4 Terrace Review — Wednesday, July 29, 1987

OPIN ION S

‘MINE MAY
THREATEN
SPATZIZI

Tetter

To the editor, -
On June 25,
' Canada brought its Open House
on the proposed Mt. Klappan
Coal Project to Terrace. This
Open House was an opportunity
for Terrace residents to express
. any concerns they might have re-

7 garding Gulf’s Mount Klappan
Anthracite Project Stage: I~

Assessment Report. The only
“problem is I seriously doubt that
“Very many Terrace residents
;* were aware of the existence of
this report (1 located it in a plain
brown carton in the back room
of the Terrace Public Library),
and of those who found it I sus-
pect that very few got through
the several hundred pages of
technical material offered in it.
I managed to get through a
fair bit of it and what I discover-
ed should be of interest to Ter-
race residents. Gulf Canada pro-
poses to provide electrical power
to the Mt. Klappan coal mine oy
a coal-burning electrical gener-
ator at the mine site less than
three kilometres from the boun-
dary of Spatsizi Plateau Wilder-
mess Park. Coal-burning electri-
cal generators are the primary
source of acid rain in eastern
Canada. British Columbia al-

continued on page 4

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1987. Gulf.

int —,-

ont SLOW DOWN. THEY -
MIGHT Le OUR HUBCAPS

Commentary

Turner’s

choice

_ by Frank Howard

John Turner, leader of the -
- Liberal Party of Canada, has the

opportunity to be a hero or a
bum. At the moment he is con-
sidered by many to be a bum.
Not a bum in any denigrating
sense, but in the sense that

prevails when. public opinion

polls are taken.

Public opinion polls are one thing
and elections are another. Some-

times public opinion polls do not ac- -

curately reflect what people are

thinking, but when people votein

an election the result is clear. So-.

meone wins and someone loses,
In the three federal by-elections

held on July 20 the Liberal Party of

_ Canada was the loser. John Turner

. was the loser, even though two of

That’s two thanks and one -
thanks but | no thanks,

I’m a firin believer in giving -

credit where credit is due, but I
nevertheless would like to couple
today’s bouquets with a beef.

. First off, Premier Vander
Zalm and Prime Minister Mul-
roney deservé our heart-felt
thanks for reaching an agree-

ment on the South Moresby na-.

tional park plan.

When I criticized the premier .

for jeopardizing the proposal by
attaching too high a price tag to
an agreement, I allowed for the
possibility that he was playing
poker, speculating that he might
be holding out for more conces-
sions from the federal govern-
ment,

We'll never know whether
that was, indeed, what the
premier did. In the end, the
agreement between Ottawa and
British Columbia looked pretty
much like the proposal Vander
Zalm had previously rejected.

Some Canadian taxpayers
may consider dishing out $106
million for a national park in the
Queen Charlottes a little rich,
but I’m sure it won’t seem that
way to future generations.

_ Remember that a lot of Ameri-

cans thought the price for
Alaska was far too high at the
time. Few would advocate sell-
ing it back to the Russians to-
day, even if they threw in the in-
terest on the $8 million for the
past 120 years.

I’m also convinced that in due
time, the lost logging revenue
will be more than offset by tour-
ism. I know I’m making tenta-
tive plans to visit the area. I also
know I wouldn’t have done so if
South Moresby had not become
a national park.

Once again, the premier
should be commended for hav-
ing reached an accommodation
with Ottawa for Canada’s
newest national park.

The same premier, however,
should be told to stand in the
corner and be ashamed for hav-
ing introduced admission fees to
the Provincial Museum in Vic-
toria and other historical sites
across the province, including
Barkerville and Fort Steele.

British Columbians should

Henry. Block,

Victoria Correspondent

y,

not have to pay for journeys into

their history and heritage. Every.

year, thousands and thousands
of school children visit the Pro-
vincial Museum. The same, Pm
sure, goes for Barkerville and
Fort Steele. The’ government
shouldn’t put its hands into their
pockets or those of their
parents.

Reid points out that museums

around the world charge admis-.

sion. True, but that doesn’t
mean we should do the same.
Tourists, Reid says, will gladly
pay $5 to visit a world-class
museum. Maybe so, but it will

‘certainly reduce their ‘ discre-

tionary spending.

And if the whole purpose of
the exercise is to make out-of-
province tourists pay part of the
cost of operating first-rate

- museums and historic sites, why

stick it to us as well? Instead of
giving locals a bréak by offering

an annual family pass for $20,

why not continue to have free
admission for British Colum-
bians?

Let’s move on to a topic the
premier should feel a little more
comfortable with ~— the first
meeting of the Premier’s Eco-
nomic Advisory Council. Van-
der Zalm first announced his in-
tentions of appointing such a
council in the throne speech.
The names have been released,
and the council has already held
its first meeting in Vancouver.

Of the 23 members on the
council, 14 are from British Col-
umbia. They include Richard
Allen, chief economist for the
B.C. Central Credit Union;
chairman of
British Silbak Gold Mines;
Robert Hallbauer, president and
chief executive officer of Com-
inco Ltd. and a number of other
high-ranking business people.

But it is the international

representation on the advisory .

council that holds promise of
success, The list is impressive.

There is Noboru Gotoh,
chairman and president of the
Tokyu Corp, in Japan. Gotoh is
also deputy international presi-
dent of the Pacific Basin Eco-
nomic Council. .

From West Germany there is
Baron Ekhard von Maltzahn, a
senior executive at the Krupp
Group headquarters. If the
baron’s advice is only a fraction
as good as that of the people
who once made Krupp the
world’s foremost arms manufac-
turer, his presence on the advi-
sory council will be worthwhile.

Then there is Andrew Large,
chief executive officer and depu-
ty chairman of the Swiss Bank
Corporation International Ltd.
in London, England.

From the United States comes
Martin Seaton, -president of
Cadillac Fairview - Industrial
Development Inc., based in Los
Angeles. And Hong Kong’s un-
bridled business spirit is
represented by Michael Kan,
managing director of Michael
Y.L. Kan Co, Ltd, _

Again, full marks to the
premier for recognizing that if
British Columbia wants to play a
role in the international world of
business, it must also draw on
international expertise.

Police report

On Thursday, July 23 Terrace
RCMP charged a Terrace man
with possession of stolen prop-
erty, .

Police said the man was
charged after he attempted to
sell a 12-speed mountain bike
that had been reported stolen.

The Terrace man will be ap-
continued on page .

the three seats had been held by the.

Conservatives, The voters obviously
did not want the Conservatives to
continue to hold those seats, and

the by-elections reflected a vote
against the Conservative Govern-
ment. The question to be asked is

why didn’t voters cast their ballots
for the Official Opposition, the
Liberals. . .

The voters in those three Ridings,

- or the majority of them, seemed to

look upon the Conservatives and the
Liberals with the same amount of
distrust. The majority of voters did
not want either the Conservatives or
the Liberals, and that is where J ohn
Turner is the loser.

Ordinarily a political party which
is the Official Opposition is con-
sidered to be the Government-in--
waiting. The Official Opposition par-
ty can legitimately expect to be

elected to the seats of Government

when a sufficient number of voters
become dissatisfied with whoever is
the Government. This does: not
seem to be the case, though, in the
current situation.
therefore that John Turner’s im-
mediate chances of becoming Prime
Minister are quite limited and
possibly non-existent.

In my opinion John Turner can
continue as leader of the Liberal
Party of Canada into the next federal
election, risk failing. to lead his
Party to victory, and then have

to resign under a cloud. It may

be unkind to think so, but all the
signs have been there for some
time. The three by-elections
merely underlined the writing,

* John Turner can, though, be-
come a hereo. The route to such
heroism is for John Turner to admit
that his chances of leading the
Liberals to victory are very limited
and resign his office of leader..We
are not too far away from a federal
election. Imagine the favorable
publicity the Liberal Party would get
by engaging in a leadership race
just prior.to the next election, if it
could be timed that way. Even if the
timing is a bit off a new leader could
force-feed the Liberal Party some
common sense between now and
the next election and thus increase
its chances.

Quite frankly, I would just as

soon see John Turner stay on as
leader, for his continuance in office
may help to destroy the Liberal Par-
ty. [am, though, intrigued by the
possibility that John Turner has real
courage. It takes no guts to stay on
as leader, but an awful lot to admit
defeat before it happens.

It follows