AO Terrace Review — Wednesday, March 20, 1991 custom-designed facility in Prince Rupert, which loads the product onto bulk carrier ships bound for Japan. And the company that produces the coal, Quintetic, with the past aid of billions of dollars of B.C. taxpayers’ money, is losing money on every pound that it ships and threatening to go bust at noon on March 31 unless its creditors agree to a debt reorganization plan that will probably cause them to lose money on every pound of coal they ship for Quintette. Closer to home is a sawmill, Westar in Hazelton, which manufactures a product in demand in Europe and the United Kingdom, much of which is shipped by rail through the Port of Prince Rupert. Westar is a successful company in many ways, but it doesn’t know where its next sawlog is coming from. Timber somewhat to the north of it was presented to Prince George companies who didn’t know where their next sawlogs were coming from either (and some still don’t), and other timber to the north is held by a company that wants to build a pulp ‘mill and has surplus sawlogs, but Westar can’t afford them because they’re being cut in one of the few areas that are still allowed to export raw logs. There could be some question as to whether Westar will be shipping much product through the Port of Prince Rupert for much longer. Another sawmill, this time in Prince Rupert, that used to ship-through the Port of Prince Rupert went bust last year, partly because it was unable to:export raw logs too big for its mill to process. A Ministry of Highways report issued Monday stated ‘that correcting the traffic situation in Terrace — a situ- ation in which logging trucks, and sometimes lumber trucks bound for the Port of Prince Rupert, have to snake and snarl their ways through two 90-degree turns to get through town, occasionally losing their loads doing so — is not a priority. and-would cost $4-5 million if it were, . The provincial government wants to spend $60-million ‘-’: on a port development in Kitimat. . Now: what’s wrong with this picture? Established May 1, 1985 The Terrace Review is published each Wednesday by Close-Up Business Services Ltd. Publisher: Betty Barton Editor: Michael Kelly — "Staff Reporters: Tod Strachan, Betty Barton National Advertising: Marjorie Twytord _ Local Advertising: Jack Beck/Mar] Twyford - Typesetting: ~ Carrie Olson, Mary Sebastian Production Manager: Jim Hall _ , Production: — Charles Costello, Gurbax Gill, Ranjit Nizar Office: Carrie Olson Accounting: ; Marj Twyford, Harminder K. Dosanjh _ Mark Twyford, President. Close Up Business Services Ltd. Second-class mall registration No. 6896. All materia! appearing In the Terrace Review is protected under Canadian copyright Registra: tion No. 362775 and cannot legally be repro- duced for any reason without permission ofthe | publisher. Erors and omissions. Advertising ts accepted on the condition that in ihe event of -typographicel error, that portlon of the advertia- ing space occupled by the erronaous Item will not be charged for, but the batance of the adver- tlaament wit! be paid for at the applicable rate. Advertisers must assume responsibility for er- rors in any classified ad which Is supplied to tha Terrace Review in handwritten form. in compilance with the B.C. Human Rights Act, no advertisement will be published which discriminates againat a person due to agé, race, religion, color, sex, nationality, ancestry or place ofarigin. ~ - . Ce 4535 Greig Avenue, Terrace, B.C. V8G 1M7 Phone: 635-7840 Fax: 635-7269 el One year subscriptions: In Canada $39.00 Out of Canada $100.00 Saniors In Terrace and District $30.00 Seniors out of Terrace and District $33.00 GST will be added to the above prices. ee ee Letters to the editor will be considered for publication only when signed. Please include your telephone number. The editor reserves the right to condense and edit letters. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the Terrace Review, Aport quiz “et’s draw a map of northern B.C. In the north- east corner lie coal mines, which ship their pro- duct in vast volumes by rail through Terrace to a 15 CANDDATES INTHE UPCOM Be. ELECTION, DESPITE. THE FACT THAT THE PABTY DOESNT KANE THE NEW BC. PACIFIC. PARTY ANNOUNCED IT WILL BE RUNNIN NC FARING A LEADER, OR A PLATFORM, ett SSS SSS J % ne VICTORIA — Columnists, commentators and editorial writers in B.C. have been ac- cused from time to time of picking on Premier Vander Zalm. In letters to the editor, on radio phone-in shows and in private letters and phone calls, -pedple generally supportive of the man say we overplay his problems, and in fact, can cause them by continuing to | focus attention on them. Horsefeathers. . The turmoil which has plagued this fairly simple, undereducated man for the past five years has originated either with him, or with his enemies within his own party, or from the shady character he seems to covet. The media reflects that tur- moil — whether it be resigna- tions of respected, capable Cabinet members, or grassroots attempts to review publicly his leadership, or legitimate ques- tions about his,real-estate manipulations. So when the Premier himself stands up in the Legislature, as he did this past week, and ' whines about being picked upon by the big, bad media, | have little patience for such pap. Mr. Vander Zalm says the -New Democratic MLAs can on- ly quote from published material when trying to build a case of how the Premier misled the Legislature. Well, just remember this: the truth is that they are quoting Mr. Vander Zalm’s own words _in those publications — and we have the tapes and verbatim - transcripts lo prove it. WS SS bated THOUGHT F WAGON... 7 me, THEY WERE SUPPOSED TOBE Fe )_UIFFERENT FROMM THE. SOCREDS... fe ——— APPLES LL 4 SSS SS +. & 5 Wille The view from — Victoria — by John Pifer As far as the future for Bill Vander Zalm is concerned, many of his.own MLAs are convinced it rests in the hands of Ted Hughes. . Whether or not the Premier abused his office for personal _ gain almost takes second place to the fact that for several years he has told everything but the truth about his actions. _. “From the Toigo Affair to the Fantasy Fiasco, it is only after he has tried every other option, . or after he has been confronted _ with the aforementioned proof, © that he has fallen back on either the truth, or silence. So, give me a break, Bill; the “poor me”’ ploy doesn’t sell. As far as the future for Bill ’ Vander Zalm is concerned, many of his own MLAs are convinced it rests in the hands of Ted Hughes. That venerable senior civil servant will bring down his report just before Easter on whether or not there was an ac- tual, or a perceived, conflict of interest on the part of the Premier in his handling of the sale of Fantasy Garden World — easily the most publicized piece of property in B.C. The Social Credit caucus has asked for, and received ap- proval for, a full meeting with the Premier when the Hughes’ findings are known. Many of them are openly talking about a 60-day leader- ship race to follow, culminating in a convention in the Okanagan in May or June, to choose a new Premier to lead them into an election. That may prove to be nothing but wishful thinking - -when dealing with a Bill Vander Zalm. | Do not forget that the Premier himself calls Hughes’ probe ‘‘a review’’, and he “bristles at any suggestion that it is “‘an investigation.”’ Neither should you forget that the report was ordered by Mr. Vander Zalm himself, and therefore the findings will come back to him. We can only hope — they immediately become . public, whether damaging or not. And most important of all, dear reader, the terms under which this investigation, er, review was established contain no provision for any penalty! So even if Mr. Hughes paints a somewhat black picture of the Premier’s actions, Mr. Vander Zalm does not have to do a damn thing about it, legally. . Politically, however, he may have little choice. Senior MLAs have told me privately that if the Premier digs in his wooden heels and stubbornly refuses to step down voluntarily, a number of them will quit the Cabinet or caucus, leaving the dregs of Social Credit to swirl down the elec- tion drain with him. , Such tough talk when it does not matter, has been common - for the past two years or more; it will be interesting to see if they actually have the nerve when it does matter.