Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 15, 2000 ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 * FAX: (250) 638- 8432 S PUBLISHER: ROD LINK EMAIL: standard@kermode. net A good idea THE DECISION to remove the $30 million road to Kincolith project in the Nass Valley from the controversial authority of a provincial govern- ment union membership/union wage program is a good one, It’s not so much that the Highway Constructors Ltd. model requiring workers to join a union for the duration of a project is bad, it’s that the intro- duction of this method last year in the Nass Val- ley was not without its problems. Although the Highway Constructors model does advocate local hire and local skill develop- ment, it was brought into the Nass last year, the first year of a seven-year, $41 million program, without a lot of preparation or explanation in a ra- ther ham-fisted fashion. As a result, the model became tainted and viewed as something imposed from the outside with little regard for local conditions. The method to be used to build the Kincolith road meets solid objectives. This is to be a com- plex project, carving through challenging and en- vironmentally-sensitive terrain on a tight budget. As such it will require an experienced and know- ledgeable main contractor. At the same time, the successful main contrac- tor will be required to meet rigourous local em- ployment and skill development objectives, Ra- ther than importing a great majority of workers, the contractor’s use of local labour will leave a legacy of knowledge and experience. As well, the main contractor’s use of sub-con- tractors in the form of partnerships will build up another useful legacy — small companies who willbe, able.to,take, what they. have, learned and. SAG apply iit to’ other development prospects, oh. aoroup hoactasaareab o e Missing: nurses MILLS MEMORIAL Hospital, like many others in Canada, has a shortage of nurses which then affects the level of care available. The Terrace Health Watch Group says it has a list of local nurses who aren’t working and it hints they don’t want to work until things im- prove at the hospital. The existence of this list, and the possible re- medies it might offer, would be of invaluable as- sistance in attempting to solve the shortage. But the Terrace Area Health Council views the list as yet another bludgeon being used by the health watch group in its all out war against the council. If this list is all that it is said to be, the health watch group must take extraordinary measures to be forthcoming as to its details. And it is then up to the health council to follow through to test the list and its contents. Health care is too important to be the subject of continuing warfare. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS Jeff Nagel = NEWS/SPORTS: Christiana Wiens NEWS/COMMUNITY: Alex Hamilton FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Carole Kirkaldy ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Bedford, Mark Beaupre & Stacy Swetlikoff TELEMARKETER: Stacy Swetlikoff DARKROOM/COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Donna Sullivan, Kulwant Kandola 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 CST) MEMBER OF B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION. CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION AND B.C, PRESS COUNCIL 1998 WINNER CCNA BETTER NEWSPAPERS COMPETITION Serving the Terrace and Thamhitt afea. Published on Wednesday of each week at 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace, British Columbla, VaG 5A2, Slorias, photographs, Hlustrations, designs and typestyles in the Tarrace Standard are the proparty of tha oor holders, Including Cariboo Press (1989} Ltd., Its illustration repro services and advartlsing Reproduction in whole or in part, withoit wriien parmission, Is specticaly prohitlled ert nvm ies Department, for payment of postags In cash, « Special th thanka to all our contributors and correspondents - for thelr time and talents: ee an | —— | VICTORIA - Garde Gardom, our Lieutenant-Governor, has come under pressure to resign for having “patronized and in- sulted” native people during the recent swearing-in cerem- ony of the new cabinet. One native leader went as far as to say that Gardom was “spitting on the First Nations of this area.” Gardom has since apolo- gized for his remarks, but that wasn't enough for some native leaders. Ron Derrickson, chief of the Westbank Indian band, joined the chorus of com- plaints, saying that only by re- signing could Gardom redeem himself. Now, if you haven't already heard or read what Gardom said that so enraged the na- tives, you might reasonably believe that he uttered some the Liehténant:, WwW “let, me quote’ " Governor: “The serenity of the cli- mate, the innumerable pleas- ing landscapes, and the abun- dant fertility that unassisted nature puts forth requires only to be enriched by man to ren- der it the most beautiful coun- iry that can be imagined.” His Honour was quoting Captain George Vancouver Healtn IN THE first year of permitting its injured workers to jump the surgical queue to get prompt treatment, the Workers’ Com- pensation Board saved $28 million. This we were told at a health watch group meeting March 4. The WCB’s savings came in two ways. First, prompt surgery keeps the patient’s condition from worsening into a tougher problem. Second, re- habilitation time is shorter. Treatment costs less and the worker returns to work sooner, If prompt surgery saved the WCB $28 million with its few patients, think how much gov- ernment might save elimina- ting waiting lists for its larger, general population. Unfortunately we accept waiting lists. Instead of pro- testing until patients come first, we. wait, worry and ache while fast ferries propel to the head of the line. . We've left it to our local horribly”: ‘racist remarks, :Weil, » ' ., TWO 10 ONE HE Lt SURVIVE THAT ONE | p F HE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER who had penned these words when first sighting the coast of British Columbia in 1792, And for those words, Gardom is supposed to resign? Don't make me laugh. I have no idea why Van- couver thought that this neck of the woods wasn't “the most , beautiful country” without. *“fumaii ‘interventidn. § a OG a Maybe" he hadn't had achat * with Captain James Cook who had landed on the west coast of Vancouver Island a couple of decades earlier, and didn't know that “man” was already here. Or maybe he thought the odd stone building or bridge would look pretty nifty. The fact is Vancouver was probably the first Jaycee boos- ter of Beautiful British Colum- Se a bia and if I were native and my ancestors had been here at the time of the good Captain's arrival, [ would be delighted that he knew a good thing when he saw one. Instead, the native leaders whine about an alleged slight. How ridiculans. What's more, their childish outburst harms the very cause they have fought for a long time — aboriginal title to heir land enshrined in treaties. Attacking a man who for years as a Member of the Le- gislature established a fine re- cord for defending native rights isn't exactly a smart thing to do. The conservative forces, those who would trash treaty negotiations in a second, have come out of the woodwork, linking the Silly attack on Gar- dway . ‘the “provide by way. of hi treaties. Andrew Coyne, a senior co- lumnist with the National Post, this week quoted political scientist Thomas Flanagan who said in so many words that natives are determined to bludgeon any one who dares oppose their agenda in the slightest. Coyne read a lot more into Speech police are everywhere the attack on Gardom than see- ing it simply as another exam- ple of the political correctness police at work, which is what it was. Our lives are permeated by political correctness, The p.c. cops never sleep. What's more, we are getting so used to their constant surveillance and vili- fication of those wha speak their mind that many of us are beginning to believe they're tight. Well, they're nol. Political correctness makes as much sense as calling an elevator a single-module verti- cal transportation device, only it's more dangerous. When any- thing remotely derogatory said about any specific group can be outlawed, as it is, and pu- nished, how long before some- one saying what Gardom did is thrown in jail? ’ Freedom of speech doesn't haye to be. crushed all at once, it can be taken away piece by piece. Gardom had no reason to even apologize but he did. And to the native leaders who are screaming for his resignation I say, get a life. Beyer can be reached at: Email: iubert@coolcom.com Tel & Fax: (250) 381-6900 Web: http. /fwww. hubertbeyer.com care needs your helo THROUGH BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI community health council (CHC) to fight for Funding and allotment of our health care, with disastrous results. “Smug” was the word used to characterize our CHC. Smug in their government ap- pointments, fronting for Vic- toria, buffering the government from our demands for more beds, more nurses, honest to goodness health care. Our CHC’s smug attitude You MuST BE THE STUPIDEST 7 ANIMALIN THE NORTH!! shines in their Vancouver law- yer’s letter — complete with draft apology reading for sign- ing — demanding an apology from two health watch mem- bers for criticizing its actions. If our CHC had health care uppermost on their minds, they would scrap the legal callis- thenics and use the lawyers’ fees to hire a weekend RN. Priorities. Priorities, When funding is scarce, the toughest scrappers get the big- gest piece of the pie. Trail Hospital, in Corky Evans’ backyard, has 89 beds, Ter- Tace, serving the entire north- west, has 25 beds. Yet in a study done seven years ago, Terrace, for its size, was the second busiest hospital in Ca- nada, So why aren’t we funded to serve? At the meeting it was poin- ted out expensive diagnostic equipment can-be leased, not only purchased, something even small-time contractors peered 1. are well aware of. Leasing might restore some diagnostic capability to our hospital, At least until Ottawa funds 50 per cent of health care as it did in the 1960s, unlike 15 per cent today. Praise be, we now learn we will be given a chance to ad- dress the consultants doing the $200,00 regional planning study, though there is strong suspicion the report has already - been written. This face to face meeting comes only after much pressure from the health watch group, ” city council and the Kitimat- ° Suikine regional district. “Provide the committee with documentation for past ; beefs such as bed shortages,” we were told, “and plan for the future.” Otherwise our nurses may g0 mopping floors, while our inter- nists hunt for beds like motel clerks during an Elks conven- ' tion.