- A4-The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 14, 2001
“TERRACE |

STANDARD

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

PUBLISHER: ROD LINK
ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C.» V8G 5R2
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Bear facts

ONE OF the pleasures of living in the north is
that we’re far removed from the sometimes mass
hysteria of events down south. We have the lux-
ury of viewing them on our television, wondering
just what the heck is going on with those people
down there.

It’s a comforting feeling until something hap-
pens which affects us and it’s only then do we
realize that we’ve been caught napping.

A case in point is the ruckus over shooting
grizzly bears. From seemingly out of nowhere’
this issue has grown as big as the campaign
against logging in this province.

Few of us, even though we live up here, have
actually seen a grizzly and far, far fewer will want
to go out and shoot one of these magnificent crea-
tures. But there’s that feeling once again that
people and organizations based elsewhere want
once again to intrude on lifestyles in the north, to

, Impose their attitudes and perceptions on us.
To be sure, this grizzly thing is very much part
_ of the manoeuvring leading up to the calling of a
' provincial election, Many and varied interest
. groups out there are demanding politicians take
» action on any number of fronts in order to curry
., favour among the voters. There are, for instance,
: billboards in Vancouver demanding an end to the
" grizzly bear hunt.
Because we’re few in number in the north and
because our system of government relies on the
tule of the majority, there is often nothing we can
do to prevent the south from having an undue in-
, fluence up north.
The overriding impression is that last week’s

. Moratorium, ostensibly. to-allow-a pure; scientific
_ examination of the subject, has more to'de with
"politics and emotion than with science and logic,
_ For many people up here, there is indeed an en-

dangered grizzly in this province — the basketball
_ playing variety in Vancouver, If anybody or any-
.thing should ‘be subject to a moratorium, it’s
, those guys. . OS OS

IT’S. BEEN far too long since there’s been any
“type of report into the goings‘on at Skeena Cellu-

lose, the mainstay of the northwest economy. __

_ Although the company is owned by the tax-

: payer, it’s kept its books closed by hiding behind
‘the dubious cloak of corporate confidentiality.

. And that’s balderdash. If Skeena Cellulose was a
-‘ publicly traded company, we’d learn far more.
_ Determining the exact health of Skeena Cellu-
lose is a necessity if we are to make an educated
choice between the NDP and the Liberals in the -
‘upcoming election when it comes to economic

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Comair?

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aeatetinion

Helthel EstewBks ool tokre

es in the Torrace Standard ara the property of tho :

‘MIN THIS To WIN.
THE NUMBERS ARE MOVING
tN THe RIGHT
» Sy. DIRECTION

On your

VICTORIA —- The next B.C.
general -election won’t be
called for another two or three
months, but the campaien is
already in full swing.

Along with the daily deluge
of pizza joint, grocery and de-
partment store flyers, the post-
man or, in deference to the
politically correct, the letter
carrier, delivered two house-
hold mailers from my friendly
provincial government.

The first extalled the vir-
tues of the NDP government's
health care initiatives, the

- other informed me that British

Columbia has “reached a
milestone of global signif-
icance” by having doubled the
Province’s parks and protected
areas in the past nine years.

Those would be the years -

that the New Democrats have
governed British Columbia.

~ But it is the overall record of | :
_ those years ‘the NDP-will have
‘ta defend when it faces the

electorate,

And just what is that re-
cord? Well, it’s a spotty one.
A lot has been written about
the fudged budget and fast
ferry issues, including by me,
that they are the top two

‘things ‘that bother British Co-
‘lumbians about the NDP,’ -

To be sure, they are worth

FROM THE CAPITAL
HUBERT BEYER

remembering. Nobody likes
being lied to by a premier,
And nobody likes a failed pro-
ject that is costing the tax-
payers dearly. But if you ex-
clude these two, the NDP
hasn't really done all that
badly.

'¥és, they browght*in’ seven’

DNIKWLS NO

DNINNVTd MOA
BaV NOT MOH }

Porations are turning in hefty
profits. The Insurance Corpora-
tion of British Columbia has
done so well that it is giving a
$100 refund to every driver
with a good record,

B.C. Hydro has managed to
give British Columbians elec-
tricity rates that are among the
lowest on the continent, while
cashing in on the energy
crunch in California to the
tune of more than $1 billion,

And then, of course, there is
the above-mentioned mile-
stone of “global significance,”
which is a remarkable feat any
government could and would
be proud of.

So why does everybody
seem to hate the NDP to the
point that senior advisers fear
the possibility of a shutout in
the next election, with the
Liberals winning every seat?
‘In’a@ nlitshell! fudged budget

jdeficit budgets, some of whith!" ‘aid fdst Terres.

.at least were not of their own
making, what with the Asian
meli-down. And they partially
made up for it with the two
latest balanced budgets,
Students at the province's
institutes of higher learning
have benefited from a freeze
of tuition fees that has been in

_ effect for several years,

Some of the Crown cor-

These two issues are so
deeply ingrained on the voters,
minds, they’ve been rehashed
ad infinitum for years now, in-
cluding by me, that they have

‘become the justification for

the NDP’s death sentence.
A word about the possible

_ annihilation of the NDP. A few

months ago, I thought it pos-
sible, too, but not any more,

é

marks, getset....go

I agree with Gordon -Camp-
bell, the Liberal’ opposition
leader and premier-in-waiting
apparent, who points out, and
wisely so, that the NDP has al-
ways had a core support of 30
per cent plus. I say wisely, be-
cause assumption of easy vic-
tory can be dangerous...

The NDP may be stuck at
the 20-per-cent support levet
now, but those numbers will
move up during the months
leading up to the election.

1 still consider another vic-
tory by the NDP impossible,
but [ no longer anticipate a
slaughter. ,

A friend of mine in Prince
George has: egged me on for
some ‘time to put some: num-
bers to the outcome. So, here
goes: Campbell says with only
its core support, the NDP could
expect to get up to 24 :seats.

“For reasons mentioned..abpve,

stand right now, I’ll go. with 15

O yes, one more thing:
please don’t ask me how often
my predictions have turned out
to be correct. i
‘Beyer can be reached at:

E-mail: hubert@coolcom.com;
Tel (250) 381-6900; Web
http://www. hubertbeyer.com:

Stay home. It’s much

1 AM often asked why I never
travel, not even during winter
while work is slow and south-

‘em climes offer sunshine.
- Well, travel is risky. A winter

tan isn’t to die for,

My sister and her husband,
retired farmers, just returned
from two weeks in Yucatan.

“They drove. to Edmonton and
~ flew from there for one week

of beaches and another week
Sightseeing
agriculture/archeology. I wor-
ried the whole time.

I need no help finding rea-
sons to worry. Every time |
turn on the TV news or open a
newspaper my worst fears are
exceeded, often by one-of-a-
kind occurrences.

Many risks result from poor
judgment. As ctose as Hazel-
ton, a lowbed truck driver at-
tempted to haul a tall machine
through a low bridge. Result: a

vital community bridge closed -

A COOUPIE

THROUGH BIFOCALS
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

to ali but single lane light ve-
hicle traffic for perhaps six
weeks or more while a repla-
cement piece of steel bridge is
fabricated,

Last fall, near Revelstoke, a
tour bus smashed head on'‘into
a truck in a tunnel, killing
several people and closing the

RAVENS Live. |] KWo How MANY. HL
roreveal aap TIMES {VE HEARD >
GROUSE onty GET | THAT FROM GROUSE..

OF YEARS! . |

No FAIR! you [OH LORD! Do You

Trans Canada for hours.

Only last weekend a large
rock from a passing dump
truck punched through a wind-
shield of a car, fatally smash-
ing into the driver’s head. How
do you protect yourself against
that?

Even airlines aren’t immune
to stupidity, In Prince George a
Passenger boarded with a bot-
tle of drain cleaner trucked
among the undies in her carry-
on suitcase. During the flight
to Vancouver liquid leaked
from the bottle and the suit-

case, a liquid 8§ per cent sul-

phuric acid. It burned two pas-
sengers, and a hole through
seat upholstery and carpet.
Pending disasters abound. In
Quebec, a boulder the size of
an SUV hung suspended in a
wire mesh sling over the side

of a blocked off highway as.
workers scrambled to safely

‘remove it: ° :

)

Mme step off with confidence,

T[overtue usr
SO YEARS 7!)
‘ |

safer

Unpredictable weather ‘adds
to. my worries, In Newfound-.
land, so much snow has fallen
they have no place to stash ‘it.
For weeks sidewalks have been
buried. In Cape Breton, an
arena roof collapsed during a
Saturday hockey game. |

Risk lurks everywhere. Eng-
land is flooded. Russia has
rarely been so cold, Western
India is digging out from.a 7.8°
Carthquake that flattened whole
neighbourhoods in seconds.

Still, I shoutd tempt. both
road rage and air-rage to geta
sunbun? .

No way. Especially “since
my brother mentioned the
white sands stink like a back
alley. Lazy visitors use it as-a
litter box. coe

If I had the $5000 for two
weeks round trip by air to Yu-
catan, I'd be short the cdst:-of
sufficient ‘life insurance to’ let