PAGE 4, THE HERALD, Thursday. July 27, 1978

EDITORIAL
Friend In Need

Part (2)

Further to yesterday’s editorial. We men-
tioned that persons in need - in this case tran-
sients urgently seeking temporary ac-
commodation on an emergency basis - are

referred, after hours, to the RCMP who, after . at

determining whether it falls withins the terms of [

reference for assistance by the Department of J =:

Human Resources, issue overnight ac-
commodation and three meal tickets. —

Several reports and instances that have
reached us indicate this practice has definite
drawhacks.

One such report we received came from an
elected public official who told us of four
referrals made:

The first needed overnight accommodation
because he was on his‘: way through to Burns
Lake, where he was pretty sure of getting a job.
He was refused help on the grounds that this put
him in the “employed” category, and assistance
was only to unemployed.

A second referral was denied because the
young man was on his way to another town to
look for work. This meant he was not looking for
work in Terrace, and assistance was only
available to those looking for work here.

A third person seeking overnight assistance
was asked where he had spent the previous
night. When he said he had spent it sleeping in
the back of a car whose owner had picked him
up, hitchhiking, and let him sleep he was turned
down because this meant he had already spent
one night in Terrace, and had received
assistance for one night already. The fourth -—-

Such stories sound apocryphal. In the above
instance they emanate from a responsible source
which, to date, we have had no reason to
question.

On Tuesday night a meeting was held at the

~ Kermode Friendship Centre attended by over
thirty representative people of the area, to
acquaint the community with the purpose and

aims of CASNP - the B.C. Northern chapter of .

the Canadian Association in Support of Native
Peoples. At that meeting the crisis situation in
the matter of emergency shelter for distressed
persons and transients was briefly raised. Mrs.
Vi Gellonbeck told of having to put up people in
the Friendship Centre - which has no sleeping
accommodations - because they were unable to
obtain assistance elsewhere.

Mrs. Gellonbeck was emphatic in her views on
the cut-backs in aid to distressed persons in
emergency situations since the Department of
Human Resources.came ugder the leadership of
Bill Vander Zalm. - -~ Parad cabal by

_ She said she had heard of instances where
emergency applicants had not only been refused
help but had also suffered humiliation at the
hends of local authorities when they sought it.

In defense of the RCMP we feel constrained to
make this point “Unquestionably, the RCMP did
not go looking for the job of administering food
and lodging assistance during the hours when the
Department of Human Resources is closed -
which includes weekends when the traffic is
usually the heaviest.

The RCMP’s main function is to ‘“Maintain the
Right” and uphold the law - not to be a relief,
church, hu.naierian or charitable institution.

To the unfortunates, in need of emergency
assistance, to have to appeal to the RCMP for a
“handout” in the form of temporary ac-
commodation and food can be a frightening
thing. To the RCMP, who are used to dealing
with drunks, drugs, speeders, thieves, rapists
and all types of criminals, another face at the
window can appear to be ‘just another bum” or
“hippie” or “rip-off artist”. For that person to
have to take his place in line, in the hall, and wait
his (her) turn with the “‘criminals’’ does not
seem to be the best arrangement.

To us it would appear there is no reason under
the sun why the Department of Human
Resources could not maintain one social worker,
in an office, available on a 24 hour basis, for this
very purpose. If it is a matter of expense, I am
sure financing for it could be found in the com-
munity from the many churches, clubs, fraternal
organizations, volunteer agencies, Native
groups and businessmen. In fact, the Editor,
himself, would be quite willing to start with a

rsonal donation and head up such assistance
if properly called upon, and responsibly ad-
ministered.

TERRACE/KITIMAT

Capt. James Cook and Friend _—

Riverboat Days and Capt. Cook

“In every situation he stood unrivalled and alone;
on him all eyes were turned ; he was our leading star,
which, at its setting, left us involved in darkness and
despair.’’(From a tribute to Captain James Cook by
David Samwell, surgeon's mate ‘aboard the
Resolution.) *

Captain James Cook has earned a renowed name as
one of the world’s great maritime explorers and
navigators. Born in 1728 in Yorkshire, James Cook
signed with the Royal Navy in his late twenties.
Sailing in the service of his King, he first sighted North
American shores 200 years ago when, as Master of the
Pembroke, he made landfall at Quebec. During the
course of this journey, Cook charted a safe passange
for all ships up the dangerous channel of the St.
Lawrence River. Later he completed extensive charts
of the Newfoundland coast.

Captain Cook’s growing reputation as a navigator
and cartographer won him the recognition of his naval
and scientific peers andin 1768 he was given command
of the Endeavour, as well as the honor of leading a
joint expedition to the South Seas for the Royal Society
and the Royal Navy. - |

In all, three Pacific voyages took Captain Cook to
Australia, Jakarta. the Antarctic circle, Easter

Kootenay Canal

protective measure would be
used, and no threat would be
posed to human safety”, the
engineers report.

They estimate that about
410 million kilowatt-hours of

First stage environmental
and engineering studies of
the potential Kootenay
Diversion project have been
completed and are now being
made public.

However B.C. Hydro wilk

B.C. Hydre Reveals Plans

Islands," the Marquesas, New Hebrides, New
Caledonia; Tonga, Tahiti. and the Sandwich
(Hawaiian) Islands. ~ we 7

On his third yoyage, Cook crossed from Hawaii,
sailed up the Oregon coast and Bat down anchor at
Friendly Cove in Nootka Sound on the Northwest
shores of what is now Vancouver Island, British
Columbia, Canada. While the Resolution was bein,

_restored, he traded with the Nootka people an

carefully charted the surrounding area. Following the
repairs to his.ship, Cook continued North, surveying
the continent’s rugged Pacific coastline. Voyaging
around the Aleutians and through the Bering Sea, he
encountered heavy ice packs and was unable to
proceed into the Arctic Qeean. Once more he headed
for Hawaii. He was killed by natives at Kealakekua
Bay on February 14, 1779.

Two hundred years later, the memory of the first
European to set foot on the shores of what is now the

rovince of Brilish Columbia, still carries with it an

storic legacy. For all men and women with seeking
minds and longing hearts who go down to the sea in
ships, the name of Captain James Cook will lve
‘orever. :

assessment of water levels
and temperature, aquatics
and water quality in
Kootenay Lake. :

with a mitigated diversion,
These include.

- Possible alleviation of
present downstream

OTTAWA OFFBEAT

By Richard Jackson
Fall Budget
Seems Likely

Ottawa, - No statements are being made, nor
decisions shaping up, but the buzz in the upper
reaches of the bureaucracy is that-a fall budget
is in the works. ;

Parliament may be off -- mostly NOT enjoying
a pre-campaign-type holiday - but the govern-
ment is still very much on.

- And the first priority is to make the economy
as presentable as possible to the yoters before
Prime Minister Trudeau calls them to the polls,
possibly in very late Autumn or early Winter, but
more likely next Spring. :

There is not really very much the government
can do to fix the economy beyond tinkering. .

But a budget -- even a fall mini-budget of the
scope that Finance Minister Jean Chretien
brought down last Autumn, and who rememhers
much about that — can give the appearance of
Getting Things Done. | Se

Atthis period in the time-frame of the Trudeau
administration — with four years gone and the
fifth and final coming up -- appearances are
almost everything.

For this purpose, the budget -- full-blown and
big-time, or mini make-do - is indispensable.

And three areas, of the economy requiring
attention present Mr. Chretien and the govern-
ment with an unusual opportunity to give the
essential appearance of Being-Busy-About-The-
Economy.

They are:

- The inflationary shock that will come from
the return to former higher rates of provincial
retail sales tax and an expected surge of wage
catchup demands with the ending of controls

- Further federal spending reductions through
limitation of any new social service programs
and a tighter rein on government staffing and
payrolling.

- The huge and soaring foreign exchange

deficit due to Canadian tourist travel abroad —
which reaches its seasonal peak in the Winter

months. -

Many usually knowledgeable senior civil
servants consider the extension of the federal-
provincial sales tax deal almost a foregone
conclusion.

Because, unless the deal is extended, the
return to the previous higher sales tax rates will
jump the cost-of-living at the very time when
other inflationary pressures - wage demands
and the travel deficit - threaten to be extreme.”

‘The federal government ° Would” like. the.
provinces to sharply limit their own’s ing.to
make re-imposition of the previous higher rates
of sales tax unnecessary.

But there are few signs that this is happening,
and so the best the government can do is to.
renew the sales tax sawoff. ;

That would be a crowd-pleaser among con-

sumers.
‘ A Fall budget would give the government the
opportunity, too, for the customary pre-election
paring of income taxes, especially the rates on
lower-bracket taxpayers.

What to do about the.ever-mounting Canadian
foreign travel deficit. is more difficult.

But again it gives the government the chance
to use a Fall budget to leok good.

The obvious -- and. probably explosively un-
popular -- solution to the travel deficit would be
the imposition of foreign exchange controls, with
limits placed on funds that may be spent
vacationing abroad.

The less drastic answer — and hints of it are
drifting in the political wind ~ is the raising of
airport departure taxes, particularly for flights
to the sun spots of the Caribbean, Florida and
HAWAII -

They would be unlikely to dissuade many fun-
in-the-sun vacationers, but they would help
narrow the travel deficit gap.

flooding problems which now
occur at Golden, Athalmer
and Lower Fairmont at high

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not be in a position to decide
whether to seek government
approval to proceed with a
specific Kootenay diversion
project until ater the second
stage studies are completed.
This means the earliest
any decision could be made
to seek a water licence for
such a project would be late
1979 or some time in 1970.
The engineering

. assessment, prepared by

Hydro's Electric Design
Division, states that the
diversion of the Kootenay

‘River into the Columbia

River is techunivally viable.
“Conventional con-
struction methods and

Instant Win-

NEW WESTMINSTER,
B.C. (CP) — The instant-win
$1 computer lottery proposed
by the federal government
will mean an instant loss to
provincial lotteries and non-
profit groups, New
Democratic Party MP Stu
Leggatt said Tuesday.

In British Columbia only
nonprofit groups are allowed
to distribute lottery tickets
and about 30) groups share
in the $5 million annual
distributor commissions
from the sale of those
tickets.

Leggatt said many of the
groups are largely depen-

additional energy could be
generated annually for B.C.
Hydro customers as a result
of diversion, though the
amount would be sub-
stantially less‘under some of
the various diversion
schemes studied,

- The authors of the en-
vironmental report - Entech
Environmental Consultants
Ltd. of Vancouver - paint out
that many of the severe
impacts identified in the first
gtage studies are not ex-
pected to occur.

While negative en-
vironmental impacts are
evident, Entech say, there
are also benefits connected

Instant Loss

dent on lottery ticket com-
missions to ensure their
continued operation. The
New Westminster MP sald
the B.C. Wildlife Federation,
for example, receives about
40 per cent of. its annual
operation. budget from iot-
lery sales.

He said the federal
government’s lottery will
compete directly with
existing B.C. government
lotteries and provincial
officials are concerned that
revenues will be hurt by the
new SL lottery.

The new federal lottery is
scheduled to begin in
November 1979.

water; :

- The stabilization of the
levels of the Columbia and
Windermere lakes;

- The exposure of new
areas of agricultural land by
reduced flows along the
Kootenay River and im.
proved drainage of
agricultural land now
susceptible toflooding, made
possible by the regulated
flows under a diversion
scheme;

- The possibility of more
land on the Columbia being
made available for
agriculture through chan-
nelization and dyking;

- The development of a
wildlife management
scheme to enhance wildlife
production along the
Columbia floadplan;

Both the environmental
and engineering reports
examine the effects of
several river diversion
options with varying rates of
flow in combination with
different levels of
miligation. A specific
diversion proposal can only
be selected after further
studies,

Second stage engineering
and environmental studies
areexpected to slart late this
summer, In addition to
detailed examination of the
Kootenay and Columbia
river valleys, the new
studies will include

Think small by Jim Smith

No Time for Traditionalists

Bamey Danson, Uttawa's
Minister of Defence, is a
bright guy who doesn't have

much patience for the died-_

in-the-wool traditionalists
who want to run contempo-
rary Canada just as it opera-
ted at the turn of the century.
That may explain why Dan-
son has not become one of
ihe ost prominent spokes-
men for the f:deral cabinet.

Danson being a clever guy,
it's a good idea to pay atten-
tion to his remarks. Such as
his belief that Canada is the
nation with the golden eco-
nomic future. We've got re-
sources galore, Danson fas
been arguing, at a time when
the rest of the world is run-
ning out of the raw materials
needed for manufacturing.
Suoner or later, the rest of
the world must come to us
for our oil. waler, trees and
all these other natural won-
ders God gave us.

Dardson's blatantly cheer-
ful remarks stand out in pes-
simistlhe Canada like Bene
Levesyue al ad Liberal tally.

Unfortunately, they’ve been
largely ignored by the press
and broadcasters, Danson --
and all Canadians — deserves
better.

The 1970s have not been
good ones for the Canadian

economy. We've lost money:

and jobs to OPEC, the Ameri-
can suitbelt states and the
nori-oil Third World nations.
But now the balance of pow-
er is ready to start swinging
back oo.
OPEC, for instance, al-
ready worries abuut what
happens when the oil is
pone(in, perhaps, another 1S
years}. Saud! Arabia, for ex-

ample, is seriously consider- -

ing floating icebergs from the
Arctic to provide drinking
water. How van the: nation
hope tu attract mantfacttr-
ig when it lacks water for
the production provess? The
sunbelt states already zation
waler ia munty regions; future
‘expansion there is limited,
And the Third World. cur-
rend huoming because of
Pocket tei 4 ages and (axes,

will be forged to raise both
wages and taxes over the next

- few years; their workers will

expect better compensatian
as the countries acquire more
and mare industry.
Yes, Canada's future is
potentially bright. However,

it isn’t enough to compla-.

cently fall back on resources,
New mineral deposits have a
disconcerting tendency to
pop up where they are least
expected — and providing
fierce competition for Cana-
dian suppliers, In our life-
times, the sea will undoubt-
edly become a fantastically
rich source of resources — far
ticher thin anything Canada
can claim now, :

The real implication of
Danson’s glowing predictions
for our resource industries is
subtle: our enormous re-
source wealth should be used
to devclop technologically
innovative Canadian-owned
industries as oppused 16 mass
manufacturing -- which cat
he carried out in guy country.

The future is ours ~ if we
choose to take it.

sis TREE ise