Page A4 — Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 24, 1091.

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strain gro service” ‘and advertising agencies.
«Reproduction if whole or in part. withoul written permission, is ipactlically frocibitad.

TERRACE STANDARD)

“ESTABLISHED APR ar : {oae.,

“Ragin, No. 7820 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, B.C., vaG 188 (604) 638-7283

“seg the Teren aoa. Pubhshed on Weeesday al each weak by Cariboo Press (1989) Ltd, at asa Lieke ‘hve. Terrace, British Coluntsa, | .
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a yoesotler, Rose Fisher:
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| special thanks to all
s). -Our contributors and.
a corpspondents tor
their time and.
talents, a

: In New Brunswick, convicted
‘killer Allan Legere — charged
“with committing four murders

unlawfully at large —
_Court of Appeal his notoriety
has made it impossible for him
“to get a fair trial in the province.

teachers, school officials and provincial
education bureaucrats. That’s because
Premier Rita Johnston wants to review
the Year 2000 program.

Asits title suggests, the Year 2000 pro- .

gram will change the way students. are
taught by the turn of the century.
Whereas students before had to fit ar-
tificial education slots, the emphasis is
on having students proceed at their own
pace.with the help of their peers. It does
away with labelling students as being in
Grade 4, 5 or 6, for instance.

~ As such the Year 2000 was and is a
tough sell. It's hard to explain to parents
educated under the old system. It’s
equally hard to sell to teachers who use
the structure of a classroom as a secure
base from which to operate. It’s also
hard to sell to taxpayers because they
ultimately. have to pay for this kind of

: 5 ° ood bye
year 2000

~Last:. ‘week wasn’t a good one for

thing. we
The latter point is probably why the
premier wants the Year 2000 program
reviewed. Spending millions of dollars is
one thing. But spending millions of
dollars on something nobody
understands is quite another matter.

In asking for the review, the premier
won’t lose any points. It gives the im-
pression she is in charge. It also gives the
impression she’s listening to the com-
plaints and questions about the Year
2000.

And should the premier be criticized
for deep-sixing something upon which
millions of dollars has been spent, she
has a perfect excuse. It wasn’t her
government that brought it in in the first
place. She can take advantage of the
grace period automatically given new
political leaders. Politics can be a fun
sport.

Move regretted

There’s probably no more important
issue in B.C. this decade than land

claims., How. ,that issue is: settled will

determine how: the province’ § economy

and how its people will face the next cen-

tury.

One measure of how important the
provincial government treats the issue is
the creation of a separate native affairs
ministry. It came before the province
said it would take part in land claims
negotiations and served, despite one
might think of overall Social Credit

policy, as a sign that some things can

change. -

_ The first native affairs minister up un-
til last week’s cabinet shuffle was Jack
Weisgerber, the MLA from South Peace
River, It’s too bad he was given another
portfolio.

Mr. Weisgerber approached native af-
fairs in much the same fashion as a lot of
British Columbians _ curiousity mixed.
with a dash of skepticism’ and a ‘certain
willingness to look ‘at. the ..province
through a different pair of eyes.

Although Mr. Weisgerber seemed to
run just a bit behind the events at times
given the previous premier’s habit of
running the province on spur-of-the-
moment decisions (something from
which we all suffered), he developed a
firm grasp of his ministry.

That kind of knowledge and ex-
perience is needed in such a portfolio.
Premier Johnston would have not lost a
thing in shaping her administration by
keeping Mr. Weisgerber as native affairs
minister,

Many don’t know

‘during the seven months he was
told the

Through

Bifocals .
by Claudette Sandecki

? In. Newfoundland, several
‘Christian brothers -— due in
court on charges of sexually

question was ‘Will Vander

gripped Victoria ail day. -

ms MOE at ie ce a eatee Lal
- eae Tal nee oe eigen gn inten

abusing young boys — claim

- publicity surrounding the
- Mount Cashel inquiry has killed
‘their chances for a fair trial
“Their lawyers expect to screen

__” up to 1,000 prospective jurors in
their search for 12 who haven’t
: already made up their minds as .
‘to the »brothers’ guilt or in-
mocence, wy

_ Well,.

cidents’ are flukes, finding

“‘know-nothing jurors should be

as simple'as grocery shopping.
~ Just two weeks ago a TV
reporter asked New-

-foundlanders how they felt:
‘about paying $27 million for the
Spicer‘ commission. Most had
‘never heard of the commission,
‘despite its being six months

old, :holding televised hearings

from Vancouver. to Halifax,
‘and being led by Spicer in his
flamenco dancer's hat. .

‘: Then, on a radio open line
“show April 3, the day following
Ted. Hughes’ | report into ‘con-

“flict. of interest surrounding the
“wales of: Faitasy ‘Gardeni, the.

Zalm’s resignation change your
vote in the next election??’

A woman caller’s remarks
made it clear she was unaware
Vander Zalm had resigned, or
that Socreds in Victoria had
been thrown for a loop after
standing by for two weeks with

paste and rollers ready to paper :

over any fallout from Hughes’ :

- report.

Jet. me “reassure the.
‘eourt, Unless the following in-

.

dysentery-like turmoil ‘that ‘had:

her news from my TY station,
The day Vander Zalm resigned,
the supper. hour news began by

“reporting Soviet food prices had

risen overnight; unrest in
Albania following an election
had resulted in several deaths;

Canadian retail sales, had drop- :

ped.

Not watil item four was
Vander Zalm’s resignation
touched on., He was showh’
reading his two-minute resigna-
tion speech, No reaction frorti-

anyotie followed, At the end of
‘the newscast, highlights of. the
‘day's news repeated the Soviet,

Albanian, and retail, sales
stories. No word was said of the

Ba nT re SS

I find news more fascinating’

than any script, The plot can go
anywhere, take on or shuck
characters at will, and com-

mand extra air time when the .-

plot thickens. But. only a
minority favour news over. sit-
coms, sports, or game shows.

~ There are: families*.in this
country using natural gas.
“heating because so few-
, Perhaps she’d been getting ..

newspapers come into their

home that can’t light a wood
fire. :
Legere may not be as. well :
known as he thinks, :

‘ierdependence, of British Col
~~) Because iF L

| THEN You'D WANT.
| A WOODSHED!

Balance needed

for the economy

VICTORIA —Overshadowed

by the recent political turmoil,
British Columbia’s Round
Table on ihe Environment and
the Economy released an im--
portant document on sus-
tainable land and water use
that should not go unnoticed.
The paper is meant to
stimulate public discussion of
how to achieve sustainable
development, that elusive
balance between economic
‘etotth ‘atid i’ sourid "environ a
ment. — os ,
Both the Socreds and the
NDP have been busy defining
policies which they hope will
get them closer to the goal of
sustainable development, and
both will, no doubt, devote

. much of their energy to sell the

public on their respective sus-
tainable development plat-
forms in the next election cam-
paign.

What makes the Round
Table report unique is the diver-
sity of its authors. Members of
the Round Table include such
political and philosophically —
divergent people as David
Ainsworth, president of
Ainsworth Lumber Co. in 100
Mile House, and Vicky Hus-
band, conservation chairman
of the Sierra Club of Western
Canada.

Members of the Round
Table come from every walk

, Of like and all parts of the

political spectrum, There is
former NDP MLA Graham
Lea, now secretary treasurer
and manager of the Truck
Loggers Association. There’s
Paul West, director of en-
vironmental studies and an

‘associate professor of

chemistry at the University of -
Victoria.

. Over the next two months,
the Round Table will hold
public hearings in 24 com-
munities: throughout the pro-
vince. To help the public
-debate the issues, the Round
“Table released the paper that
‘I'm discussing here, The paper
‘doesn’t offer solutions; it’

~ simply tries to outline the’

‘issues before us, and does it
_very well.
. The paper stresses the i in- .

Buckep It UP

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From the

Capital
by Hubert Beyer

danger, The economic
; "framework bulle: ‘around the:.

CG) % THEN A GARDGE ATTACHED-TO TX
WA “Guib THEA A VOLVO FoR THE GARAGE
AND BEFORE You KNOWAT. 3:

WE'D BE ‘yueries!!

wy,

UL.

umbia’s environment, the
economy and our quality of
life. Resource industries, it
polnty'out, ‘be coufit for’20 sper!
ent of the provincial gross’ ;
domestic product and provide ©
most of our exports.
“Economic analysis in- ¢
dicates that natural resource
industries area major driver in
our economy, responsible for
23 per cent of all jobs. The

tion and ‘other service in-
dustries which are major com-
ponents of the economy,” it
says, - ‘
“*The issues are difficult.
For example, biological diver-
sity should be protected, but
the business community is con-
cerned that its secure access ta
the province’s natural
resources could diminish," it
adds,

The report says that
pressures on the environment
will grow in the future. In the
next 25 years, the population
of British Columbia will dou-
ble, it says, The-challenge is to
come up with a framework of
who receives access to our land
and water and how to best
manage those resources, The
present system, ‘the report
warns, isn’t working. -

“As we draw on the
economic benefits derived
from nature, the province's

_ land and water systems are be-

ing diminished: There are not
as many fish as there used to
be, as much forested land, or
as much clean water.
“Sawmills are closing for -

- want of trees, and industrial

pollution is contaminating the

“rivers, ocean and air. In time,
, the province's store of natural

wealth could be severely"
depleted, its eco-system put | in.

We
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atcha gan Ae. Bsa wa cat eg pee act aie Bu: dete ot amesarieestei bel NGS rile ota cane chide ght RM Lele doe

~ to be left to the whirhs 0

- “We need to dink ¢ econom iC.

environment could begin 1 to.
collapse,"’ aoa
“Sustainanble development,
tHe! Feéport Says; is rooted-ih tlie’
concept that over'the’ Totig:""! r
haul, only ‘a healthy environ-
ment allows us to have a.
healthy economy. It adds that,

-80 far, the concept is only’ ‘an

idea, that no industrial country
has yet worked out a realistic

"way of balancing its economy
natural beauty of the environ- —
ment supports tourism, recrea-

with the environment. . . ’.,.
_ The report. ‘lists six principles

. deemed essential to the | concept

of sustainable debelopment..
We should limit. our impact. on
the living world; preserve:and
protect the environment and .
minimize the depletion of non-
renewable resources.
Further, we should promote
long-term'economic develop-
ment that increases the benefits
from a given stock of -« = -
resources without reducing ‘our
stock of environmental assets;
aim for a fair distribution of
the benefits aud costs of +
resource use and environmen-
tal protection, and: promote
values that: support sus-"
tainability. .. ab we
Without spelling it ‘out the
report says that: sustainable ' 14
development is too impbitant

politicians, °

planning: more closely” wit
vironmental planning,: and ‘that
will mean ‘extending our. ‘plan:
ing horizons far into the futute
to consider the effects of ©
‘present-day land and water uje
‘on our grandchildren, and dn.
their grandchildren after that.”
That isn't just the stuff, elec-'
‘tion campaigns’ are made. of,
‘and while.we need present-day

"policies to bring about.sus- .
- tainable development, | we must

‘first find the politicians whe.

_ Will give more than lip service «
ve to that goal, © |. *

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