times by the Socreds. It has been used to convince small ‘business people that the NDP is opposed to In- novation and entrepreneurship on their part, and would tike to control everything from a large centralized bureaucracy, eventually forcing them out of business. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have opposed large foreign- owned corporations that want to dig out and export our unprocessed minerals without any commitment to the towns and cities in which they operate, but we have always supported a deversifled, healthy small business sector, owned and operated by people living in the community. i Our position is clear and our record supports iT, The Socreds should also be prepared to stand on their record. Perhaps they could start by explaining why B.C. has had nearly 500 business failures to date this year, while our neighbouring province of Alberta has had 63, and NDP governed Saskatchewan has had only 49 this year. , ARRAN 1978 Usivertol Prem Syndicate Fal "Get this straight! H people only retire when they're no longer productive, ve should've ~ gone 10 years agot”