Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 3, 1996 TERRACE - STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 * FAX: (604) 638-8432 E-MAIL: terrace.standard@sasquat.com MODEM: (604) 638-7247 Goodluck | Attention Shipping Dept: Another two crates of pink underwear to the Campbell campaign headquarters. . Give your head a shake. Liberal leader Gordon Campbell has trotted out a long list of demands he wants Alcan to accede to in relation to its now-dead Kemano Comple- tion Project and subsequent aftermath. Among them are a cold-water release at the Kenney Dam to protect fish in the Nechako, more water released to the Nechako, and an end to Alcan’s property tax exemption. Good luck. Alcan already has the taxpayers of B.C. over a barrel since the NDP government decided a year ago to kill Kemano Completion without a full exploration of the options tabled by the B.C. Utilities Commission. In case you don’t remember, it was Gordon Campbell who pre-empted the commission’s report and forced the NDP to adopt a similar position to avoid — absurd as the concept seems - ~— being outflanked on the left. If a deal isn’t cut to resolve the issue of com- pensation and a court case ensues, it would ap- pear Alcan has a solid claim to the $500-plus million it sank in the ground up until the plug was pulled. The deal the NDP is working on involves an ar- rangement to sell power to Alcan for up to a century into the future. This may forestall the need to pay now, but the bottom line is Alcan will get its investment back through taxpayer- subsidized power. That’s the guts of the-deal. We can get extra concessions from Alcan: on: water:flows .or tax exemptions or whatever. But we’re going to have to pay — and pay through the nose — for every single one of them. The main goal of all these extra items is to tape a bandaid over an ugly gaping wound, and maybe dress it up a bit. If it can be spun in such a way that B.C. bludgeoned Alcan into submission, killing Kemano can be portrayed as a win, so long as the true price can’t be uncovered. : That kind of feel-good corporate-bashing sells well in Vancouver. | The mechanics of it aside, it’s a little hard to believe that Gordon Campbell could be the man to beat up on Alcan. These days, though, Campbell is never seen near the lairs of Howe Street. On TV, in the north, and at many public functions, he strives to look uncorporate, donning plaid workie shirts or sweaters. Railing against corporate power in general and Alcan in particular is more good imagery to help remake Campbe]] as a man of the people. If our leaders want to be truly down-to-earth and folksy, they should express this deal in terms of cold, hard cash — and not shroud it in options to power that can be exercised decades in the fu- ture. Anything else will be simply dishonest and un- fair to the generations of the future — not unlike the decision half a century ago to grant Alcan licence to an entire watershed. Oo Gn A PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Mike L. Hamm PRODUCTION MANAGER: Lidouard Credgeur NEWS Jeff Nagel » NEWS SPORTS: Kathleen Brandsma COMMUNITY: Cris Leykauf OFFICE MANAGER: Audra Creek ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Collier, Janet Viveiros, Tracey Toms ADVERTISING ASSISTANT: Emma Law, Keily Jean DARKROOM: Susan Credgeur ; CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Karen Brunette . MEMBER OF 5.C, PRESS COUNCIL Serving the Terrace and Themhill area. Published on Wednesday of cach week by Cariboo Pross (1969) Ud, at 3210 Clinton Streal, Terrace, British Columbia, V8G 5A2. : ' Storles, photographs, Illustrations, designs and typesty'es In the Terrace Standard are the property of tha Copyright holders, inctuding Garlboo Press (1969) Ltd., its ilustralion répro services and advertising agencias, . : Reprodudion in whola or in pari, without written permission, is specifically prohibited, Authorized a3 second-class mail pending the Post Office Deparment, lot payment of postage in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for thelr time and talents aca Ca aS _ho bad dress, the kind that Reformer got VICTORIA — Criticism is [ the lifeblood of a democracy, but when crilicism slops being constructive and instead caters to fear and bigotry, it becomes an odious instrument, Keith Martin, one of British Columbia's Reform MPs, pro- vided a vivid illustration last week of misplaced, uninformed, unjustified, mean- spirited and destructive criti- cism when he compared the Nisga’a treaty to the homeland policy of apartheid South Afri- ca FROM THE CAPITAL | HUBERT BEYER “Apartheid never worked in South Africa and it’s not going fo work in Canada,” Martin, the member for Esquimalt- Juan de Fuca, told the House of Commons, Let me say at the outset that the Nisga’a agreement in prin- ciple, signed last weck, isn’t a sacred cow. Criticism of some of its components, such as the native fishery rights, may be rightfully criticized, but to compare the treaty to the af- front to human dignity that was apartheid is shameful. The homelands policy to which Martin likened the Nisga’a treaty was South Afri- ca’s instrument of keeping the 80-per-cent black population in poverty and exclusion. By creating the so-called homelands, such as Venda, Bophuthatswana and Transkei, the white oppressors cramped the black population into about 13 per cent of the country’s most arid and undesirable land, told them they were citizens of those homelands, and made them foreigners in the rest of South Africa, These homelands were very much reminiscent of the ghet- tos the Nazis established for the Jewish population in oc- cupied Europe, Their sole pur- pose was to confine and op- press those living within. e creation of the homelands was not the result of negotiations but of brutal government-decree. The Nisga’a agreement, on | the other hand, was frecly ne- gotiated. And although there ale concems over some aspects, it was the result of fair negotiations between equal partners. Moreover, the Nisga'‘a deal is | the first comprehensive at- tempt at addressing 200 years of injustice against British Columbia’s native population at the hands of the white ma- jority. It should be celebrated, not besmirched, While apartheid and its homeland policy constituted one of history's Low poiuts, the Nisga’a agreement in principle ‘corrects an historic wrong, Apartheid, as the name im- plies, set the black population apart, while the Nisga’a remain citizens of Canada and are sub- ject to Canadian law. What the agreement does is give recog- nition to Nisga’a culture and history, The Nisga’a themselves celebrated the signing as a milestone in their struggle for justice, something the blacks it very wrong of South Africa certainly never did with regard fo the homelands, Comparing the Nisga’a agreement in principle to South Affica’s infamous apart- heid policies, as Martin. has done, is deplorable. The Reform Party has a reputation For cashing in on people’s fears. Repeatedly its members have appealed to the public’s prejudices. That repulation was reinforced by Martin’s remarks. Reform leader Preston Man- ning likes to think of himself as being in firm control of his caucus. If that is so, he should admonish Martin and set the record straight. And to think that Martin is ~“the’ ‘man ‘wha’ defeated David. Barrett.’ An! “unknown, parachuted into the nding from Prince George, where he still practises medicine, Martin turned out to stand head and shoulders below the rest of his colleagues in Ottawa. ] consider ita privilege not to live in his riding, Beyer can be reached at: Tel:(604) 920-9300; Fax:(604) 385-6783 ;E-Mail: hbeyer@direct.ca Listen to Superman’s words ALONG WITH other Stargazers, 1 sat through the 68th Academy Awards show lo see who got the Oscars and listen forthe jokes. Even Oprah was there to greet salin-clad women wear- ing expensive unruly hairdos a three-year-old could — have given them in exchange for a hug. Unlike past years, there was catches the eye of every com- mentator. Many used too much fabric in the skirt, leaving too THROUGH BIFOCALS: CLAUDETTE SANDECKI i little to fashion the upper por- tion of the gown. Whoopi denuded another Tara living room window for hers, As hosl, Whoopi did a better job than two years ago, saying more with a scrunch of her fea- tures than many a revised para- graph could, Her one for-sure ad lib expressed my feelings exactly, Afler a modeling of the old style costumes wom in HUSKIES ARE BROTHER TO THE WOLF AND COUSINS OF ‘Braveheart’? and ‘Sense and Sensibility’, she remarked, ‘Models get paid $10,000 a day and still they look p__d off.’ Their mouths sneered more than Elvis’ until ] wanted to slap them silly. Three serious events balanced the high of anticipa- tion and the giddiness of win- ning. Christopher Recves appeared alone on stage immobile in his OTTERS, MINK AND WEASELS ARE FAMILY AND So ARE. CARIGOU AND MOOSE ! EVERY BopY UP NORTH IS RELATED :.. mechanized wheelchair, plastic breathing tube in his throat. He received a standing ovation from an audience whose facial expressions ranged from older actors who looked stricken, to young actors who appeared ~| confused, Kirk Douglas, the Russian immigrant ragpicker’s _ son, who throughout his 50-year career was identified by the ' deep cleft in his chin, received a lifetime achievement award. A recent stroke bas erased the cleft and caused the right half of his face to sag. Speech is difficult, especially ‘p’ words such as proud, His wife and four sons locked on, tears Streaming down the face of his son, Michael. Another sad moment calalogued the greats who died since Oscar time a year ago, This included Dean Martin, Ida Lupino, Lana Turner, and most recently, George Burns. While Rey. Jesse Jackson BUT YOU'RE JusT ABIG LONELY MoNKEY SOFAR FROM HOME YoU HAVE TO WEAR OTHER ANIMAL'S SKINS TO STAY WARM Von il and his small band of sup- porters demonstrated outside by handing out rainbow rib- bons against the scarcity of blacks nominated for Oscars, inside Sidney Poitier intoned the five names of the nominees for best movie. Few immigrant actors worked harder than Poitier, a Jamaican, to improve diction until his is clear, pre- cise — a treat to ihe ear. Instead of demonstrating against the Oscars’ failure to nominate more blacks for awards, Jackson should en- courage screen writers ta create storics of substance for black actors, Christopher Reeves exhorted Hollywood to tackle real issues in the vein of ‘The Philadel- phia Story’ dealing with AIDS, “Guess Who’s Coming to Din- ner’, a Story of interracial rela- tions in which Poitier starred, and ‘Schindler's List’, I hope Hollywood heard Reeves. GUESS I. SHOULDN'T ow HAVE CALLED Him A MONGEREL!