_A2- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Better stumpage rate here —

By SARAH A.
ZIMMERMAN

IT WILL take awhile before
Roger Harris gets used to life ©

without being a Member of

_ the Legislative Assembly.

His narrow defeat to NDP

rival: Robin ‘Austin in. the ~
May 17 election means Har-
Tis has to figure out exactly:
‘where to go from here.

Serving as Skeena’s rep-
resentative in the provincial

legislature has been both ‘a

blessing and a privilege, he

"says.

“I think sahat’s an im-
portant part about being an

MLA, is to-not get caught
_ up.in the hype of the job and
“remember that it’s not about

you because when you face

~ what T now face, you must
.temember it is in fact about

the public - public policy,

_.. THE NDP nearly tripled its vote in Kitimat
~ from 2001, helping ensure that candidate
Robin Austin. defeated Liberal incumbent
Roger Harris May 17.
‘Just 771 Kitimat voters chose NDP in-
cumbent Helmut Giesbrecht in 2001. but
2,029 cast. ballots in favour of Austin this ,

time around.

7 Harris gathered°2,144 votes in Kitimat i in
- 2001 but only 1,051 in this election.
=~ Observers were unanimous in saying the. -
.. Kitimat turnaround was due to the feeling in
* that city that Harris did not take a more criti- oo
cal stand against Alcan over the issue of it
. being permitted to sell power outside of the
-area.
The native vote in the villages also helped
° Austin’s win witha commanding 743 people.
choosing him over Harris who. had 78 bal-

lots.

‘In one: village, Gitwangak, ‘Austin re-.
ceived 1 82 votes compared to, 13 for Harris,

serving the public and rent-
ing the position,” Harris said |

last week. .
Harris’s supporters spent
election night at-the. Coast
Inn of the West.
Early poll results showed
Harris with a strong, but not
strong enough, lead in Ter-
race, particularly in areas of

‘the bench, Horseshoe and

outlying areas suchas Beam:

Station Road and Jackpine |

Flats.

As. the’ Kitimat numbers
came in Harris support-
ers drew in their collective

breath and realized the tide

had turned significantly.

Harris did not take a sin-
gle poll in, Kitimat, which
sent a profound message that
Alcan power sale plays a sig-
nificant role in the. outcome.
of the election in Skeena.

numbers.

4,843 in 2001.

“I have always said it
would come down to the
individual ' voter,” . Harris
said that night, adding the
divide between Terrace and
Kitimat councils in terms of
their polarized positions on
the Alcan power sales issue
is significant.

‘That’s actually a very

important issue — there are.
two communities at «odds

with the, direction they'd like
to go,” Harris, said, adding
in his opinion the greatest is-
_sue facing that city is not Al-
can but methanol-producer
Methanex. .
Methanol comes - from
‘natural gas but rising prices
are putting the company’s
Kitimat facility into the red.

The company has already ©

warned that a closure might
"be possible. °

Kitimat. and native vote
gave Austin his win |

11 for Green Patrick Hayes and-I for B.C.
Unity. candidate Daniel Stelmacker.
Harris won Terrace and Thornhill in 2001 —
- and did so again this time but with fewer

He received 3,382 ‘votes May 17 and

‘Austin ‘gathered in 2,369 votes in

» votes.

Thornhill and Terrace last week compared
to just 1,238 votes for Giesbrecht in 2001.
Overall Austin accumulated 48.5 per cent
of the popular vote with 5,954 ballots com-
pared to.44.94 per cent of the-popular vote
for Harris based on his 5,515 ballots. Hayes
gathered: in 590 votes and Stelmacker, 213

Total voter turn out came to 12, 272, down :
_from the -13,349 registered voters who cast

- ballots in 2001: That decline came despite
an increase in the number of eligible regis-
‘tered voters to 20,090 people. Voter turn out
was low around the province. oe

DD Max

We 2 PF,

| MAY 2004 |

Min Total D Max» Min Total
Temp Precip};| A Temp Temp Precip
c= mm ky Yo °C °c mm
46 -:0.0:2)13 22.0. 5.3 0.0
B80 O.0HE14 20.6.....7.8.. 0.0.
6.1 0.0 |:|15 20.8 -° 69 . 0.0
10.0 0O0O0;/16 194 88 0.0
Wa nWa{|17 22.2 54 0.0
8.8 0.3 [118 24.4. 7.4 0.0
n/a Wa 119 27.2 95 0.0

RELEELEBEEBARELEEBEDBEB ERE ELE EEE ERE DE Ts

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NECHAKO NORTHCOAST. CONSTRUCTION
reminds everyone to use caution while driving on
the roads this spring. Remember that with the
‘changing road conditions, comes the threat of
black ice, soft gravel sections and new potholes,
which can easily throw your vehicle in a direction
that you are not expecting. With the warmer
weather, road crews will be out doing: surface
repairs, so please slow down, watch for them and
obey all traffic control. Be aware and ensure your
safety and the safety of the roads crews,

This message is:brought to you by your local
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“The impact of a Meth-
anex, closure to the region
when their gas contract ex-
pires is pretty’ significant,”
he said. “In 2009, when

they are gone and the cost

of transporting that gas will
fall to us — that doesn’ t work
well for anyone.”

_ Harris predicts "in. the
neighbourhood of 200 fami-

lies will be affected directly ©

if the plant does shut down.

He says finding resolu-
tion to the issues Methanex
and Kitimat face will be dif-
ficult for a MLA who is part
of the-opposition party.

“T don't even know how
you would try to go there
when you are in opposition,”
he said.

“The solution from Meth- -

anex will require representa-
tion from every level to look
at everything Methanex does

10 try to put together a pack-

age — it’s damn near impos-
sible to do that when you are
in opposition.”

_* Looking back on his four-_~

year term, Harris: says’ he’s
_ proud of many local and re-
* gional accomplishments. —

“T think the institution, fi-

‘nally, of a completed north-

west zone in forest manage-
ment is monumental’ and
I know it'll have a legacy
that will go on for years,’ "he
said.

That new region was cre-
ated just months ago after
more than 20 years of lobby-

Ask us about |
Total Bike Care System —

highlight of Harris’s career

ing and studies recommend-
ing the high fibre content of
the wood in this region be
reflected accurately in the j,
stumpage rates imposed. —
Also at the top of his list
is the planned building of
a new transition house in
Terrace, work done at child
development centres, an ex-

‘panded airport runway and

the announcement that the
container port in Prince Ru- .
pert will go ahead.

“TI am particularly proud
of the role that a lot of people
played in the container port,
the cruise ship dock and the
expanded airport,” he said.

He worries though, about’
certain "projects he. has

-worked on that may or may

not see continuity as the role
‘of MLA transitions to. the
NDP and Robin Austin.

At the top of his list is the
importance of working with

- the Terrace Lumber Compa-

ny in its efforts to see wood

available on the market.

With TFL | tied up in the
courts, much of the wood in .
this area is not accessible.
But even if the sale of that

. licence does: go through

soon, implementing recent
forest policy changes may:
be difficult with an opposi-
tion member sitting in the .
legislature, he said.

“When you are in opposi-
tion you just don’t have the
tools available to you, that
worries me,” he said.

Vol oes Va alll

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“Terrace » Crime Stoppers is veriestin,
- gny information youmay have regarding
a break, enter and theft at North Coast
Ang lers in the early morning hours
of ‘vlay 11th, 2005. The suspect(s)
- smashed the window of the main door | ,
-with a large rock, gaining-entrance and
_ stealing 15 fishing reels, The reels range
in price from $130 to $400. |

If you have information about this
or any other crime or you know the
identity .of the person. or person’s
responsible for this, or any other crime
- Crime. Stoppers would’ like to hear

from you. .

Crimestoppers offers a cash reward of up to $2,000.00 for Information:
leading to the arrest and charges being laid against this or any other 5
unsolved Crime. tf you have any information call CRIME STOPPERS at 635-
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