Aé - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 7, 2001 CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Ba Skeena MLA gasses the opposition party Dear Sir: In the continuing debate about the high price of gas and whether the provincial government should do something to help those on low incomes hurt by the in- crease, one thing puzzles me. Some of the folks demanding government interfer- ence in the market place are the same ones who support political patties like the BC Liberals which favour a market-based economy, This economy is based on the principle of “supply and demand”. The B.C. Lib- erals have always supported Free Trade with the U.S. and NAFTA. Under Free Trade if Uncle Sam is willing to pay more, then he gets the gas. We in BC will just have to match the price. Is it any surprise that Liberals are now silent on the high price of natural gas. At present the U.S. increased demand for our natural gas has producers making a fortune. They ate gouging the BC con- sumer, B.C. Gas was privatized under the Socreds (now Liberals) years ago and so the price of gas to BC consumers is set by the market. The well-head producers, if they wanted to be charitable, could sell gas to British Columbians at a reduced rate. Chances are that the provisions of The Free Trade Agreement would prevent it B.C. Hydro, on the other hand, is a crown corporation and British Columbians have some say in the price they should pay. Hydro tates for BC'ers are still among the lowest in- North America; in fact they have been frozen for B.C. for five, going on six years. Surplus power can be sold to the U.S and Alberta, where gas and hydro are deregulated and for much higher rates. Imagine how a derepulated hydra indu- stry would have. dealt with the recent shortage of power generation ability at Alcan. Also consider what Cominco did - recently because the sale of power to the - U.S. is more profitable than keeping workers on the job. Now the government has received in- creased revenue from gas royalties due to the increased production and from the sale of hydro outside B.C. I have no quar- rel with the suggestion that we should help those on low income hurt by the in- creased cost to heat their homes. What } do find strange is any comment by Campbell Liberals like Gerry Bloomer and Lorne Sexton on the subject. They support a greater role for the private sec- — tor in all matters including healthcare, but when the problems appear, as they in- evitably do, they'll be the first demanding government intervention. You can't have it both ways guys. A quote from Gordon Campbell states “All Crown corporations must be ex- amined with a view to maximizing value to the taxpayers through their sale.” Does this suggest that he will intervene when casts go up? Hardly. Helmut Giesbrecht, MLA, Skeena‘ LEARN TOFLYI! —.—— _--| || MacKay’s Funeral Service Ltd. Ground Schoo! Course aw, "Serving Terrace, Kitimat, Smithers & Prince Rupert For Pilots License Starting “ Monuments Concemed personal Febraary 22, 2001 . Bronze Plaques service in the Northwest Cast: $299.00 . ‘Terrace Crematorium since 1946 i To register, or for more information call; 635-1852. Stop Dreaming and Start Flying! TKAir Charters Ltd. 4626 Davis Street Terrace, B.C, V8G 1X7 Funeral Sere «= Phone 635-2444 ¢ Fax 635-635-2160 Assodation 24 hour pager i Tips on caring for cats Dear Sir: I am sorry Mr. Town- send. I really doubt that your cat was trapped and set free. (The Terrace Standard, Jan. 24, 2001). Cats are very mysier- and put them in his new yard before you let your cat out, to mark it as his.” [am anly writing this because I know people worry about their cats as do 1. My cat often sneaks out. He never returns when I expect him to. Never .. mind giving him a curfew.: Besides, that Mr. Stella looks like a very nice man. Mary-Ann Speirs, Terrace, B.C, ious. I also know that there is very little trouble they get into that is not out of their awn control. Moving is very trau- _ Matic for a cat, mainly be- _leause.iéats “haves-as ery strong sense of territory and home. The cat loved his home. He didn't chose to move. You don't know who he alley cats around with. He may have had a very good crowd of cool cais he left behind. Cats have been known to travel from one town to town. The following is taken from the book 101 Training Tips for Your Cat. “Outdoor cats should not be Let out- side for at least a week, preferably two. Wait until your cat seems secure in his new home. He needs | time to realize this is where he belongs.” How to prevent your cat from returning to your old home — “The older your cat and the longer you lived in your old home the more likely the cat is to want to return. If the ald home is nearby, then you are almost guaranteed to have problems if you let your cat outside.” “If this is the case con- sider keeping your cat in- doors for a long time (up — fo a month), and even consider making him and © indoor cat. Take some feces from the litter box Their choice Dear Sir: I Tecently heard a dis- cussion on radio regarding the study of the creation of more and bigger centres for the treatment of drug addiction, places where the addicts wiil have clean needles, places to shoot ' up, ‘ete, ; They. nurture a habit into an addiction and then . expecting the general pub- lic to be sorry for them and ° meet the enormous costs - of rehab, to say. nothing of the disruption of whole city areas. Yes, some of these ad- dicts are dying, but they know the risk they are tak- ing, how can they not be aware of all the pitfalls? It’s their choice. D.L. Bulleid, Terrace, B.C. 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