A2 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 22, 1996 Clark wary on claims PREMIER GLEN Clark adopted a cautious stand on Jand claims during a brief visit here Sunday, saying his government’s flagship Nisga’a agreement in princi- ple deal has to be ‘fair to both native and non-native people. _ : That’s why his government is in the middle of a ser- ies of meetings to. gather opinions about the deal before going any further, Clark continued, “We don’t intend to sign a treaty that’s not fair,” he said. ° Clark conceded the talks leading up to the Nisga'a tenative deal have left a lot of people feelitig they were out inthe cold,-° nea “Some people feel they. haven’t been involved,” said Clark who added he wants more people involved to ensure any final Nisga’a treaty and ones for other native groups are “bullet-proof”: a The premier didn’t indicate what would happen next with the Nisgn’a deal if the NDP were re-elected, Nisga’a Tribal Council president Joe Gosnell has already said he and the Nissa’a won't change as much as one comma in talks to convert the agtée¢mentin prin- ciple to a final treaty. : ; Clark wasn’t surprised that. land claims aren’t a bigger issue in the election campaign, saying very few people don’t want negotiated settlements, As for the Kemano Completion Project, Clark said laxpayers shouldn't worry about, being asked to provide monetary compensation to Alcan in return for his gov- ernment killing the project last year. . Instead, Clark wants to provide Alean with B.C. Hydro power to replace that which the company espect- ed to generate had its Kemano Completion Project gone ahead. “We'll give them power ut less than market val- ue,” said Clark of the deal he'd like to see worked out with the aluminum manufacturer.” : Alcan spent more than.$500 million on Kemano Completion before it was killed by the province and had forecast tolal expenditures of more than $1 billion: The company and the province: have agreed: to negotiate a compensation deal but talks are on hold cur: ing the election campaign... ©. 2. Clark felt that Kemano Completion power would have been very expensive to senerate, adding that Alcan would likely look favourably on.‘a ‘deal involving replacement power. — a , The key, he said, was to provide Alcan with power so it could expand without.environmental impacts. He also said more attention has to be paid ‘to the Nechako River, flows from which are now being diverted to’pro- vide Alcan power at its existing. Kemano generators.” The premier made. the comments during a brief media session after flying into. the Terrace-Kitimat air- port from Vancouver Sunday. Clark then hopped a bus with local supporters, including NDP candidate Helmut Giesbrecht, for a journey to a backyard barbecue in Kitimat. He flew to Prince George the same night, Not a Socred ANDY BURTON was incorrectly identified as the Social Credit Party candidate in a story published last weck. In fact, Burtin is running for the Reform party. Dave Serry is the Social Credit candidate. Growth patterns work against us By JEFF NAGEL THE NORTH — full of resources and once a powerhouse of the province — jis being marginalized with each passing election. When next Tuesday’s vote goes into the books it will mark another drop in the collective power of northerners. The boundaries of B.C. constituencies are going to be redrawn again after this election and it will mean less representation for the north, It’s not any conspiracy against us — just a simple matter of numbers. The growth of the Lower Mainland — powered strongly by immigration from other _provinces and overseas — has far outstripped the growth of the interior and the north. The result is that just seven years after the last redrawing of the boundaries — which eliminated the northern riding of Atlin — the rapidly growing parts of the urban south are again under-represented in terms of number of constituents per riding and the north is over- tepresented, Provincial law requires a commission redraw the boundaries again after this election. No matter who forms the government, the ~ north and interior are likely to lose scats — and places like Surrey and Coquitlam will gain more. Liberal leader Gordon Campbell’s plan to cut the size of the legislature fram 75 10 60 MLAs would mean even sharper cuts in the north, There’s a good chance the Skeena con- stituency would be merged in with North Coast. “We're really going to get hosed,” says Bruce Strachan, a former Prince George MLA and now a newspaper columnist. “Gordon Campbell can cover his riding on a bicycle, Let him try that in Bulkley Valley- Stikine or Skeena.’? The vast distances of the north are somewhat taken into account in the formula for setting constituency sizes. The average population per seat in the pro- vince is about 50,000, : The boundary-drawing rules allow urban scats to go as much as 25 per cent over that average and rural seats to go dawn as low as 25 per cent below. Even with that provision, however, rapid southem growth will force seat reductions in the north. Surrey has 300,000 people — as much as all the north beyond Williams Lake. But the Lower Mainland suburb has five MLAs compared to the North’s 10. Strachan says northerners have to fight to in- crease the allowed spread to more than 25 per cent, or they'll see a tremendous drop in the number of northern voices in Victoria. **We’'re going to end up wilh four or five seats in the north otherwisc,’’ be says. UNEC political science graduate student Don Manson says more has to be done to encounge people to come north and even out B,C, popula- tion growth. TERRACE STANDARD | ‘96 Strong north a distant memory 70 seats | 64 seats “It’s a Catch-22. People won't come here if there isn’t the infrastructure. But governments have no vision, so they won’t build the infrastructure un- til people have come here.” “When they build infrastructure where are they building il? Not in the north,’? Manson says. ; “Its a Catch-22. People won't come here if there isn’t the infrastructure. But governments have no vision, so they won’t build the infra- structure until people have come here.”’ The change in the north-south balance of power has been gradual, but inexorable, In the 1920s, Manson’s grandfather — Omineca MLA Alec Manson — was attomey general in the Liberal goverment of Premier . Duff Patullo, Back then Patullo played to his interior power base and made a point of not appointing a single cabinet minister from Vancouver. “The hinterlands as they like to call us always held at least 50 per cent of the seats,’’ says Manson. Benefits did flow north — the railway and a grain terminal for Prince Rupert. In the 1950s and 1960s the decline was al- ready underway — despite the birth of Kitimat and Premier W.A.C, Bennett's power projects and road construction. “There wasn’t the same emphasis on projects to increase development and attract population to the north,’’ says Manfon, The 1991 election, he says, was the first one where it became possible for the Lower Main- land and Vancouver Island seats to form the government without a single seat from the rest of the province, During the fast five years, northemers have seen the Kemano Completion Project blocked aad mine developments like Windy Craggy delayed or blocked. Manson says northerners can get used to the sound of their MLAs apologizing for decisions made in Victoria that they can’t control. “Us almost politically incorrect to talk about development in the north,’’ he said. “I haven’t ‘heard a politician from any party talk about northern development and getting people into ‘the north,’’ - “It's a tough sell in the Lower Mainland. They're into parks and grizzly bears — without having to deal with the human factor.”* Manson says the next round of riding redistribution will bring B.C. closer to the day _ that the government can be formed in just the Vancouver area, “That will have a major impact on politics in this province,”’ Manson says. “"We'’re always talking in terms of east-west alienation in this country. But in reality for a long time the biggest alienation has always been north-south,’’ Liberals claim strong support here CRIAVAE |!!! au STOPPERS Terrace Crime Stoppers are asking your assistance in solving the break, enter & theft from the Skeena Valley GN Brotherhood, located at 4913 Medeek Ave, Terrace, BC on May 14, 1996. The investigation has revealed that the cul- prit(s) gained access into the Sikh temple by . cutting a portion of a chain link fence behind the buliding. Once inside the compound the culprit(s) then made several attempts to break in through several doors before finally suc- ceeding. Once inside the culprit(s) stole three ceremonial swords. They are about 3 feet in length, two were yellow in colour and one was red in colour. Also taken was an unknown quantity of money, all coins and small bills. If you know. the identity of the persons responsible for the break, enter & theft, Crime Stoppers would like tohear from you. Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward of up to $1,000.00 for information leading to an arrest and charges being laid against an individual in this or other unsolved crime. If you have any information’ call Crime Stappers at 635-TIPS, that’s 635-8477. Callers will not be required to reveal their identity nor testify in court. Call 635-TIPS THE THREE LEADING parties here all claim their canvassing ef- forts are showing strong support. Parties canvas voters to identify their support, and then use that in formation to get their voters to the polls on election day. Liberal candidate Rick Wozney told a Chamber of Commerce lun- cheon last week that according to his canvassers, 34.1 per cent of de- cided registered voters in Skeena say they will vote for the Liberal Vote Pro, the Vancouver compa- ny hired by the Liberals to do can- vassing in 20 different ridings, had contacted 2,938 voters in Skeena as of fate last week, Vote Pro identified themselves as canvassers for the Liberals, and asked who voters were voting for. Of that number, 533 said they were voting Liberal, 133 were un- decided, but would likely vote Lib- eral, and another 324 were un- decided but somewhat Liberal. Decided voters for the NDP were 215, Reform tallied 68 and other parties had the support of 175 people, Out of the remaining numbers, 43.8 per cent, or 1,289 voters con- lacled said they were undecided. Another 31 people wouldn't respond to the Liberal canvass, and 140. people said they were un- decided but wouldn't likely vote Liberal, ‘We're not displeased with these numbers," said Wozney’s campaign manager Linda Hawes. Those numbers are decidedly dif- ferent for the Reform and NDP parties. Reform candidate Andy Burton says his campaign’s canvassing is indicating significant Reform sup- port. “We're getting a good response knocking on doors and our phone polling is confirming the poll num- bers that (the Standard) published earlier,’’ Burton said, He didn’t have tabulated numbers from Reform canvassing, and said he doesn't see why any campaign would add them up. Burton said the purpose of can- vassing is to get out the party’s vote — not to pass off the numbers as polling results. NDP campaign manager Sandra Houston said her office has con- lacted a large portion of the con- stituency, about 5,000 voters. ‘We're gelting a good response,’ she said, but wouldn’t reveal any numbers, “I can’t believe any self- respecling campaign manager would give out those numbers,’ she said, Canvassing is something political parties do for themselves, not for the public, she said. She also added that the number of undecided voters was likely smaller than people think, though she wouldn't give out those numbers either. Because canvassing is paid for and usually carried out by political parties, il’s not regarded as being as accurate as polling. May 10 17 12 13 14 1S 16 “New Racord ROAD CONDITIONS amm | With Spring approaching crews will be switching over to a var such as pothole patching, surface grading, sign and drainage maintenance, which are site specific and may cause minor delays on the highways, Please § f anticipate possible black ice on cold nights and mornings. Look for and obey all traffle control. TO REPORT ROAD HAZARDS, CALL 1-800-665-5051, . For the latest Terrace forecast and up. to date weather conditions. and the matine weather in, the 1635 lety of works BROUGH NECHAKO . a CONSTRUCTION SEAVICES “ a“ Yéur nod, Maintenance Contractor Ld — NORTHCOAST Peuglas Channel call. 635-4192 |.