CL ota adh ae WM rw age es

Watch that spending

For the mother +

Christmas is a fun time of year:
but it can also mean financial.
headaches\NEWS A10

A new profession aimed at helping
with births takes hold
here\COMMUNITY B1

Fast action

Indoor soccer will play a big part
at the Northern B.C. Winter
Games\SPORTS C1

WEDNESDAY:
DECEMBER 11, 1996

TERRACE ~

‘ANDARD =

7 | Lock i it ‘up-

AUTO. CRIME has’ goné, Way Up in Terrace over. the: last’ year This
week, officers will be out checking car doors to” make sure they're:
locked. If not, owners will get a friendly little reminder from the police
as part of their Lock Out Auto Crime program. The jaint RCMP and
ICBC program seeks to educate the public about auto crime, which

ators tsa cent

cst f

#
costs. thé’ Insurance corporation well over $100 million annually:*’
That's Crime Prevention constable Tracy Harvie. She says simplé
things like locking doors, closing windows, keeping valuables out of
sight and parking in well-lit areas can go a long way in preventing
vehicle theft and break-ins,

oh NGL

Petition underway
to dismiss the NDP

A LOCAL man is distribut-
ing petitions he hopes will
lead to a dismissal of the
provincial government.

Wayne Kilgren, a laid off
logger, says he’s fed up with
NDP policies which he says
are driving up the debt and
causing job losses.

The petition is one page
and contains a number of
reasons why the government
should be dismissed,

It’s addressed to
Lieutenant Governor Garde
Gardom who, under law,
can dismiss a government,
dissalve the legislature and
set a date for a provincial
election.

“This is just for demo-
cracy. We've got to have a
little bit of democracy in
Canada,”’ said Kilgren last
week,

‘Basically they're
bankrupting B.C.,”’ he said
of the NDP.

The petition keys on what
the NDP may have known
about the — province’s
finances before the election.

During that time and dur-
ing the election period this
spring the NDP said there
would be a balanced budget.

But the provincial govern-
ment now says there’s a
deficit and is cutting $1.5
billion in spending.

Kilgren’s also incensed al

the plans to take up to $400

million from the Forest
Renewal B.C. bank account
for general government
spending.

‘We have no jobs,’’ said
Kiigren of himself and other
loggers in the area affected
by a downtum in the
forestry sector here.

Kilgren heard about the
petition on a Vancouver
radio talk show and had
copies faxed to him.

The petition is being
organized by a North Van-
couver resident in a

campaign called Dissalve '

“I was getting more and

tnore angry with every snip-°

pel of information coming

out as to what the NDP _

knew prior to the election
and afterward,’’ said Liz
James.

The comment that put
James into action came from
forests minister Dave Zirn-
helt who, when defending
the plan to move money
from Forest Renewal B.C.
into general government
revenue said governments
could do whatever they
want

“T thought over my dead
body,’? said James.

Not prepared to wait for
18 months after the May
election to mount a recall
campaign or for the next
election, James began her
plan to petition the
Lieutenant Governor.

“*] know there’s plenty of
faxing and photacopying
going on,’’ James added of
the petition’s spread.

She estimates that 2,000
petilions have been signed
in the Golden area, hard hit
by the closure of a sawmill.

A petition supporter has
put up a Dissolve 96 site on

WAYNE KILGREN has been busy asking paopia to
sign a petition asking the Lieutenant-Govarnor to dis-
miss the NOP gov't and call an election.

the World Wide Web and |

James has an e-mail ad-
dress.

James admits she did
some work for a federal
Reform candidate in the last
federal election and, at one
time, carried a provincial
Social Credit card.

‘T chucked in that card
over (he Vander Zalm is-
suc,” she said.

A

“The issue for me is that
no matter whal government
got il, 'd be doing the same
thing as I am now,’’ James
continued,

“T’m keeping this as a
non-partisan effort. 1 truly
believe if you happen to be-

-lieve in NDP policy that
docsn’t mean as a taxpayer.

and as a citizen you want to
be lied to,’’ she said.

Open doors can be closed

By JEFF NAGEL
THE DOORS to the Nisga’a talks may have
cracked open for the first time last Thursday,
but there are still plenty of ways the negotiatars
can keep them shut.

The Nisga’a, federal and provincial negotia-
tors signed an ‘‘openness protocol’’ setting out
just how open the Nisga’a negotlations towards
a final (reaty will be in the months ahead,

The document says the portions of main table
negotialing sessions dealing with ‘‘a general ex-
change of information concerning the matters to
be negotiated or a general discussion of techni-
cal or procedural matters’’ will be open. a

The parties, if they agree, can also open up

other meetings ‘bearing in mind whether public
altendance would maintain, increase or interfere
with the effectiveness of the session’? or
prejudice negotiating positions or strategics.

The document also gives the teams different
options on exactly how to make the talks ‘‘open
to the public.’’

For example, the sessions could be wide open
to anyone who wants to come in.

Or they could be ‘open to the public’’ by al-
lowing in just representatives of advisory com-
mittees —- but not the public or news media.

“| think most of the main table negotiations

will be open,’’ predicted chief provincial nego- -
tistor Trevor Proverbs, ‘

“ge

’ But he noted that when sensitive issues come
up, the parties can close the doors.

There’s also provision in the agreement for
the release of documents — again only the oncs
everyone agrees to release,

Provincial officials weren’t aware Thursday of
any documents that are now available to the
public pursuant to the openness protccal,

As for consultation, the parties can Bive in-
formation on the substance of selected issues to
advisory committees and interested persons,
provided that doesn’t breach the confidentiality
of other parties’ positions.

For more.on the Nisga’a talks, see Page AS,

“eae .

93¢ PLUS 7¢ Gast:
VOL. 9 NO. 35.

College lays

out course
cutting plan

By CRIS LEYKAUF
CUTS PLANNED at Northwest Community College
(NWCC) could reduce the number of university transfer
courses the college offers by 25 per cent,

But college president Michael Hill says that won't result
in any dramatic changes lo course offcrings.

The college needs to eliminate an accumulated deficit of
nearly $800,000. Colleges aren’t allowed to run deficits,
but the education ministry is giving NWCC some room to
maneuver, The deficit is partially duc to shrinking grants
from the province, combined with a freeze on tuition fecs,

The ministry expects the college to have a balanced
budget in two years and to start working on the accumu-
lated deficil after thal.

A college committee is asking for cost-cutting advice
from all areas. Hill said two weeks ago that the college
will probably chop 15-20 full time equivalent positions.

Now a draft report is going to the college board suggest-
ing areas where those positions are to be cut.

Academic Workers Union president Rocque Berthiaume

- says NWCC is looking al cutting $275,000 from university

credit programs, as much as $450,000 from the natural
Tesources worker program and 30 per cent of the budget
from a program training health and social services
workers.

"The areas that are providing academic and career tech
programs are going to be hard hit if the administration fol-
lows through,’’ said Berthiaume.

He said the union is willing to deal with the deficit, but

" first wants to consider early retirement and voluntary work

load reductions as options.

**There’s a high level of frustration and anxiety that this
process is creating,’’ said Berthiaume.

And the short time frame doesn’t help. ‘‘There’s a
certain level of cynicism that the process is not really con-
sultalive,”’ he added. And he doesn’t know how much
room there is for alternatives.

Hill said although the college board wants to start some’

of the cost saving measures early in the new year, work on
budget trimming will carry on until the end of the fiscal
year. And that should still leave time for all options.

Berthiaume says it’s not just jobs that ihe union wants to
protect. He says the north already has a low level of post-
secondary participation, and he’s concerned that would get
worse with reductions to programs.

People have to train for the new economy he said, and
he’s worried those opportunities won't be here,

But Hill says he'll try to keep any impact to'a minimum,
“Students will vote with their feet,”’ said Hill, “I’m going |

to try and offer people’s first choices to them,”

This means popular first year university transfer courses
won'( likely be cut. But second year transfer courses could
be trimmed, particularly those with less than 10 students.

Instead of face-to-face instruction the college could look

into offering second year transfer courses through the.

World Wide Web, or the Open Learning Agency, sug-
gested Hill,

The college will try to offer as wide a range of courses as
possible, but differently, he said, College board members
look at a cosl cutting report Dec, 14,

Drug officer
pitch prepared

TERRACE RCMP wants to bring in a second drug en-
forcement officer and has asked the city to come up
with the money.

"There needs to be another person in the drugs sec-
tion to get any sort of effective enforcement,’’ says
RCMP delachment commanding officer Inspector
Steve Leach. ‘‘One person is simply not enough to
tackle this kind of problem. We really need that extra
officer.”

Leach is preparing for his traditional annual session
with city council in which he lays out his reasoning for
more officers.

He faces another iradition of having city council tum
down the requests.

Councillor David Hull says that more money might
not be the best answer. ;

“I'm certainly in favour of a new person on the drug
squad,’’ Hull says. ‘Bul maybe we should be looking
at taking an officer away from traffic patrol and putting
them into drug enforcemeni.”’

Hull says the city already spends about $1.4 million
on policing.

‘Flexibility is the thing of the '90s,’’ he says. ‘‘Let’s
sec what we can do with what we've gol.”

Hull admits that drugs are a problem in Terrace, but
he says that it’s a problem In the niral areas, too.

“The level of drug activity in this area is frightening
and wnacceptable,’’ he says. ‘But drug dealers don’t -
turn around at the bridge. Maybe we-could look at get-

ting some financial support from the regional district,’’-