Ad -The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 16, 1999
‘TERRACE

TANDARD

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

. PUBLISHER: ROD LINK
ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2
TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 * FAX: (250) 638-8432

' EMAIL: standard@kermode.net

Charge!

SKEENA NDP MLA Helmut Giesbrecht is the
kind of guy you want on your side in a tight
situation. A loyal foot soldier, Mr. Giesbrecht .
will fix his bayonet and charge the enemy.

Which makes it no surprise that he’s saying
he’ll run again in the next provincial election. As
Mr. Giesbrecht puts it himself, he won’t tum
things over to a newcomer to carry the can for an
unpopular government down in the polls.

At the same time, Mr. Giesbrecht is tied to a
series of provincial government moves here
which just might give him a fighting chance.

' a Skeena Cellulose. The announcement of $110.
million to open the closed B line at the compa-
ny’s pulp mill in Prince Rupert will put hundreds

of people back to work.

a West Fraser whole log export. While giving
West Fraser’s logging contractors approval to,
expprt whole logs runs contrary to the years of
fancy talk about a value added forest industry,
several hundred people are back at work.

There’s no guarantee there are commercial.
deposits off the northcoast, but building up pub-
lic approval for exploration at least holds out the
promise of a new kind of northwest industry.

« More money for the Terrace Area Health .
Council. The $886,000 addition to the budget
for Mills Memorial Hospital and Terraceview
Lodge this year, more than the last eight years -
combined, recognizes that health care here hasn’t’
received its fair share in the past decade.

a Nass Valley highway projects. Benefits from
the $30 million Kincolith road project and $41
million for improvements to the Nisga’a High- -
way leading north from Terrace into the Nass
: Valley will flow here either directly or indirectly.
Requirements for union-level wages and local _
hire will add to the economicjolt. «=~: °) ~

a The Nisga’a Treaty. Call it a mega-project.

a Public sector construction. A new hospital in '
Kitimat and a new high school here should be
breaking ground by the time the next election is
called. Good optics, as they say in politics.

Of course, Mr. Giesbrecht still has to explain
the problems created by his boss down south..
But the above list at least gives him a platform
on local issues. The big question of whether Mr. .
Giesbrecht can win on a ‘northern guy platform’

remains to be seen. |

é

The jinx

BECAUSE THEY come out only once a week,
weekly newspapers hate to put weather stories
on the front page for fear they’ll be out of date.
And then there’s a jinx — if the story- says*the-|
weather is bad, it’!] turn good and vice versa.
Last week’s story was about the cold and rainy
weather in May. So if it has turned sunny by the
time you read this, we’ll gladly take the credit.

1998 WINNER
CCNA BETTER

PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link
ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edovard Credgeur_

NEWS Jeff Nagel * NEWS/SPORTS: Christiana Wiens ~
NEWS/COMMUNITY: Alex Hamilton

NEWSPAPERS =. OFFICE MANAGER: Sheila Sandover-Sly
COMPETTION CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Carole Kirkaldy

ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS:

Sam Bedford, Bunnie Cote
TELEMARKETER: Tabatha Orange
DARKROOM/COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur
AD ASSISTANT: Julie Davidson

SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL:
$57.30 per year; Seniors $50.75; Out of Province $64.39

Outside of Canada (6 months) $158.25
: {ALL PRICES INCLUDE GST)

MEMBER OF
B.C, AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION.

AM COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION Gon A

AND
B.C. PRESS COUNCIL,
Serving the Terrace and Thomhiil area. Published on Wednesday of each week at 3210 Clinton Streat,
Terrace, British Columbia, V8G 5R2.
Stories, photographs, ifustrations, designs and typestyles in the Tersce Standard are the proparty of the
copyright hotdors, Including Cariboo Press (1969) Lid., Hs Mustration repro services and advertising

agencies.
Raproduction in whole or in part, without writien permission, is specifically prohibited. .
Aborted as scons mal pening te Pea Ofea Deine toyota potag cash,

Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents

—APSNOTFOR YOU...

VICTORIA — The new
Canada-U.S, salmon treaty,
ratified last week, may not be

‘The agreement ends seven
years of nasty border wars
_aver salmon, which severely
strained relations between the
two countries and threatened
to drive the resource to extinc-
tion.

Against that background,
the new agreement, no matter
how flawed, must be seen as a
major breakthrough, assuring
relative peace on the seas for
the néxt decade.

The agreement is for a 10-
year period, except for -valu-
able Fraser River sockeye,
which are covered. over a 12-
year period,

The new treaty calls for an
abundance-based style of
management, favoured by

are strong and drop when
they’re weak. Past practice
has been to set catch levels in

. advance, resulting in the over-

fishing of some runs. Indeed,
in the absence of a treaty, both
sides often over-fished.

The new deal includes a
$209 million conservation
fund to rebuild stocks and
habitat. The overall emphasis
of the agreement is on con-
serving weak runs of salmon,
with a number of sub-agree-
ments setting out how much

ignore

WITHOUT A moment’s
notice, governments can find
both counselors and funding
to cope with an unexpected
tragedy, but when it comes
to a child born disabled, nei-
ther evaluation nor coun-
selling are available in some
cases for months, Years...

__- But when. there is a con-

sistent, long term problem
affecting thousands: of peo-
ple, it seems governments
are loathe to become
involved. ;

But a 14-month-old baby
can roll about on the floor
instead of trying to walk, and
the undiagnosed child goes
on a three-month waiting list
with 14 other special needs
children in line ahead of her,

Why is that?

Recently _ to improve
care! _ the B.C. government
cut $45.5 million from ser-
vices that directly affect
every sector of the develop-
mentally disabled commu-
nity. Good thinking.

ideal, bul it’s probably the
. best.we.could get. .

s Testing the oil and gas. drilling. waters:-.|.

‘Alaska’ for along: time, in-.
which catches rise when runs'::

FROM. THE CAPITAL
HUBERT BEYER

each side can catch when runs
are sirong.

There is, of course, no
shortage of critics, not the
least of whom is Premier Glen
Clark, who says: that the new
treaty favours American fish-
ing -interests and reduces
British Columbia to being the
salmon hatchery for the U.S.
fishing'ficet, "°°

Those’ sentiments should be ©

taken for what they are: polit-
ical barrages. It would be
expecting tao much of the pre-
mier to whole-heartedly
endorse the new treaty, con-
sidering his role in the salmon
wars of the past, F
When angry fishermen
held an Alaska ferry captive in
Prince Rupert in July 1997,
Clark publicly sided with the
fishermen, causing quite a rift

_ between Alaska and B.C., the

brunt of which was bore by
the tourism industry.

The premier later upped the
ante by threatening to close
the Nanoose bay submarine
testing station, causing an
international incident.

Tt was the tried and tested
Ottawa-bashing strategy taken
to new heights,

Surprisingly, though, after
initially supporting the pre-
mier’s tough stand, the major-

ity of the public at large as well -

as political observers, this one
included, eventually rallied
around David Anderson, the
federal fisheries minister.
Much has been made of
British Columbia’s exclusion
from the signing ceremony.
While representatives from
Oregon, Washington and
Alaska as well as from the
U.S. aboriginal community
were present, no one from
British Columbia was invited,
But what appears at first

“glance as a slight, was not:
- necessarily intended. _
In the US., aboriginal ‘and —

State groups have a constitu-
tionally-based stake in the
fishery. In Canada, fisheries is
a federal jurisdiction with no
constitutional rights accorded
the provinces,

That doesn’t mean Ander-
son couldn’t have invited the
premier or a fishermen’s dele-
gation to the ceremony. Then
again, given the treatment he
has endured at the hands of
both the premier and the B.C.
fishing community during the

Conservation key to fish deal |

past few years, he can perhaps
be forgiven for his slight, if
that’s what it was. :
Now, I expect that I will get,
mail from fishermen listing .
some well-reasoned opposi- ,
tion to the treaty, and I accept .
that. As I said, it may not be .
perfect, but it is probably the .
best we could have hoped for.
The opposition from politi. -
cians, on the other hand, has, :
so far, been based on little else «
than the kind of anti-Ameri- :
canism that’s so fashionable in '
some left quarters. As one of
them put it to me: “If three '
American governors and the ‘
U.S. vice-president are in ‘
favour of the treaty, it can’tbe «
goad for Canada,” :
I for one, choose to believe
Anderson who had this to say
about the agreement: “Instead
of fighting over a shrinking .
pie, we will now be working ,

“togethér.to conserve «stocks: ::,

It's a good deal because con-:,
servation will mean more fish °
in the future for everyone,

“It’s a turning point in our
telationship with salmon. the
treaty commits British
Columbia, Alaska, Oregon,
and Washington to a joint
effort to rebuild salmon runs ‘
by carefully controlling the »
harvest, restoring habitat and -
investing more in science.” >

Beyer can be reached at —Tel:
(250)920-9300;e-mail: *
hubert@coolcom.cam; web: .
http:/Avww. hubertbeyer.com/ ,

now and pay later on:

THROUGH BIFOCGALS
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI
Researchers repeatedly

tell us every dollar spent giv-
ing youngsters a good start

in life saves seven dollars .

later. This $45.5 million cut
Buarantees that 15 years
from now, we'll be paying
$318.5 million to compen-
Sate.

The expense will come in
coping with dysfunctional
young adults who didn’t

receive care when they —

for thelr time and talants

From TRE AIR |

How COME > el 4d MAKE. Woop
Wool BURNS? AND WHEN IT
PN Pine lt, TREES TAKE \ | A Buens ...
ENERGY FROM TKE
SUN AND CARGON

should have.

Two weeks ago Joyce
Preston, government-
appointed children’s advo-
cate, tabled her annual
report. In it she criticizes the
Ministry of Children and
Families for its lack of early
intervention programs to
help children under five with
identified problems, and lack
of programs for children
with special needs.

Clearly at wit’s end , Pre-
ston noted that instead of
improving services to chil-
dren _ as recommended by
Judge Gove. after his two
year inquiry _ the ministry’s
attention has been focused
on rearranging it bureau-
cracy, While the ministry re-
designed memos, kids’ ser-
vices have been stalled. For
months.

If kids were highways
with bridges that rated rib-
bon cutting ceremonies and
bronze. plaques lauding the

THE ENERGY (S
RELEASED AS HEAT
AND THE CARBON GOES
BACK INTOTHE AIR *

minister, maybe kids would +
receive the prompt, support- -
ive services they should -
have before they grow ,
beyond help. ’
Particularly irritating to |
me was minister Lois -
Boone’s dismissal of Pre- ,
ston’s criticisms. In words °
often invoked by school
boards and other elected
bodies to deflect blame, -
Boone said Preston’s criti- |
cisms of her ministry dis-
missed the excellent efforts ”
of dedicated staff. '
Phooey. Preston’s criti- -

cism pointed no finger at |

staff. And Boone showed her
vulnerability by trying to ,

‘scare critics into backing off

and hushing up.

An army is only as effec- «
tive as its orders. And who
gives the orders? Right. In °
this case, Lois Boone.

Ministers come and go. '
Disabilities can be forever.

So FIRE (S REALLY \
RECYCLED SUNSHINE) |
=~O

a V
=

?

“4 ie

~~),
ANP TREES
ARE EARTHS
BATTERIES |