Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 11, 2001 - 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: standard@kermode,net Sniffing gas WHEN GEORGE W. Bush was painfully elec- ted president of the United States of America, we Canadians made much of how little he knew about us. That’s not surprising for much of who we are is defined by our relations with our large and powerful North American neighbour. Well, we don’t have to worry about that much longer. Mr. Bush does indeed know something about Canada — we have lots of natural gas and oil and he wants it. One of Mr. Bush’s campaign platforms was the opening up of a massive wildlife refuge in Alaska to oi] and gas exploratory drilling, Alaska is already a major contributor of energy for the rest of the United States but there’s said to be a lot more in this American state. The problem is that drilling isn’t permitted in wildlife refuges and any move in that direction would be met by sub- stantial environmental opposition. Enter Canada. With free trade and the construc- tion of pipelines into the United States we’ve be- come a major source of natural gas for that coun- try. That’s why, for instance, we’re paying a lot more for our natural gas. We have to compete with American consumers for our own gas. Recent comments from Mr. Bush indicate he wants to see that gas flow to the United States in- crease. From Mr. Bush’s perspective, it makes sense. The United States just can’t get enough en- ergy and if it can lean on us, so much the better. What does that mean for the northwest? If Mr. Bush cannot easily crack the prohibitions against drilling in Alaska, he’il naturally look elsewhere. And the estimated gas and oil reserves off of the coast of Prince Rupert could’ very well be:.a.: tempting target ete While we do have a moratorium on exploratory drilling off of the north coast, the current provin- cial government has set up an elaborate process to eventually determine if it should be lifted. Whether that process survives or is changed _after the provincial election is another matter. And the federal government will also be a major play- er in determining the future of the moratorium. But now that Mr. Bush has his eye on our re- sources, the siakes have been raised considerably. Stick around. It'll be interesting. Spring fling APRIL IS always a risky time in the north. Is spring here or not? Will it begin to rain or will those first sunny days lead us into summer? In any event, a sunny, spring day is something to enjoy. Winter is over and a new season awaits. Despite whatever economic and political woes there are, the advent of spring indicates that life does go on. Mother Nature once again asserts herself in the way she knows best. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS/SPORTS: Jeff Nagel NEWS/SPORTS Sarah Zimmerman NEWS/COMMUNITY: Jennifer Lang FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping & Carol McKay CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Terri Gordon - ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Bedford, Mark Beaupre & Stacy Swetlikoff TELEMARKETER: Stacy Swetlikoff DARKROOM/COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik & Clare Hallock SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $55.15(4+$3.86 GST) per year: Seniors $48.85 (+$3.42 GST); Out of Province $61,98 (+$4.34 GST} Outside af Canada (6 months) $152.34 (+$10.66 GST) MEMBER OF B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, CANADIAN COMMUNITY KE TOPAPERS ASSOCIATION Qo B.C, PRESS COUNCIL (wew.bcpresscouncll.org) LUE®: RIBBON Serving the Tarrace and Thomhill area. Published on Wednesday of each week at 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace, British Columbia, Y8G 5A2. Stories, pholagraphs, llustrations, designs and lypastyles in the Terraca Slandard are the property of the copyright holders, including Cariboo Prass (1969) Lic,, ils Klustration repro services and advarlising agencies, : Reproduction Ir whole or in part, without written permission, is spacifically prohibited. Authorized as second-class mail pending tha Post Oltice Department, lor payment of postage In cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents hae for their time and talents ~~ HEY! DIDN'T SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC Vow THAT HE'D NEVER BE CAPTURED ALIVE? ed Ay y THAT'S NU WHAT 1 HATE ABouT POLITICIANS — ALWAYS BREAKING THEIR CK | Rk \ N= \ ie pe? A ES SS : Ss ZN SS ZORA. AAG = Shi | a, ~ | mh? = i Zeer’ FOS a =o \ fir a Y ©MRILEO} Greens won't figure in election VICTORIA — British Co- lumbia’s Green Party is set- ting its sights on becoming the official opposition in the next election. On the surface of the pro- vince’s fractured political landscape, that aim appears entirely possible. In poll after poll, the Lib- erals are way out in front with 60-per-cent-plus sup- port. The NDP appears to be unable rise above its dismal FROM THE CAPITAL - approval rating of 20-per- HUBERT BEYER cent-plus. Long-time NDP insiders yignment. have publicly admitted that the party could get wiped out. At best, some say, it will get half a dozen seats. If ever there was a chance for a third party to relegate the NDP to third-party status, . this could be the time. Alas, the only poll that counts is the one that an- /“nounces ‘the election results. ‘And I suspect that a lot will sughange between now andthe © day voters will look at their ballots and decide for which candidate to vote. In the past few years, many of the NDP’s core supporters have been disen- chanted with the party. Loggers have felt ignored by the government whose agenda leaned more heavily toward protection of the en- Health care workers are fed up with being over- worked and underpaid, de- manding huge salary in- creases. Doctors want more money. Teachers, have voiced concerns that the govern- ment isn't listening to them, and other public servants which accounts for the NDP’s miserable standing in public opinion polls. Now wind the clock for- ward to election day. Haw do you think all the aforemen- tioned folks are going to vote? Will they stand by their previously expressed disgust with the NDP and vote for the Liberals? Well, if Gordon Campbell, AT THE halfway point, the two couples “homesteading” in Manitoba are safe but even under five layers of 1890s- style clothing, cold. Their experiment picked a summer with the most rain and mosquitoes, and one of the coldest winters Manitoba has ever recorded. In the April 1 episode on the History channel, we saw them from mid-September to Christmas Eve. All are pounds lighter. Frank had suffered poison oak. Tim had spent eight days in hospital with severe chest pains from pericarditis. They built not one but two cabins, for peace and sanity, 10 X 12 for the young cou- ple, Frank and Alana, a larger cabin for Tim and Diane who share theirs with a golden re- triever. The smaller cabin, chinked with dry moss raked dripping from a nearby swamp, has needed extra chinking, plus THROUGH BIFOCALS: CLAUDETTE SANDECKI willow branches nailed in the grooves to anchor the moss. Abandoning authenticity for safety, each cabin is hea- ted by a modern woodstove. One has an oven. Oak chunks keep the fires going all night. In exchange for re- moving a neighbour's dead- fall, they haul all the free po- plar they can use. Once snow came, they borrowed a neighbour’s vint- Nae -) _are, equally fed. up, All of, the Liberal leader is depend- ing on the votes of these people, he’s more optimistic than any politician should be. British Columbia's public servants will not vote en- masse for the Liberals. On the contrary, most of them will forget their disen- chantment, hold their noses and vote for the NDP. Ditto for the teachers and the nurses, They will do so out of a sense of sheer self-preserva- tion. Better the NDP they know than the Liberals they don’t or believe they know all too well. It is as much in the na- ture of the New Democratic Party to aspire to a larger bureaucracy, as it is in the nature of a more right-wing government to trim the .bur- eaucracy, Now, if you Worked“ for” “one'of those buréati¢racies, ' would you want to be trim- med out of a jab? The Greens, meanwhile, don’t figure in any of this. They have never governed and, therefore, carry no bag- gage. But since they have no experience in the art of gov- ernance, voters will not turn the future of the province over to them, not even in the role of official opposition. age bobsled, along with a set of brass sleigh bells, each with its own tone. They managed to shoot one of 70 deer after three months of black powder hun- ting. Diane, a dead shot, bag- ged five grouse for stir fry- ing. Crops? After three plant- ings, they harvested one meal of green beans. Carrots re- mained fuzzy roots. Potatoes and most of the barley rotted. They did stack some hay, and used some held down by canvas to roof a “barn” for the milk cow and six hens. Their pregnant sow had te be shot last summer after a ram- pant smudge fire torched her pen. I needn’t have worried about frigid trips to their dis- tant outhouse. They foiled mosquitoes by keeping a pot under their bed. It’s still there. Al night, they wear toques to bed to keep their heads warm. The alder couple low- F GAS PRICES AREY] BofolLisa Finite. \) LOOK Bondy. THE . cool ust) | eeu” | Que RSs AND PRODUCTION! Z| OTHER ENERGY SdORCES? MORE AND WE'LL “a — v AuwAYS FIND J , A L SEE) a — A The election will be fought along tried and proven lines, Left versus right. NDP. ver- sus Liberals. Big govern- ment versus small govern- ment. Working guy versus big business. Public spend- ing versus tax cuts. British Columbians are familiar with those slogans. They have elected many a govern- ment to the sound of those war Cries. And they will do so again. The only question is how many former NDP suppor- ters will suppoit the Lib- erals. The swing vote will go Liberal anyway. As far as the Greens are concerned, they may, just may get one seat. They are throwing everything they can at defeating Corky Evans in Nelson-Creston, the one NDP member who should be supported by voters of all ,_ Stripes. - “The Greens, hopes of be- Tough life seen on Television Ef coming the official opposi- tion is based on assumptions that will not hold true on election day. They can no more become the opposition as the NDP can win a third term. Beyer can be reached at: E m ai il: hubert@coolcom.com; Tel (250) 381-6900; Web Attp:/Avww. hubertbeyer.com Le ered their ceiling by nailing canvas wall to wall. To stretch finances, the women helped at the nearby Hutterite colony, cleaning but- chered chickens. Earlier they picked beans, got six quarts in return. , As expected, their six-pane windows were, sculpted by frost into feathery fern pat- terns. Frank added a porch ta buffer the 35-below-zero winds. Singing to Tim’s guitar or playing cards are their main indoor recreations’ in the coal oil lamp light. At Christmas, they exchanged Homemade gifts — rectangles’ of soap, stubby candles with dried ro- sehips embedded, a quilted potholder for each kitchen, and willow branch boxes. Hand-stitching, not glue, made anenvelops. They’re counting the days until the year-long experiment ends, something true pioncers couldn’t do. WELL EITHER HE'S SIMPLY RIGKT o8 © WE'RE SIMPLY Doomeo!!