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, Page A4 ~ Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 9,1991

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DITORIA

| - So, what now? >

Back j in 1987 it was to be the’start ofa
- different world for northern B.C. That
‘is, of course, if one believed the press

_ releases of the time.

Eight new ministries of state for eight
‘new development regions: were announc-
_ ed, Up here we became the North Coast
. economic development region. The idea,
explained then-Premier Bill Vander

Zalm, was that each region would have
‘its own cabinet minister using informa-
. tion and priorities from specific commit-
tees made up of people who lived in the

‘ region.

Gone would be the days of people tak-
_ing orders from and accepting policy |
. decided by government officials based in

_the south. Instead we might just have
something resembling a democracy, one
where regional decision making dictated

what would happen.

Four years later the plan is toast —
done like dinner. But it was fun while it
lasted. Those. committees that were
created examined issues such as educa-
t tion, transportation, resource use and
th care. Lots of money was Spent on
! those ministries of state and in hiring
people. Studies by the bushel were com-

missioned.

old pattern remained.

What happened was simple. While the
north bought the package . heart and |
, nobody bothered ex
reality to the government ofht
the’ ‘south. Instead of reversing the.south —
‘to north decision making process, the

The ministries of state — laid mer-
: cifully to rest in 1990 — never had the
| budgetary control necessary to bring
, about what they wanted. Overall say in
. how, where and why money was to be
' spent remained in the south.
Legislative changes needed for the
. regions to have the administrative :Punch

didn’t take place.
bureaucracies continued to dictate what
or what not would occur. Indeed, some

Established

of the people. who went to work for the

development: regions. found. themselves
acting as ombudsmen in order to explain
the real world to those bureaucracies.

There are several highly visible failings
of the plan. Is there any sign of the’
development region concept in the plan-
ned marine terminal at Kitimat? Is the
Orenda Forest Products plan subject to
any sort of regional determination in

terms of resource use? Have we come

offering of

region.

el DGaccesns

dada wratage

asi

ning for office up here is. what" theif’ vi
_ sion is for this part of the province. Is it

any closer to a better co-ordination of
northern health care needs and services?

We must also share some of the blame
for what happened. Despite the minimal

the provincial government

for a regional say in decisions, local
jealousies and disagreements remained.
There was a distinct lack of statesmen-_
ship in leaving aside those differences in
pursuing something worthy for the entire

That's why this provincial election is
important for northern B.C. No matter
what party wins, there'll be a new power
structure in Victoria. Call it 2 window of
opportunity — a period in which the
north will have a chance to define itself
and its future.

“The. e one biz’ ijtidstion 18 Bee eRO8e'Hin-

GQ ir vi-

to be more of the same, or something

different? Are we to continue to accept

whatever comes our way in humble

adoration or .are we to be allowed to
_ determine what is best for us?

The answers to those questions and
what happens after will set this region
rightly or wrongly on a course that'll
take us into the next century.

Wanted — — geese

Why aren't alarm clocks
made with individual rings to
suit our whims? A train whistle
toot for the railroad buff. An
arpeggio for the piano teacher,
A slot machine bonanza for the
businessperson.
~ As a kid, Mom’s rattling of
the grates as she prepared to
start the kitchen stove as all the
alarm clock J generally needed.
By the time the fire crackled, if
my weight hadn't creaked the

_ ceiling over her head, she would
, call up the stairs until  mumbl-
_ ed, ‘Okay'’, As a last resort,

she'd thump the cold air register

. in my bedroom floor with a
. broom handle,

“On days when there was no
school, I woke to the crowing of
roosters, or the mooing of the
‘milk cows as they left the barn

i: and headed for the pasture,

‘During a ‘spell in my career
years, my punctuality depended
upon the battery-powered

‘ reverberations of a digital
‘ clock. Its internat mechanism
‘ notched the hands forward with
"the thump of a one-legged

veteran on crutches, -

. . The noise diverted my focus
just as Rita J's gaudy earrings °

distract listeners from her
speeches. Even inches of Wyan-
dotte feathers could not muffle
the cadence tatooing my’ ear-
drums.

‘The clock’s alarm made me
twitch like Ted Bundy when the
switch was thrown on his elec-
threw

clock to the. back of a drawer.
~ Mothers have alarms built jn;

Through
Bifocals

by Claudette Sandecki

like pacemakers. Any mother
with young kids learns if she
Sleeps late she runs the risk of
ocular injury. Whichever of our
girls woke first would patter to
my bedside and poke a stubby
finger into My eye to see if ] was
inside, I'd rise on one elbow,

spluttering, nose to nose with a
round eyeball. Usually, the ex-
perience cured me of oversleep-
ing for months.

People who reside in major
cities like New York, and work
a normal schedule, don’t re-
quire any alarm,
pickup — which begins well
before rush hour — sounds like
a bowling tournament played
with steel pins on sheet metal
lanes,

Unaccustomed silence can

prove wakeful. Neighbourhood. °

dogs have been known to keep

my rest at bay. There’s the mutt

who lets himself out, then has to

wait to be let in, The mongrel kK

who practises howling in case
there's ever a re-make of Never
Cry Wolf. The feint-hearted cur
who sounds the dark like sub-
marine sonar. Until § am,
Then, exhausted, they all curl
up for.a catnap, | stare at the
ceiling wondering - what woke
me,

How I'm yanked from

dreamland. sets the tone for my
entire da}

“my clock radio.

Garbage

wakens me with a Scott Joplin

rage, a rousing march, or an old .

time fiddle tune, my toes start
tapping before my eyelids flut-

ter. Chances are Pll be cheerful

and benevolent for hours.
However, if I’m introduced

to the dawn by jazz, or someone

pinching my arthritic toe, look

out. I'm gonna come out of my:
bedroom swinging before I find,

my slippers,
I'd like my alarm clock to

have the happy honk of geese.
being sprung from their pen at
daybreak: Anyone who has rais- °

ed geese knows how they honk
while they snake their necks hike
cobras, and fan their outstretch-
ed wings until they hover, Then,
wings comfortably folded, they
stride toward breakfast.

MARTEN GAVE

THE GRAD STUDENT

A RAVEN WAMED CAN
*PILTBOWA' WHICH  fumeaver THE

HAS LEARNED
Haw To TAL | -

Where did they .,

find this person —

VICTORIA —Where do they
find these guys? Here the ©
Socreds are fighting for:the.
very survival of their party,
and the only candidate they
could come up with in West _
Vancouver-Garibaldi is a chap
who went bankrupt four years
ago,
Rodney Glynn-Morris had
zoflebts of qnore that. $250,000,

»fhpluding $96,000 in ainpaig,:,
-taxes, when he filed for.

bankruptcy in 1987. He was
discharged in August 1990,
after paying his creditors
$35,000. .

Yes, old Rodney i is the same
fellow who so gallantly re-
jected a $125,000 bribe to drop
out of the race, and earned
universal admiration from his
fellow Socreds far this
demonstration of ethics,

Jess Ketchum at Socred
headquarters was downright.
proud of Rodney who stared
down the temptation of an
easy $125 grand choosing in-
stead to serve his fellow British
Cilumbians. What a guy, what
a province.

He has since given to the
RCMP the name of the person
who relayed to -him the.
message that a group of people
was willing to pay him

_ $125,000 if he stepped down as

‘a candidate. The money would -

be either‘in.cash or funds in
trust so he could buy another
_practice to replace the one he
sold last summer to seek elec-
tion, :

cident in-a weird campaign. ..
One says the pro-lifers wante d
‘him out of the way. Another.
has it that Rodney concocted ’:
the event to aid his campaign,
but he’s denied that, i
“Back to the bankruptcy,not
an entirely new. method to get

out from under debt. Folks get ©
Caught in a financial squeeze, ioe
“2 Mp:to 24" per ‘sent, it didn’t’:
- take too long for.the debts to
pile up, and the.bank to gel
“mean.:When the-dust had settl--

‘gee no way out and file for *
bankrupicy, Happens all’ the
time, and not only to Socreds,:
‘Happened to John Brewin, »
federal NDP Meinber of « ~

_ Parliament for Victoria, ”

MYSTERIES

- There are, of course all sorts
- of theories about this weird in-

From the

Capital
by Hubert Beyer

Almost happeneed to.me, back
in 1983, during that nasty

. Tecession,

: zr had left the employ. of, Vic- ;
, toria’ 5, daily Aewspaper ecause
“T couldn't see myself working

_ for the Thomson chain which

. had bought the Daily Colonist
~and the Victoria Times and

promptly merged the two
papers into one.

It meant leaving behind a
very well-paid job with security
coming out of my ears, but
I’m a strong believer in not
working for a company | don’t

. respect.

And I had a fool-proof plan
for the future. I was going to
make a fortune or two in the
construction business, building

~ houses, After. all, I knew what

“ale 35] DO. “to MING BIRD:
MMGRATE: ON: THE,
' BACKS of GEESE?

I was doing. 1 still had my
carpenter’s journeyman’s cer-
lificate From 30 years ago.
.-An apprenticeship in a
building trade is a prerequisite
in my native Germany for

_ anyone who wants ta become

an architect. And that’s what |
wanted to become, before |
decided to emigrate to Canada

’ where’ I proceeded to become a

laborer on the Trans-Canada
pipeline, then a foreman, a
taxi driver in Winnipeg and,

after ‘a dozen or’so other jobs,

a ‘student: and, fi inally a jour-
nalist, >
- Coming full circle after all

; these years,. I jumped head-
first into’ ‘the construction
- business.And, boy, did I build
- good houses, Unfortunately,
before I could unload even the
. > first one; the recession hit, and
people dug i in for a long period

of economic draught.
With builder’ 's. Morigages of

ed, my wife. and I had lost the

: _ Works. Life's savings gone, our

Nor SINCE

PUNY ARES
1G F oewraLaeyy) Tbe OuLY |

‘LAG?
“ BIRDS 1A -THE
RTC ee fo

Wuy a 2
RAVENS MATE |}:
IN THE AIR? /

! DEREGULATION
loons ARE clearee!)

own home foreclosed on, even
the car was picked up by a -
pia and $100,000 in unpaid
ebt Len over our necks,

i Ge eu DEO) nm aH
kruptey, my. lawyer said,
pis the the,only way. Can’ ido, y
‘i said, Why not? he asked,
Because 1 had this little pro-|,
blem with ethics, I said, I -
couldn't and wouldn’t take a-
lot of other little guys down
with me, I said, Bee
To make a long story short,
1 enlisted the help of the pro-
vincial debt-counselling service,
which set up a schedule of”
payments. [t took us three’
years to pay off every penny, .
but we did it. After that, it’:
didn't take us very long to get
back on our feet,
All of which, I suppose, 7
would probably bar me from
ever running for political of-.
fice, Nothing like a bankruptcy
to qualify you for elected of-..
fice. . weg
Meanwhile, here's old’
Rodney, beaming inta
cameras, extolling his own vit-*
tue as a man who did the right
think. No. briber

But before you 1 ge : Cart
away by that warm feeling
pride in our stalwait'Rodn

From which the court
Rodney'such rapid rel
because that arhoun’
ly packed on top of ¢
tional deficit, |

sell when
offi ice.

po \

Sy cariiaaiben pe

GE Leous ART... a is for - aa

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