A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 10, 1997

‘TERRACE

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Held hostage

AS THE SKEENA CELLULOSE saga drags on,
the conventional wisdom has been that the banks
won’t blink. That the union will have to veer off
the road in this game of chicken. And if it
doesn’t, its members will end up as road kill.

So far that hasn’t worked.

And as time drags on — at least if company of-
ficials are to be believed — the future of Skeena
Cellulose bleeds away. Key employees are lost.
Big customers switch to other suppliers. Costs
continue to mount. And time runs short to meet
the court’s deadline of the end of September for
a restructuring plan.

If all that is true then the banks are now begin-
ning to act recklessly. |

No matter what happens, argues mayor Jack
Talstra, someone will want to operate the saw-
mills in the months ahead and will need logging
roads in order to do so. Those operations can
produce much needed cash flow right now for
the entire company.

Why, asks the union and now some of the
northwest mayors, don’t the banks want to make
money? The banks say that doesn’t produce a
final solution.

The suggestion is that the banks have already
written off much of their position in the company
and are less interested in preserving what assets
they now own than avoiding pouring more
money down a so far bottomless pit.

If the banks have indeed abandoned any hope
of recovering old money, let them turn the opera-
tions over to the province for a dollar.

If not, then we’ll know the truth — that inland
sawmill operations are being held hostage in this
game and that the banks deserve every bit as
much heat as the PPWC.

Talk is cheap
HOPES that the province will send in the cavalry
and buy up Skeena Cellulose shouldn’t get too
high.

Deputy premier Dan Miller fanned that desire
last week and mayors of various political stripes
read from the same song sheet Friday.

But this could all end up being a case of good
cop-bad cop.

When all the bills are added up — from what it
would cost to buy the company from the banks,
to the massive infusion of capital needed to
revamp the pulp mill and build logging roads, to
the money needed to satisfy unsecured creditors
— B.C. taxpayers could be facing close to half a
billion dollars to bai] out Skeena Cellulose.

That’s remarkably close to the figure that had
first sent Repap Enterprises and now two of the
nation’s largest banks running for the exits.

And it’s not likely to sit well with the rest of the
provincial cabinet either.

Most likely, this is an exercise after which Mil-
ler can say he did his flat-out best for the people
of the northwest and for his former pulp union
brothers — before telling them to do what’s
necessary.

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I've been outof work
$0 long. .I've forgotten
what 2 Strike ballot
— f00ks like...

- iy
(e) perce)

Reform leader off to bad start

VICTORIA —- Wilf Hanni,
you're a fool.

No sooner was Hanni elected
leader of the B.C.. Reform
Party than he lashed out at the
man who has consistently pro-
vided some of the best opposi-
tion in the legislature and as-
sured the party’s standing at
the top of public opinion polls.

If anyone can take the credit
for Reform eclipsing both the
Liberals and the NDP in the
polls, no mean feal for a party
that occupies only two seats in
the legislature, it is Jack Weis-
gerber.

But rather than thanking him
for a job well done, the politi-
cal neophyte Hanni criticized
Weisgerber and Refonn’s
other MLA, Richard Neufeld,
for having supported the
government's legislation

providing same-sex benefits... .

Hani said he plans to take
action against Weisgerber and
Neufeld for having supported
the bill and demand that the
legislation be withdrawn. The
bill ‘conveys a vision of
normalcy” on homosexual re-
lations, he said.

Now, I admit homasexuality
isn’t everyone’s cup of Ica, but
I believe in the old saw of live
and let live. Just because you

HOW DOES an orbiting
astronaut cclebrate a day
off?

Alter months of orbiting

in space, ending with
several anxiqus weeks
repairing Russia’s eleven-
year-old crippled MIR
space station, the cos-
monauts on board were
given a day off.

To do what?

When we have a day off we
like to take part in unusual
aclivities, travel to un-
familiar places, meet new
people, Cooped in -his bus-
sized capsule, where can the
cosmonaut go? He’s already
gotten away from it all.

For. many of us, a day off
begins by getting up late.
Several hours late. We fol-
low that with a leisurely
breakfast, a bit of loafing
around the house, maybe a
short drive lo a golf course,
a fishing hole, or a swim-
ming area, We may cap our
day with a restaurant meal

FROM THE CAPITAL.
HUBERT BEYER

consider someone’s lifestyle,
morals or whatever you want
to call it inappropriate, you
don’t deny them the basic pro-

. tection offered anyone else.

If as a society we-truly be-
lieve in equality, we must not
exclude anyone from the bene-
fils we bestow on each other.
And that includes medical
coverage for same-sex couples
living together.

Responding to  Hanni’s
broadside, Weisgerber Ieft no
doubt where he stood and
where the Reform Party of
B.C, should stand. ‘‘Our party
supports equality,”’ be said.

THROUGH BIROCALS
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

Astronauts can do none of
those things in space. they
can’t rock hunt, jog, bike,
hike, or pound a piano.
Only in their imaginations
can they soak ina hot bath,
window shop, or browse li-
brary shelves.

Since their space station
had been badly damaged
knocking out the power,
leaving them in darkness,

Hanni might have reserved
his homophobia for the pro-
posed school program that is to
inform students about
homosexuality in order to stem
the tide of gay-bashing in our
schools,

The form of that program has
not been established, but if
anylhing could convey a sense
of normalcy on homosexuality
it might be such a course.

To bash Weisgerber and
Neufeld for their support of the
same-sex benefit legislation
was outright stupid of Hanni.

The B.C. Reform Party has a

good chance of making a better
showing in the next election
than it did in the last one, the
poor results of which prompted
Weisgerber to resign as party
leader.
. Since. then,. the polls. have
shown rather strange results.
Despite the fact that it had no
leader, Reform kept leading
the polls, with the Liberals and
ihe NDP trailing, That's some-
thing to build on.

Hanni has never been elected
to any public office. He’s a
political babe in the woods,
and instead of publicly crucify-
ing Weisgerber, he should seck
his counsel. He will need it,

The September 15 byelection

sj

their oxygen supply to a

worrisome three-day ration,

I expect they spent their
first day off praying, draft-
ing a last will, and rotating
their worry beads.

Certainly, they couldn’t
travel an inch except in their
heads. Lacking a gym,
they’re reduced to isometric
exercises. Astronomy would
seem to be a down-to-earth
diversion, but after months
of whizzing past the Milky
Way and companion con-
stellations, the cosmic world
can’t be too exciting. Of
course, they could count
floating space debris - lost
gloves, dropped wren-
ches...Gluing an eye to a
telescope is no fun without
neighbours to spy on.

Cramped quarters such as
the MIR space station lend
themselves - only to
brainstorming, shallow
breathing, and lying on a
bunk counting rivets. Sports
translate into chess, bridge,

in Surrey- White Rock is going
to be a make-or-break contest
for both Liberal leader Gordon
Campbell and the = green
Reform leader.

By all rights, Hanni should
have contested that byelection,
but his election as leader came
too late. Instead, party presi-
dent David Secord, a gillnetter,
will carry the Reform banner,
with Hanni standing on the
sidelines until there is another
byelection or the next general
election,

Being a party leader and nat
an MLA has distinct draw-
backs, Hanni will not be able
to attack the government on
the floor of the legislature, He
will have to depend on his
elected people, und even if
Secord gets elected, he, too,
will be green. That means

In politics you often don’t
even get three strikes, and
Hanni has already one against
him.

Like 1 said, Hanni you’re a
fool.

Beyer can be reached at Tel:
(250) 920-9300; Fax: (250)
385-6783; E-Mail:
hubert@coolcom.com

But a day off in space is
far from a negative experi-
ence. Their blessings in-
clude no barking neighbor-
hood dogs to disturb their
slumber, and no toddlers to
wake them with a finger jab
in the eye.

Once awake, they don’t
face a long list of chores
gleefully gathered by an en-
vious spouse. Who can ex-
pect them to mow the lawn,
wash the car, or weed the
polato patch? NASA - or its
Russian equivalent - sees to
the grocery shopping of
dried food. Laundry isn’t in
their job description, And
the capsule has no garage or
basement to tidy,

If the pleasantest part of a
brief holiday is the misery
of avoiding necessary
chores in favour of a less
worthwhile pursuit,
astronauts have little to look
forward to in a day off.

To them, a day off is as
useful as a tree farm license

CIRCULATION MANAGER: Karen Brunetic ora live concert. and. ultimately reducing — of tiddlywinks. is to Skeena Cellulose,
; SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL:
§3.50 per year; Seniors $48.15; Out of Province $60.99 FIRST DAY ON | Tl TeLt YA | GRAB SOME PAPERST] LoATCH OvT ! THAT NEW
Outside of Canada (6 months) $149.80 THE JoB AND WHAT ALL THE | ANP A CUP OF COFFEE CNNISTER is Gone
(ALL PRICES INCLUDE GS7) You RE NoT Sure . OTHERS Dip!! | AND RusH ABouT TO KicK SERIOUS
MEMBER OF WHAT Do FIRST! LOOKING FERC E!! Ws,

BUTT ARQUND HERE...

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8,C. PRESS COUNCIL

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