iT, his week:

Convergence of conflict -

Once you understand the- nature .
and consequences of the Fall:

Down. Effect (Forestry Insights,
Feb, 21), it becomes quite apparent
that solutions must be found if the
forest industry is to survive. First,
though, you need to be very clear
on. the nature of the problem
before trying to analyze the results
of solutions that have already been
tried.

Certain facts Were described last

' week. Basically, the Fall. Down:
Effect is due to poor age class

- distribution in our existing forests
caused historically. by poor logging

practices and, in the Northwest, by .

a lack of natural fires.
As was explained last week,

_ forest fires occur naturally. Fires.

. due to lightning strikes are nature’s
way: of regenerating new growth.
These fires are less frequent in
coastal regions, however, due to
the high moisture content in the
atmosphere and the soil. There is
little we can do to change this.
How we log our forests, though,
is a different matter.

For decades the government,
industry and the general public
believed our forests to be an
inexhaustable resource. We
‘believed we could simply denude
‘the land and get away with it, as
relected both in goyemment

legislation and our system of land:

tenure. Government — legislation
required only minimal management

VICTORIA — Reviewing the
latest edition of Party Link, the
Social Credit Party’s 16-page
newspaper for its members, one
might believe that they are go-
ing to get, serious about remov-
ing the “‘principles of Christi-
anity’’ clause from their con-
stitution.

The party organ includes 10
pages detailing proposed
changes to the rules ‘of the par:
ty, and asks subscribers to
return their responses to a full--
page survey of whether or not
they agree with the changes.

As well, there are 12 regional

workshops around the province.

between now and the end of ..
March to deal. with that con-
stitution.

But it should be noted that
when it comes to the conten-
tious Christian clause, as well
as two proposed alterations,
Socreds are given a third op-
tion — to leave it as it is.
~ (It currently reads: “The
principles and objectives of the
society are: a.) To foster and
encourage the universally rec-
ognized principles of Christi-
anity in human relationships”’

(Option B is to make it read
similar to the Cahadian con-
stitution: “to honour and
respect the basic principles of

Standards, and consequently only
minimum standards were met. At

times, even these: minimum stan- ]-
dards were ignored, ‘AS one com-,,

munity ran short of timber, another

supply sprang up a few miles -
and so the province's ©
population spread. There was no.
incentive to do anything other than
‘cut trees,

In time, though, - good. timber |
stands became more difficult to.
find. and. the government decided
logging’ companies’ should ‘plant:
trees before they moved on. This’

away,

was a good idea, but flawed. The
regulations stipulated only that the
licencee should plant trees. Little
or: nothing was said about how
many trees or where and how they
should be planted. There were no
ongoing management requirements
such as brushing and weeding and
these deficiencies weren't recog-
nized until 1978. . ,
But while the government failed
to recognize these legislative defic-
iencies, they didn’t go unnoticed
by some members of the public.
Environmentalists began making
the news. The democratic process
is always best served when the
public takes part but these envir-
nomentalists, perhaps better
referred to as preservationists,
introduced a new set of concems.
If forest management practices
were thought of as one extreme in

the issue, preservationist repre-

we

Terrace Review — Wednesday, February 28, 1990 AZ

a

cae

sented the other. They wanted to
save it all, and that left no room
for industry. South Morseby Island
is a good example. There, logging
has stopped and elderly trees are
‘allowed to age in peace... but the
Fall Down Effect continues. One
problem was solved but the other
was not even addressed.

Today, logging continues while
the government makes a few legis-
lative changes and the preserva-
tionist movement accelerates.
These three forces, converging
from three different-points of view,
will create one of two situations:
greater conflict or workable and
equitable solutions. And this is
where the next phase of public
awareness must grow.

It’s easy to point fingers: The
government is controlled by large
companies; loggers are raping our
“forests; preservationists are costing
us our jobs. But at some point in

Ay ae,

The view from
Victoria —

by John Pifer

social, moral and ethical con-
duct which has provided the
strength and determination of
the people of this province to
achieve their goals and objec-
tives within our social and
economic framework, regard-
less of colour, creed or
religious affiliation.

(Option C reads: ‘‘The prin-
ciples of the society recognize
the supremacy of God and the
rule of law’’).

You may recall the uproar at
the party convention in Oc-
tober from those who believe
that B.C. has become such an
integrated and diverse melting
pot of peoples and religions
that a reference only to Chris-
tianity was discriminatory, of-
fensive and outdated.

Michael Levy, a Socred can-
didate in the March 1989 Point
Grey by-election, who is
Jewish, still feels strongly
about the stand he took against
the phrase, even though he has.
resigned from the party.

He told this correspondent
last week that the fact that par-
ty members are even given a-
‘‘no-change’’ option, “‘shows
there is a group within Social
Credit who appear to want the
party to be exclusive.”’

It will be fascinating to see

what the returns from the un-

scientific survey are, and what
party headquarters does about
them.

Even if the majority of re-
turned ballots opt for keeping
the phrase in, regardless of
how it is viewed by some
British Columbians who wor-
ship as Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists,
Hindus, etc., surely the Socreds
wouldn’t be so stupid as to re-
tain it, would they?!

Several leading Cabinet
ministers, including the
premiers, believe the ‘‘fuss”
about the clause was overdone
by the media, was politically
motivated by Grace McCarthy
trying to strike at Vander
Zalm, and that there really is
nothing wrong with the Chris-
tianity reference.

Ya, just as they saw nothing
wrong with the Jewish jokes
told the morning after Levy
quit in disgust.

Politically, that is unwise, ill-
informed, dangerous and nar-
row-minded thinking.

Religiously, it is contrary to
the very teachings they profess
to follow. Say tuned. This one
will run and run.

On another note, the re-
sponse of the premier and

time we have to stop worrying
about day-to-day issues and look
further down the road. If the forest
industry and preservationists are on
opposite-erds of the extreme, there
must be a balance. There must be
an uncharted no-mans-land where
a more useful definition of the
expression “land productivity" can
be found.

But what does land productivity.
mean? Tourism and recreation are
productive uses of land, But so are
farming, mining and logging. Can
industry and recreation co-exist?
Can industry solve a part of the
problem by becoming a more
productive land user itself? Some
say the forest industry alone could
triple their productivity simply by
aligning their harvesting and manu-
facturing practices with the econ-
omic realities of the modern world.
But does the industry believe this?
Change costs money so is there

any real incentive to. even try? .

Perhaps economic realities will
provide not only that incentive but
a partial solution for the Fall Down
Effect as well. Next week we'll
look at ways the forest industry
may be able to triple the value of
their production --- through good
marketing practices alone.

Forestry Insights is a weekly
feature of the Terrace Review
prepared by staff reporter Tod
Strachan in consultation with Reg-
istered Professional Foresters Rod
Arnold and Doug Davies. We
invite our readers to express their
concerns and viewpoints on for-_
estry issues by writing forestry
Insights, care ‘of the Terrace
Review, 4535 Greig Ave., Terrace,
B.C., V8G 1M7, .

Finance Minister Mel Coavélier *
to the federal budget’s cut in
transfer payments to the prov-
inces is considered by many to
be a gross over-reaction de-
signed solely to score political
points on the homefront.

They may be right... but on-
ly to a degree. Let’s crunch
some numbers.

When you relate the $100-to-
$120 million cut to the $14.6
billion provincial budget, it ap-
pears to represent .089 percent
— that’s right, less than one
percent,

But, to be fair, only about
10 percent of the whole budget
is flexible; the rest is committed
to statutory costs and commit-
ments the government must
meet.

So saying that $120 million
represents an eight percent cut
is more realistic, and could
justify Messrs. Vander Zalm
and Couvelier claiming that
some of the several months of

ee

cant int seee
provincial budget préparation is
down the drain.

They have blamed Ottawa
for a delay in the spring session
of the legislature, and for .
prompting a Royal Commission
on health care.

Well, the truth is that the
Vander Zalm government was
signalling an April (rather than
the traditional mid-March) start
for the legislative session,
weeks before Michael Wilson
brought in his mediocre

. budget.

So, this scribe for one, re-
mains convinced that the Vi:-
toria mob knew what was com-
ing from Mr. Wilson — except
perhaps for the axing of the
Polar 8 submarine shipbuilding
contract — and all of the
rhetoric and posturing since has
been aimed at gaining support
(i.e. votes) for a beleaguered
government.

Call me cynical? Perhaps.
Skeptical? Absolutely!

cc

budget.

_

Budget cuts won’t harm
northern university

} The $100 to $120 million cut in federal transfer payments to
B.C, in last week’s federal budget worried a few people, but
according to > ‘inister of Advanced Edcuation Bruce Strachan tie
cuts won’t affect the University of Northern B.C.

Strachan says the annual transfer of funds from the federal
government pays for only a part of post-secondary education and |
health care costs. In the past, these costs have been covered by
$1.3 billion from the federal goverment while the province paid
the balance of about $5.5 billion. In addition, says Strachan, the
recent budgetary cuis in transfer payments will be shared by all
provincial ministries and will only have a minor effect on his own