A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 5, 2000 STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terruce. B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 « FAX: (250) 638-8432 EMAIL: standard@kermode.net Ballot power A CAMPAIGN to stop people from buying pro- ducts of a target company or government is a wonderful thing if you support the cause, If you don’t agree with the goal, it quickly takes on the appearance of thuggery or extortion. And that’s where the people of B.C. have got to get their story straight. Environmentalists have targetted our province for poor management of our forests. Their ingeniously marketed “Great Bear Rain- forest” campaign is both a lucrative fundraiser for them and a devastating attack on the B.C. forest industry's foreign markets. If our record is poor enough to justify boycotts of the type that forced South Africa to end apar- theid, then much more must be done to improve forest management. If not, something must be done to counter the campaign and defend an indu- stry vital to the north. Industry and some mayors want Forest Rene- wal B.C. money to be tapped for $20 million to finance a counter-campaign in foreign markets. That amount, some say, is smal! potatoes com- pared to a green war chest at least five times that size for the Great Bear Rainforest fight. This seems like a wasteful idea that can only lead to a war of who has the deepest pockets. FRBC money should enrich our forests, not pay for advertising. Others say B.C. has to attack eco-groups using their own tactics. In other words, pursue the foundations and family trusts that finance envir- onmental campaigns and tell them of the jobs, fa- milies and towns their donations help threaten,’ This ‘still skirts the big issue of'establishing a provincial consensus on what the people want to have happen with the people’s forests, and then communicating that to the rest of the world. The Land and Resource Management Plan pro- cess is an attempt to define precisely on a region- by-region basis what people in a local area want to have happen on the land closest to them. It’s worthwhile. But the LRMP tables at work are often marginalized by greens as being stacked with industry supporters, Perhaps we should also try a provincial referen- dum on principles of B.C. forest management. A democratic vote would help remind foreign eco-imperialists that this isn’t some corrupt bana- na republic they’ re dealing with. It’s Canada. British Columbians can probably agree that sig- nificant amounts of old-growth forests need to be preserved forever. (Some already are.) We can probably also agree that logging should be allowed in much of the rest of the province’s forests in a manner sensitive to the environment. And rates of logging must be sustainable to en- sure jobs are there for future generations. Such a vote might assure Europeans that B.C. won’t do to its forests what they did to theirs. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS Jet Nagel « NEWS/SPORTS: Christiana Wiens NEWS/COMMUNITY: FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Carole Kirkaldy ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Bedford, Mark Beaupre & Stacy Swetlikoff TELEMARKETER: Stacy Swellikoff DARKROOM/COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik & Clare Hallock SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $54,88(+$3.85GST) per year: Seniors $48.62 (+$3.40GST); Out of Province $61,69 (+$4.32GST) Outside of Canada (6 months) $151.60 (4$10.61GST) MEM@ER OF B.C, AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION : AND G@ CN AL comer 8,¢C, PRESS COUNCIL “Pia Get ae Sarving the Terrace and Thomtil afea. Published on Wednesday of each week at 3210 Clinton Streat, Tarace, British Columbia, VG SR2. Storias, photographs, illustrations, designs and typestylas In the Terrace Slandard are the property of the copyright holders, includitg Cariboo Presi (1969) Lid., its iltusteallon repto services and advartising agencias. Raproduction in whole or inpar, without weiter permission, Is spactfically prohibited, Authorized as second-class mail pending tha Post Office Department, fer paymant of postage In cash, Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents "for their time and talents THEWORD NOWIS.,. ’ STAY VERY VERY CALM... Glen Clark cost us $11,500 a word VICTORIA — In February of 1996, Glen Clark, then a cabi- net minister, uttered 13 words during a media scrum that would prove to cost him or ra- ther the taxpayers who will have to ante up, $150,000. Asked what he had to say about the criticism of the fast ferries, then under construc- tion, by Robert Ward, a mar- ine engineer and consultant, Clark said Ward was a “disgruntled bidder on this project who is constantly feeding misinfor- mation on this issue.” Last week, Dermod Owen- Flood, a B.C. Supreme Court Judge, found that the state- ment was defamatory and or- dered Clark to pay Ward $150,000. Ward claimed that Clark’s ‘derogatory statement caused him not only personal dnguig but impacted on his livetih In all probability that was the case. Consultants who lose credibility lose income. And when a cabinet minister in a powerful position, calls you a disgruntled bidder who is feed- ing the media misinformation, you’ve gol reason to worry. Remember, this was before we actually knew that the fast ferries would have huge cost overruns and not work properly to boot. FROM THE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER At that time, Ward was the only one predicting what eventually turned out to be the truth. My first reaction to the judgment was that it will have a chilling effect on what poli- ticians, editorial writers and Hifinists:say in the future... ond ‘thought, ~ I -be- fevesthere is no danger of that. The first defence in libel cases is the truth. Qwen-Flood found that Clark at the time probably thought he was. speaking the truth. What did him in was not confining himself to counter- ing Ward’s arguments, saying that according to information he gets from B.C. Ferries, all's well with the fast. ferries pro- ject, but publicly calling Ward a “disgruntled bidder,” infer- ring that he was feeding misin- formation because he didn’t get any contract work on. the project, As to why he found the words to be defamatory, here’s what Owen-Flood said: “An ordinary person would have reasonably understood them to mean that the plain- tiff, out of frustration at having his business solicitations re- jected, was deliberately feed- ing the media with false infor- mation on the fast-ferries pro- ject. “In essence, the statement tended to lower the plaintiff in the estimation of others by imputing dishonorable conduct to him.” Owen-Flood also dealt with the matter of qualified privi- lege, which allows politicians :. certain leeway in public: utter- » ances. “I do not see any basis in public policy or common con- venience that would be served by attaching qualified privi- lege to this occasion.” “The law does nat allow the defence of qualified privilege to protect politicians who, in responding to particular criti- cisms on matters of public in- terest, dismiss the critic or cri- tics by way of an unqualified personal attack that does not focus on the merits of the criti- cism.” In Canada, nobody enjoys really special privileges as far as the expression of free Speech goes, nol politicians, not editorial writers, nol car- toonists, not columnists. Truth and fairness are still the best tools to avoid getting sued. If what you say is true or al least you honestly believe it to be true, and if you then comment fairly on the subject matter, chances are very slim that someone will sue you. It’s always served me well. I've been threatened with lawsuits a few times. I usually replied that I would be happy to see them in court and noth- ing ever came of it. The bottom line is that Clark shot off his mouth once too, often, and: Ward :called. him. . ; onit. Few: people would -have... “S"fad‘the “the stamina :to. pursue: this case for four years, but | sup- pose when your credibility is on the line, you have to go on the offensive. What blows my mind is the price tag — $150,000 for 13 words. That’s more than $11,500 a word. At that rate, this paper would have to pay me about $740,000 for this column. Awesome, Send me your old and unused NO DOUBT I seem to go out of my way looking to buy things no store sells, whether it’s a manual typewriter or a non-electric drip coffeepot. On the contrary, it’s in the everyday course of my life that I run into No Longer For Sale categories. For instance, last January with my granddaughter’s birth- day two weeks away, I began hunting all over town for a blackboard bigger, than a Reader's Digest. Finally, I was able to order one 24 x 36 inches from a stationery store. From there all it took was per- sistence and seven weeks of wailing. Then January 29 we ordered a Ronco Showtime electric ro- tisserie from California. My May 10 column in this paper chronicled our intermin- able wait for it’s arrival de- spite umpteen phone calls from us and creative excuses THROUGH BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI weeks after I mailed a copy of the column to Ronco, the ro- tisserie arrived. So far the rotisserie works as well as advertised on TV. But before using it a second time, to avoid risking heal damage ‘to the arborite. coun- tertop, -we agreed to buy a Rubbermaid’ hot ‘mat at least rotisserie to sit on. Well, guess what. No store in Terrace sells Rubbermaid hot mats. We’ve phoned or visited Canadian Tire, Warehouse Store, Bar- gain Store, Fields, Saan, Irly Bird, Terrace Builders, home Hardware, Sears, and Gemma’s Kitchen. I's not as if this town never sold Made-in-Canada Rubber- maid hot mals. At one time the shelves were stacked with them. I have a ten inch round one bought eight years ago, when they were plentiful, in varying sizes, including a latge one ideal for supporting a 12 x 16 inch baking pan. Why has Terrace’s supply of Rubbermaid hot mats cooled down? And what do you do when you’re baking a lot of Christmas goodies, or canning in the summer,. and need extra space to set down Slide a newspaper under the steaming kettle, or park it on a wooden cutting board? Are homes now so exclusively built or remodelled with heat-proof kitchen counters and work sur- faces that the movable hot mat is passe I plan to visit a woodstave dealer and check out his supply of metal surfaced, asbestos- backed floor mats. It wouldn’t be the first time something far removed had to pinch hit. - In the meantime, J] marvel at my ability to identify disconti- nued products. Perhaps when J Tetire, 1 could steer retailers to unfilled niche markets. For now, I wonder if some sort of ESP tips off every retai- ler in town that I'll be looking: to buy a special item and they conspire to discontinue stock- ing the item, purely to spite me. Or is Rubbermaid another © Canadian casualty - of free - {rade? from them. June 23,: five fifteen inches ‘square for ihe dishes? eA Town Covncie:! POOR STOPID GOUERNMENT |" CuR PRICES | SILLY SCHOOL BOARP |” NEW TRAPLINE! mee CRAZY DOCTOR! FRIGGIN NEW CARIN( 5 MORTGAGE CAR ae NICE LAKE! TEACHERS, KIDS, 4 CLOTHING». PRETTY +. “Bh Op ve gulaeT WK Ff BUSH THERAPY!