Ad - The Terace Standard, Wednesday, November 15, 1995

TERRACE:

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

ADDRESS: 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, B.C, * V8G 188
TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 * FAX: (604) 638-8432
wa _, . MODEM: (604) 638- 7247

Fae hédded

IT's HARD nowadays to find people who'll act
on faith alone. But that’s what the backers of the
second arena have done for the past several —
years. And now they want that faith to be
adopted by taxpayers this Saturday.

Despite the general anti-tax feeling out there
nowadays, despite the delicate task of piecing to-
gether a borrowing proposal that’ll need the co-
operation of city and rural residents, despite a
suspicious attitude on the part of those who don’t
like large-scale.public works projects and despite
those who would rather see scarce tax monies
spent elsewhere, the second arena backers have
boldly put forward their plan.

For ail of those above reasons, it’s not surpris-
ing that the project comes down to do cold, hard
cash.

First, there’s the question of getting a sizable
grant from the provincial government.

Ifa B.C. 21 grant for close to a third of the pro-
ject cost — say $800,000 or $900,000 — comes
in, the second sheet could become very affor-
dable and an exceptional value for taxpayers.

Local politicians who lobbied cabinet ministers
in Vancouver. this fall admit that getting a grant
of that magnitude is unlikely.

Secondly, the Rick and Paul King Foundation
has made a commitment to raise $750,000 for
the project. That’s a staggering sum and although
there are hints that large corporate entities may
drop some big cash, it’s not unrealistic for
people to be a bit wary. .

After all, it took more than three years for a
diverse collection of volunteers and service clubs
to raise $610,000 to buy a CT scaiiner for Mills
Memorial Hospital. And that’ was with consider-
able support from outside of the immediate area.

Right now taxpayers are being asked to vote
“Yes’ to something that at best could cost them
$1.2 million provided the much-desired B.C. 21
grant arrives. The downside is much more ex-
pensive if the grant isn’t the size that’s expected
and if there’s a shortfall to the donation
campaign.

Those uneasy with the project might feel more
comfortable had there been a city declaration
that a go ahead on construction depended upon
getting a B.C. 21 grant of a certain size. And
they would feel even more comfortable if project
backers committed themselves to reaching a
preliminary donations target before starting con-
struction, Attention then would have con-
centrated on the merits of the project itself.

It now boils down to faith. That and taking a
deep breath in the voting booth on Saturday be-
fore marking the indelible ‘X’ on the ballot.

Doing OK

HEY, WHO says the NDP is flushing itself
away? Last week’s public opinion poll ranked
the government high in protecting the environ-
ment, enhancing the forest base and safeguarding
the social safety net.

Add all that together and it seems that people
are fairly happy with the three key elements
necessary for the province’s well-being.

PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rud Link

Gina u's / ADVERTISING MANAGER! Mike L, Hamm

_ PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur §
NEWS Jeff Nagel « NEWS SPORTS:
- COMMUNITY: Cris Leykaut
_ OFFICE MANAGER: Audra Creek

~ ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS:
Sam Collier, Janet Viveiros, Tracey Tomas
“ADVERTISING ASSISTANT: Emma Law

; DARKROOM: Susan Credgeur COMPOSITOR: Kelly Jean
- CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Karen Brunette

CONTROLLER,

: : MEMBER OF &.¢, PRESS COUNCIL ve
Serving (hia Terrace and Thormhill area. Publishad on Wednesday of each weak by Carbon Pross (1969)
Ud. at. 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, British Columbia.
Storias, photographs, ifuistrations, dasigns and lypastyles In tha Terrace Standard ara Ihe property of the
copyright holders: Inclading, Carlbos Press (1969) Ud. fs tustration repro services and advertising

jencies. E

Reproduction in hala orin nar, willrcut written permission, |s ‘spacifcaly prohibited,
Authorized a¢ second: class mall pending the Post Office Department, for payment af postage In cash.

Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents
tor their time and talents

STANDARD

hi hat da

Welfare change is overdue _

VICTORIA British

' Columbia’s welfare reforms

were overdue. This province
has long been a favourite
destination for welfare
recipients in other provinces, a
trend that had been reinforced
by the NDP’s fairly liberal so-
cial assistance policies,

When Ralph Klein in Alberta —

and Mike Harris in Ontario
slashed social programs to the
bare bones, the flood of people
coming to British Columbia to
collect welfare increased fur-
ther.

In the end, even the NDP,
whose ideology makes cuts in
social programs virtually un-
thinkable,. had to do some-
thing.

, Starting — Dec, . 1, .. welfare |

‘Tecipients ‘from outside British
Columbia will not be eligible

-for benefits until they have”

lived here for at least three
months, The same goes for im-
migrants from other countries.
Also effective Dec. 1, the
Ministry of Social Services
will no longer replace stolen
cash or endorsed welfare che-
ques, and funds for work clo-
thing and work transportation
will only be provided to in-
come assistance recipients who
have confirmed employment.
My contacts tell me that min-
istry staff have been advocat-
ing these changes for a long
time, They tell me that it was
no unusual for some welfare

Thinking of an occupation?

DO CALEDONIA’S Journal-
ism 12 students suspect
producing a weekly school
newspaper could result in a
lifelong writing addiction? I've
seen it happen.

In the 1940s when I was one
of 12 students making up the
high school half of a two-room
country schoo], we talked our-
selves. into writing a monthly
newspaper. It wasn’t part of
any journalism or language
curriculum. The paper was
mainly an extracurricular pro-
ject to flex our language mus-
cles.

Computers and photocopiers
had yet to be invented. We
made copies one by one ona
yellow gelatin pad from a
mnaster copy typed with a spe-
cial purple ribbon.

One grade eleven student
typed all the copy on her
manual Royal portable set on a
shaky card table in her frilly
upstairs bedroom. She typed in
the evenings, after school, or

HUMANS ARE '
SucH woosies.

“FROM. THE CAPITAL

HUBERT BEYER

yi
t

; Tecipients to claim; not once

but repeatedly, that they had
lost their cheques or cash, to
get another cheque, even
though the. staff suspected
fraud.

‘They tell me that in one case,
a’ Welfare recipietit asked for
and received a new suit be-
cause he said he had to go to a
funeral. He spent the money all
right, but never bought the suit
and never went toa funeral.

Social services minister Joy
MacPhail says the new
measures will save more than
$30 million a year. I can well
believe that, considering that
during the first nine months of
this year, more than 2,200

people 2 month came to British
Columbia to go on welfare,
MacPhail’s’ federal counter-
part, human resources minister
Lloyd Axworthy, wasn’t very

uMextthree yearssiiec.: ees oe

THROUGH BIFOCALS
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

}

on weekends.

Bill, our in-house artist, drew
seasonal _ illustrations
Santa’s, valentines ~— and an
original hockey comic with
special pencils in three main
colors of red, green, or purple.

Because expenses had to be
minimal, we made onc copy
per family, no extras. Four
sheets of 8 1/2 X 11! inch bond
folded in half made up the
eight-page publication, On the

WHEN ITS COLD Yev NEED
INSULATED SHOEPACKS
WHEN ITS WET You NEED
BIG RUGBER BOOTS GuT
HuUSKIES ONLY NEED...

happy about the new policies.
Mumbling. something about
being deeply disappointed that
British Columbia is proceeding
unilaterally with welfare
reforms, he accused the B.C.
government of acting in viola-
tion of the Constitution, which
guaranteed mobility for Cana-
dians, ,

The man has some gall. It
was his government which,
since 1990, has cut $1.8 billion
in transfer payments to British
Columbia for social program
funding. And it is his govern-
ment which will cost B.C, tax-
payers anolber $1.3 billion in
federal funding cuts for health,
social services and post-
secondary education in the

On the ‘one: chand,, Ottawa: ‘is: |

in “évery sector to reduce its
deficit; on the other hand, it
complains when British
Columbia tries to keep its
finances under control by
lightening welfare eligibility

requirements. Seems a bit .

hypocritical to me.
The three-month’ waiting pe-

tiod was also denounced by -

anti-poverty groups. Michelle
Des Lauriers of End Legislated
Poverty said it was sad that the
NDP, which had always
championed the cause of the
poor, would bring in such a
draconian measure, which
Shredded one of the most im-

last Friday of each month, after
each copy had been stapled to-
gether, we read our publication
from cover to cover, sharing
copies. Typographical errors
pained me, then as now.
Besides Bill’s hockey comic,
every issue had a book review,
a recipe for a delectable,
household hints a la Heloise,
an original crossword puzzle,
riddles, and sometimes filler
jokes with more whiskers than
a kiwi. Each item was allotted
space, Shaping the book

review to Git its half page was

agony,

Like every school of the
time, ours had half a dozen
gelatin pads teachers used to
make multiple copies of ex-

ercises, tests, and art activities

for grades one and two.

To prepare a gelatin pad, you
wiped a damp sponge over its
surface, then applied the pat-
tern upside down on the gelatin
and left it there several minutes
until the ink tansferred into

FoR ANY Kr D OF WEATHER /

portant rights of Canadians -
ihe right to equal - treatment
across the country,

She’s wrong, These new |

measures are not an attack ‘on

the poor. Unlike Ontario, Brit-
ish Columbia isn’t reducing. -

welfare rates, It isn’t slashing
social programs left, right and
centre,

And unlike Ralph -

Klein, Premier Harcourt ‘has © -

never offered welfare -
recipients one-way tickets ‘to.
another province,

The very concept that ‘one

should be able to move to an-

other province and start ‘col-

lecting welfare from day one is. :

wrong, albeit understandable.
When one provinces slashes
welfare rates to below what
many = people consider ‘the ”

bapoverty. level; itis tempting-fors*
cutting funding for Provinces ;.

_ income assistance recipients to.
go where the rates are higher.
The three-month residency —
requirement is a self- defence.
measure. The real problem. is

the lack of uniformity of social -,

programs. Welfare rates should
be equal across Canada, with
differences in the cost of living .
factored in.

The NDP’s welfare reforms

may sound harsh to some °":'

people, but they were neces-
sary. They are not inhuman, .
And they are certainly not as
reprehensible as Mike Harris's
wild attack on social Programs
in Ontario,

the gelatin.
Each shect of paper had to be
laid = on straight, without ..

wrinkles, Properly done, a gel-

atin would give 20 or 30. ©.

copies before the ink faded,

blurred and becaitie illegible. :
Brief as the issues were, they:
gave

and thinking up original ideas

to write about. Shy students -
benefited from having our ®.

work scen by the public. We.
leartied to accept praise. and
‘withstand criticism, :

The modest experience
launched at least two of. Us: dn
a lifetime of . ive
endeavour. Bill Brownridg ,
creator of the hockey comic,
recently published a children?
book, “The

on to win paint
awards? , -

6707

é jee TOUGH AND “TRUSTY PAWS
AVE

excellent training in. ;
teamwork, mectiig deadlines,