4 ‘Terrace Review — Wednesday,

October 21, 1987

:

Editorial

A backgrounder
on the present
school dispute

The origin of the current
dispute between the board of
School District 88 and the Ter-
race District Teachers’ Associa-
tion (TDTA) is directly traceable
to the passage of the Teaching
Profession Act.

by Michael Kelly —

_ The Act, known as Bill 20 in
its proposal stage, was made law
by the B.C. Legislature last year.
It gave teachers some things they
asked for, like full collective
bargaining status and the right
to strike, and some things they
didn’t ask for, like ripping the
rug out from under the B.C:
Teachers’. Federation (BCTF).
The statutory functions per-
formed by the BCTF will be
transferred to new body called
the College of Teachers.

The teachers in each district
will have the option of either
forming a bargaining unit
(union) or an association. If they
opt for a union the negotiating
they do with the board for their

first contract - falls under the

general provisions of the In-

Letters to the editor will be con-
sidered 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. *

G@cna
_ LFerrace
_ Review

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dustrial Relations Act; if. they
form an association, their rela-
tionship with the board is spelled
out in the Teaching -Profession
Act. The decision deadline is
Jan. 1, 1988, and unionized
teachers will have six months to
negotiate a new contract before
the old one expires on June 30.
The TDTA’s concern is that
the new representative body,
which will in all likelihood be a
union, will be starting off with -
no previous contract. The board

-| NEAN, WHAT MAKES
ATTACHE TS
ASAN INTERNATIONAL

BANKING ana

continued on page 18

Decentralization — great rhetoric,
_and a lot of anxiety for nothing =

Hubert Beyer

Victoria Correspondent -

While Premier Vander Zalm criss-crosses the province, speaking
to every group that’ll listen to his decentralization brainstorm, the
average British Columbian, which most definitely includes me and
just about everyone else I know, is steeped.in confusion.

I've got to admit; though, it sounds great when the premier ex-
plains it. The time has come, he says with evangelical fervor, to set
the. province free. He cannot and will not lead a government that

“rules the lives of British Columbians from its Victoria bunker,

There’s just one problem. What you hear isn’t necessarily what

you get. I am willing to bet you apples to peanuts that the decen-
_tralization scheme will never get far off the ground. Its greatest

feature is destined to be its rhetorical impact. .

To start with, much of British Columbia’s bureaucracy is already
decentralized. It had to be. There is no way and never has been a
way to run a province of: the size of British Columbia from a central

Every major city has a sizeable government presence. Forests and
lands takes up 24 pages in the government phone book. Each page
has about 200 individual listings. Only the first four pages: list Vic-
toria numbers. The rest are scattered all over the province.

Prince George has public servants working for the ministries of
agriculture, labor and consumer affairs, finance, energy, mines and

_ petroleum resources, forests and lands, health, highways, social ser-

vices, environment and parks and, of course, the court system,.
In Fort Nelson, about as far away as you can get: from Victoria
and still be in ‘‘this great province of ours’’, the government
employs people in numerous operations, including the ambulance
service, health and mental health care, conservation, forests and
lands, motor licences and social services.
There are provincial public servants in Kelowna and Kamloops,

Prince Rupert and Terrace, Grand Forks and Castlegar, Fernie and --
Cranbrook, Revelstoke and Golden, The public service is about as
decentralized as it can get without becoming fragmented and inef-
ective. .. cn oo

What’s the big deal with Vander Zalm’s decentralization’ pro-
gram? It’s smoke and mirrors. It’s great rhetoric, but it will never
be implemented. Not to. the degree the premier would have us
believe. . .

The only thing the proposal has accomplished, so far, is to
disrupt the lives of thousands of public servants and scare the wits
out of Victoria's business community.

if you hate public servants on principle, you’ll probably get a
great laugh out of the premier’s game. After all, what are public ser-
vants for if you can’t scare the hell out of them every so often?

Unfortunately, the premier’s grandiose plan has played havoc
with the lives of 35,000 public servants and their families. Every
public servant now fears for his job, _ |

A lot of public servants are afraid that it could be the soup kit-
chen next month. At best, they feel they have to face the possibility
of having their families uprooted and moved to some town a thou-
sand miles-‘away. Nobody should have the right to do that to people.

Meanwhile, Victoria’s business people; most of them staunch
supporters of the Socred government, no maiter who leads it, are
seeing their fortunes going up in smoke, They are petrified at the
prospect of the public service transferred, Pol Pot-style, to the
hinterland. The story’s the same in Vancouver. -

All this anxiety for nothing. It’s a plan that cannot work because
it makes no sense. I have a hunch the premier knows that-very well,
but wants to exploit its rhetorical value for political reasons. _

There will be no mass transfer of public servants from southern
British Columbia to the province’s. remote regions. Selective
boosting of government operations, yes, but not on the scale of the
proposal everybody’s been talking about.

We might see a modest increase in staff at some district offices of
the forest, environment or energy ministries. Government agents
may get some additional staff. That’s it. re

What people will remember, though, is a tough premier; announ-
cing. tough measures, making.tough statements. And: that’s a for-
midable weapon when, next time around, the premier asks voters to

‘go to the polls.

Long list of thanks for Riverboat Days

Letter

To the editor,

I would like to take this op-
portunity on behalf of the Ter-
race Riverboat Days Society to
thank the many individuals,
Organizations, businesses and
merchants who contributed to
the success of the 1987 River-
boat Days celebrations.

The City of Terrace once
again provided much appreci-
ated support in the form of
financial assistance,-as well as
that provided by the Mayor and

council evidenced by their active
participation in a variety of
undertakings connected to the
celebrations. In this connection,
we were also pleased to have had
the opportunity to be associated
with the Diamond Jubilee Com-
mittee, and in particular, chair-
man Marilyn Anderson.

The Royal Canadian Legion

Branch No. 13 sponsored and
organized the biggest and best
parade ever. Congratulations to
Maria Thomsen and her many
able assistants.

_ The Terrace Rotary Club’s
Dale Greenwood organized the
First Annual Triathlon, success-

concerns -surrounding

fully complemented by the
Skeena Valley Runners’ King of
the, Mountain race despite initial
the
holding of these events on th
same day.

The Centennial Lions, with a
big assist from the Kinsmen, Jim
Ryan and his Community Band,
Multi-Cultural Society and Ker-
mode Friendship Centre pro-
vided a fun-filled and enjoyable
afternoon in Lower Little Park
on the opening day of cele-
brations,

The Terrace Kinettes once
again sponsored the Kiddies’
Carnival. The Diamond Jubilee

Committee sponsored an Arts ©

and Crafts. display throughout
the week Tuesday to Friday. The
Mayor and council held an open _
house on the occasion of the of-
ficial opening of the new RCMP
building and the dedication of a
Totem Pole, a gift from the
members of the Kitsumkalum
Band. Chief Councillor Clifford |
Bolton made an impressive pres-
entation along with members of

_his band in commemorating the

pole to continuing good rela- .

_ tions between the native and.

non-native population of our
area. The Kitsumkalum village
continued on page 14