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EDITORIAL, |

I's a tense time

Take a look at the fingernails of anybody
connected with the library expansion pro-

ject’ Don’t be surprised if the nails have .

been bitten down to the quick. It’s a tense
time for backers of the project now waiting
for bids to come back. That’s because no-
body is sure they have enough money to do
what they want.

What they want is enough room to see

the library through well into the next

century. City and rural taxpayers did ap-
prove borrowing $1.235 million last year.

But original plans to get a $600,000

provincial: lottery grant leading toward a
project of roughly $1.7 million fell through
when the grant program was axed.

The library. board instead shaved back
some of the features of the expansion in
hopes of stretching out the money they

have. In itself, this may not be such a bad ~

move, Projects involying public monies
too.often become an open-ended operation.
There’s been a tendency to draw up a plan

and then find the money instead of iaking a-

fixed sum and seeing what can be done

with that.

What is disappointing i in ‘this expansion’
project is the provincial government’s lack -
of response when asked of the whereabouts .
of a replacement for the lottery grant pro-
gram. The program was tubed after the’
NDP was elected, partly for political rea-

“sons and partly because it needed lottery

revenues for medical and general spending.
We’re told money has been approved in
this year’s budget for a replacement pro-

- gram. But details are still out there some-

place in political hyperspace, probably -
waiting on the convenience of some cabi-,
net minister.

This is not only unfair — after all this is
our tax money we’re talking about here —

but cynical. Governments are supposed to .

serve those who elect them. They are not.
supposed to manipulate events and condi-
tions to their own advantage. .

‘Healthy decisions

"Sure it's summer and sure it’s a time to

slow ‘down, but haul out'a calendar and put.

an.°X? through. Oct. 6. That’s the date for
the next meeting of a group of local people

involved ‘in figuring out how health care

will work in.the next few years, sed
; The ‘title is casas ice a1}
Health Plannifig "Council and their” siti

will Jead'to the ‘more formal Terrace:Com-
munity: ‘Health . Council: to take” hold . dn. ~

art: of. a pidvincial | move away
from separate and distinct health care orga-
nizations tio a system that’s better co-
‘ordinated and mote efficient. There’s also
the Hope that local control will lead to de-
cisions that make: ‘More sense,"

“Albthis. may. very: well be good news.’ ‘Lo- °

cal and. regional autonomy over public sec-
tor spending is: something that ‘should have
happened years” ‘ago. Those who pay taxes
should have’ an Opportunity. to, :depide how

vacuum is created — in this case, a nem,

it should be spent.

But there is a danger. Those who make
their living from health care could very
well end up making all of the decisions. It
is a natural thing to happen. Whenever a

a ine will inevitably move in.”
‘One-third: of the new councils. will be".
provincial appointees, -one-third willbe —

selected by local: governments and oné-
. third will be directly elected in a’ “fashion

similar to municipal elections.
In the absence of many members of the |

public taking an interest in the new system, —

those with a self interest can pretty well |
have free reign.

This is not to suggest that anything un-
toward will occur. But it is important to
note that those who pay for health care
should take advantage of every opportunity
to exercise their right to have a say.

.» IMAGINE

4
A THE MONEY HE (OULD YATE

fhonuandde

Dear Mother and Dad

UE we. visited’ India, we might .

misinterpret: daily life based on...
the little we . “would seg as a
tourist, _
Recently 44: “Canada World -
‘Youth participants: arrived in Ter- ,
race to spend 10 weeks, “getting to °
know us. Half of them are Cana- ”
dians, half are from India. ‘They'll ;

be living in Pairs: with host ora no oo

families.

Through
Bifocals |
py Claudette Sandecki [fj

‘Picture'Mom and Dad in India
reading a letter from their son or

daughter who ias:just spend ten’ -

‘days here. If my child’s letters are
typical, the letter: will be brief,
leaving Purser to imagine
details. A lopsided view of our
lifestyle could result if the letter
reads like this:

- We were welcomed to ‘Terrace

‘by the mayor, who keeps a

stuffed white bear in council
chambers. People here talk a Jot.
about saving wild life ina wilder- ia

ness area call the Tatshenshini, ~
' The eastern entrance to the city

is overlooked by a white: Playboy.

bunny painted on a cliff face.-*+ ">.
“At this: thme of year, ‘Terrace.

takes it ‘water supply’. directly»

from the Skeena ‘River’: afier’ '-
screening out cedar tress,’ brane:
ches; and. fishing guides, Bven
fully: employed peopled are fish- .
inig guides.

- Twenty; police: officers, cruise:
cars,

the brea-in blue’ and whi
Two'tide: tieycles;: -they can
seen: We're -told. this: paif’ Is’ th
‘envy of ‘carbound. “office . Ho
ho.

Terrace’ ‘Counts | ‘is “homeless; «
‘Twenty-five. Last winter one died ~ :
living dived iintieated tent! witht “reTinblr! ‘aniGeators ‘Cats where’ on’

four blocks of city hall. A hostel

is being set up but funding” is
short.

Just like New. ‘Delhi, classes are
segregated, Ellte live . on . the
bench protected ‘by, by-laws that

regulate the size, Style, 2 and value’

of hovses.'
Citizens make - “do” with a

cramped, oki library 30 small
thousands of books must be kept

locked in basement storage. The

_ roof leaks, Plastic . wastebaskets

and «towels catch .celling drips.

~~ Plants grow well in the humidity, -

“The. downtown air.is polluted
by frying: fat.. Street vendor's

Food |s brought in from Van-
couver 900 miles away. So are

’ politicians.

We arrived in time for the ari-
nual: four-day: celebration called

Riverboat days, Store clerks dress
in; périod .costimes. : Folks take
dit mind. offemployment and

" troubles with friendly feuds,

“fiat “food, ° and fireworks, ‘Both '
_ highway bridges wore crowded to
weight ) restrictions: with apec-
{ators for the fireworks finale. ~

paddlewheelers. “Now they ride

30 at a time on a giant bicycle,

Many ere physically unfit
They. do a lot of eating out-

doors. It’s called a barbecue. All

thelr. food must’ be double

‘wrapped in plastic to keep it -
clean. The family cat and dog are:

. allowed to eat with them.

“mobile.;kitchens. aré set-up at ©.
. every major entrance and busy In-
fersection,

‘Most people: we mect are
friendly, helpful and generous ex-
cept when it comes to fish. They

- battle ° ‘endlessly about who can °

atch how many- stecihead or
coho, ~
‘Will write again soon.

Yanks have a secret
agenda on Clayoquot

VICTORIA — The Clayo-
quot Sound issue was compli-
cated and controversial
enough, the last thing we
necded was to have Bobby
Kennedy Jr. come up here to
do some grand-standing.

With typical Bostonian ar-

rogance, Mr. Kennedy and his ~

entourage arrived on the
scene, demanding that the
B.C. government reverse its
decision to allow limited. log:
gingrin t the Sound.:: rence

‘And when forest minister.
Dan Miller pointed ont that -
Kennedy’s stance on the -
Clayoquot Sound issue was sin.
direct conflict of interest to his

support of the countervail duty:
on U.S: imports of softwood
lumber from British Colum-
bia; Mr. Kennedy.and —-
entourage huffed and puffed,
and wanted to know just
whiere our forest minister got
off criticizing Mr. Kennedy.

In fact, Elizabeth Barrett-

sehng

Brown, senior attorney with. .

the Natural Resources Defense
Council, the American conser-
vation group on behalf of
which Mr. Kennedy isso -
engaged, wrote a letter.to Mil-
_ ler, threatening to go to the
. press if the forest minister in-
sisted on bringing up the
countervail matter. : ,
Some ‘threat it tumed out to

' be. Rather than waiting for”

Ms. Barrett-Brown to do so,

letter,
The letter waxed eloquent
about the need for ‘ “thoughtful

| and responsible discussion”

and the counter-productive ef-
fects of “public rhetoric on
the countervail issue,”’

-- Say again, It must have es--
caped the attention of Ms. -

- Barrett-Brown that what she
' describes as public thetoric

means economic life and
dearth fora lot of small wood

“products remanufactuters in
~ British Columbia.

-At any rate, let’s talk about

' the conflict of interest in .

which Mr, Kennedy.and. his.

_ conservationist group | are ©

mired, .
On the one hane, fhe: 7 oar

“iti A A Cail oF.
PAINT AND’ A. 4
Robt oF CANVAS? y ag

= ‘of interest; I would like to.
"know. what is, TWA-Canada |
. President Gerry Stoney was’ 80 .

t

From the
Capital
by Hubert Beyer

cy

Washington-based National /
Resources Defense, Councilnsy
engages itself:dn. behalf of thé.

environmentalists who want ©.

‘no logging in the Clayoquot

“Sound. Mr. Kennedy and his: . .

group toured the Sound, met.
with native chiefs and en- . ‘~
vironmentalists, and generally

_ ‘engaged in the same public’
rhetoric Ms. Barrett-Brown a

professes to abhor.
On the other hand, Mr. Ken

nedy and his group are suppor- ©

tive of the countervail duty on
B.C. lumber exports | to the -—
United: States:
When a U.S. -Canadian’-
review panel Tecently Tuled:
that the U.S. has to reconsider
much of its decision to impose
penalties on Canadian ,
softwood lumber imports, .

- Mark Spaulding; a lawyer with’

the Natural Resources Defense

. Council, was quoted in the a
Wall Street Journal, express-
. ing great disappointment,

. But Spaulding was op- -

Miller gave me: acopy ofthe ~~ timistc that the U-S. Com-

merce Department would be

able to clear up the panel’s

concerns, and thus-be able io
‘continue imposing the anti-
subsidy penalties indefinitely.
The'short and the long of all
this is that Mr. Kennedy wants
us to export more raw lags to
the U.S., which is facing a.
shortage of lumber because of
far-reaching conservation
measures in the states of

Washington and Oregon,
- prompted by: the pressure from
. -environmentalists to provide
_ adequate ‘habitat for the |

. Spotted. owl. -

-- Now, if that isn’t a coi

oe FoR
For JACKEISH |

angry, he called Kennedy’s
support of-the'Clayoquot =

Sing teresa “therureiiate™

in American-style bully tactics
‘and double talk.’

“Tf people like Mir, Kennedy

get theit way, the current tim-
“ber supply crunch faced by

‘ many U.S, mills would be al-

leviated by accessing a new *
- source of supply — B.C. -

logs,” Stoney said. .

“Tt is clear to us ihat there is
a marriage of convenience be-
tween so-called conservation-

' ists and those who want to de-

industrialize British Columbia
in way that will serve US. in-
teresis,” he added. ~

Miller was a little more dip- .
lomatic, but said basically: the
same thing, ‘‘Given that the

major thrust of theU.S. tariff -
is o penalize British Colum- ~~

bia’s log export restrictions, 1
am puzzled by the NRDC’s «

"apparent support { for the
removal of B.C.’s restrictions ~

on raw log exports,” > -

Tt seems clear that there is a
much bigger gamle afoot here
than Mr, Kennedy's expressed
concern for the Clayoquot:
Sound and the native com-
munity’s interests. Mr. Ken-
nedy, it would appear, is car-
rying the bail fora powerful :
commercial lobby and using: -
our hapless Clayoquot Sound .

" protesters as an unwitting tool,
. Now, I doubt Mi. ‘Kennedy
will get to read this, but just in
case, I have some sound ad-

vice for him: stay where you
are and use your considerable.

influence in support of U.S.

problems. Gad knows, there’s
“no shortage, Come as a tourist :
‘and enjoy Beautiful British’

“Columbia, but leave your:
politcal seen at home.

: “MEM be BY A ANY CHANCE *

' ARE You.€RoM A°

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