Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 21, 1998
‘TERRACE,

STANDARD

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: stancard@kermode.net

Tired moves

A SURE sign of a government in trouble is when
it drags out the old line that business and invest-
ment is hampered by too much red tape and sti-
fling bureaucracy.

Social Credit premier Bill Bennett did it and in
spades by creating a separate government office
to eradicate red tape. Premier Bill Vander Zalm
had his whack at the same and now, finance min-
ister Joy MacPhail has dusted off the govern-
ment red tape hymnbook.

Did you know, said Ms. MacPhail as an exam-
ple, that the provincial liquor laws are antiquated
and make it impossible to get a glass of wine ina
restaurant without having to order food. And that
this, she continued, has an effect on the tourism
industry.

What Ms. MacPhail forgets is that red tape and
bureaucracy occur and grow with the approval
and consent of politicians. What she is doing is
criticizing something she had a hand in creating
in the first place.

So when politicians, with amazement and
wonder in their voices, sound off about red tape
and bureaucracy, they hope the public doesn’t
catch on as to who the culprits are in the first
place.

As if that wasn’t enough, Ms. MacPhail then

headed off to Asia to drum up business. And

that’s another classic move made by govern--

ments in trouble — when things are dicey at

home, climb on the nearest jet and create an“

overseas diversion. American president Richard
Nixon was a past master of this. In the darkest
days of Watergate, he headed off to officially
recognize the mainland Chinese communist
government.

Surely by now voters can see through these

maneuvers. All of us can’t be fooled all of the.

time, (Or: can we?

Tripped up

THE NDP government was soundly boxed
around the ears recently over plans to include
spouses and family members of MLAs in busi-
ness trips. But. those cries of fat cat politicians
wasting the public’s money were, for the most
part, unfounded.

Right now, MLAs can have eight nights spent
on business within the province paid for by the
taxpayer. For example, an MLA can spend eight
nights on one trip away or eight trips of one
night each. The total can’t exceed eight.

The roundly criticized proposal was to include
a spouse or family member on those trips. But

the total number of nights allowed was to remain

the same — eight. Thus, an MLA and a spouse
spending one night away would equal two nights
out of the eight allowed.

Somehow this was taken to be a flagrant abuse,
Yet the intent was to allow an MLA to spend
more time with a spouse. Say what you will
about the money an MLA receives and whatever
benefits that may follow. It isn’t a lot given the
demands the public makes on elected officials
and the time spent away from family. Having the
ability to take a spouse on a business trip is hard-
ly living high off the hog.

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Serving the Terrace and Thomblll area, Publisher!‘on Wednesday of each week at 2210 Clinton Sheat,
Terrace, British Columbia, VeG 5R2.

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Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents
for thelr time and talents

1998 WINNER
CCNA BETTER
NEWSPAPERS
COMPETITION

.. AT FIRST GLANCE

WY

“THIS MAY LOOK LIKE
aN EMPTY BUBBLE... .

wc ONE. .
YOUR HEAD OR
THAT BALLOON ?

Here’s a growing business

VICTORIA — Diversification
in British Columbia’s agriculture
industry may well prove to be the
saving grace in the years to come.

~ Prairie farmers are far worse
off than most sectors in B.C.’s food-
growing industry, This year’s grain
crop has been excellent. The
weather co-operated all the way. Il
should, by all counts, have been a
harvest to celebrate, but for one
thing: the bottom dropped oul of
commodity prices.

This year’s grain prices are half
of what they were two years ago. It
cost most grain growers more to
prow their product than they well
get for it.

Compared with the prairies,
British Columbia’s agriculture and
food industry is healthy. True, some

sectors have been hard hit by bad.

crops due to inclement weather. The
most affected commodities last year
were tree fruits, berries, grains and
vegetables.

To offset the losses, the B.C.

. government, under its farm insur-.
ance pilot program, has paid farmers

some $3.5 million for their. 1997
losses. The average claim was
$21,500. The highest individual
claim was for $85,000; the largest
payout was $150,000 to a
corporation,

Ina political climate that feeds
controversy such as the wars over

Chucking chairs cheerfully

BACK IN the days of swag-
gering Buddy Rogers and pirou-
etting Tony Rocca, | often
watched TV wrestling with my
husband. Rogers’ cocky strut
made me itch to slap him silly.
Rocea, on the other hand,
delighted me, especially when he
playfully clamped his bare feet
over his opponent’s ears and
ground them like a cigarelte butt
with a snappy Nureyey swivel of
his hips.

Teday’s wrestling lacks
finesse, fairness, and sporisman-
ship. It’s redeemed only by ils
bigtime commitment to recycling
metal folding chairs.

Scarcely a match takes place:

without at least one folding chair
coming into play asa baltering
tam, a club, or a narrow bar on
which to drap an opponent
astride for maximum pain.

Why any wrestling arena

FROM: THE CAPITAL:
HUBERT BEYER

fish, lumber, health care and educa-
tion, il is also refreshing to note that
there’s at least one ministry that
works quietly behind the scenes to
bring about changes needed to adapt

to the: market conditions of the 90s:: -
- and beyond. _ "
Without a lot of fanfare, the

agriculture ministry has pul in place
a mechanism that is lo produce a
workable agri-food policy which is
to ensure, as much as that is possi-
ble, sustainable growth for (he agri-
culture and food industry of British
Columbia. :

The process to work out a
clearly-defined agri-food policy
began in 1994 under David Zirnhelt,
then minister of agriculture.
Unfortunately, the process was pul
on the backburner because of what

AGH SAR AANA

THROUGH BiFOCALS.

_ CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

should be stocked full of metal
folding chairs beats me, but there
they are, conveniently stacked
under the ring, harmless and
‘legitimate until snatched for evil
purposes.

Some chairs are even
painted to match a wrestler’s
trunks: one wrestler whipped cut

Pal

THE CHIE SAYS HIS T] NOld WHAT KAD
Bio air |\menene a

OT) UT ICi
GARE GRECIAN INE 1S THAT
FormuLA !!

the government euphemislically
called “downsizing and restructur-
ing.” In effect, the government cut
the hell out of the agriculture minis-
try budget.

It wasn’t until Corky Evans
became minister that the ministry’s
funding was reslored to acceptable
levels, and Evans was able to
respond to industry requests to
revive (he agri-foad policy process,

Then in spring 1998, the minis-
ter farmed the Agri-Food Industry
Advisory Committee, which met in
Richmond in April of that year to
begin the process anew. During a
series of meetings, the commiltce
came up with-a list of issues it
believed to be important to address
in the development of an agri-food

policy,

» The tnitial meetings were fol--...
~ lowed up with a series of regional
workshops attended by food pro- -

ducers, processors, retailers and dis-
tributars who brain-siermed the
issues for possible solutions.

The findings of these work-
shops, held in Nanaimo, Kelowna,
Dawson Creek, Creston, Williams
Lake and Abbotsford, combined
with the knowledge gained through
a number of other projects and stud-
ies such as the B.C. Marketing
Board’s review of regulated mar-
kets, a study of the state of the B.C.
food processing system and a scan

a folding chair that exactly
matched his brick red trunks,
What are the odds of you or me
finding a metal chair of any col-
our other than black, grey, or tan?

Wrestlers don’t lack props
with which to damage their
opponents. Already they have a
dandy supply of chains, cords,
baseball bats, two-by-fours,
pails, belts, urns...

Chairs photograph well.
They’re sliverless and light, yet
deliver a telling blow. And their
supply in wrestling arenas seems
endless,

Which is no surprise. Many
folding chairs are badly designed
and poorly constructed, giving
them a short life span. I could
donate a couple chairs to the
wreslling world. By wrapping
the broken weld with plumber’s
prey tape, f’ve kept one chair
working, so long as I remember

ACTUALLY T GF
SAID “ NOTHING

BuT BEAR GREASE
IN FORMULA" !

of the value-added food industry, is |
to form the basis for British “’
Columbia’s first comprehensive ™
agri-foad policy. .
The policy development prac-
ess is expected lo be complete by ,,.
the end of this year and scheduled .; .
for implementation in early 1999. 1.
There is a lot at stake. Asked to .
list the province's major industries, »
most British Columbians would say
forestry, mining and fishing. Few ‘*+
would mention agriculture. Yet, the a
agri-food sector has emerged as one “
of B.C.’s most important industries.
How important? Well, the agri. ;
food sector employs a total of
250,000 people. That’s one in seven.”
jobs. Tolal annual sales are in excess _-”
of $16 billion. Thal’s how -.
enormous. :
- , To keep up the momentum in

what is fast becoming a ‘global econ- ~ .

omy, whether we like il or nol, each *'
sector off the agri-food industry, be

it tree fruit growers, grain farmers,
food processors or distributors, must ‘
be carefully nurtured. And the pre-
sent diversity of our agricultural
industry, unique in North America, ,,.
must be maintained.

To that end, the comprehensive
apri-food palicy to be brought in
next spring as absolutely essential.

Beyer can be reached at: Tel:
(250) 920-9300; Fax: (250) 356- |:

4

9597; E-mail: huhert@coolcomcom |

not to lean back. If the tape goes,
so will I.

Question is, who stockpiles
folding chairs under the wres-
ting ring? Management? The
promoter? Or a garbage collector
culling corners on his contract?

Perhaps a metal recycler col-
lects all metal folding chairs with
failed welds, and ships them in
forklift bundles to wrestling
promoters.

Circulating these damaged. -
chairs among wrestling rings=>
preatly extends the life of North:
American landfills, It also whit-
tles prep time for wrestlers who
would otherwise first have to.
smash something down to wicld-....”
able proportions yet with enough +.
heft to land a stunning whack.“

And it gives employment to"
the person who crouches under "”
the ring wailing to pass out the... -
chairs. oF