PAGE 4, THE HERALD, Thursday, July 21, 1977

{the herald )

Published by
Sterling Publishers Ltd

Terrace - 635-6357
Kitimat - 632-6207
Circulation - 635-2877

PUBLISHER... GORDON W. HAMILTON
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rs

\. _/

-Nepotism? -
- Not in B.C.

Politics can be extremely complex, childishly
simple, or, in British Columbia, just plain amusing.
Vaudeville is notdead. It just took the B.C. Ferries
to Victoria, didn’t anticipate the Social Credit
victory, and now can’t afford the ride home.

Oh well, while it's supplanted in the capital, let’s
enjoy the show.

Today we cast out glance at the premier and his
remarkable logic in this latest episade of political
patronage. Bill Bennett, you see, has ordered his
ministers to fire any “immediate”’ relatives they
may have on staff.

That’s fair enough. But the government’s so full

‘of “good old boys” that a general housecleaning ~

would be in order if his commands were carried out

with the zeal they warrant. The Okanagan couldn't
handle the sudden influx of these refugees
returning from behind the Tweed Curtain.

What we want to do, dear reader, is support the
premier. We ask that you take your mind off Jack
Dave's son-in-law, Alex Fraser's former foster
son-in-law, and Bennett’s kind of, but not exactly,
brother-in-law.

We understand the premier’s bind. You see,
Transport Minister Davis explained quite clearly
that it’s just darn right difficult to find good
summer students to hire these days at $1,625 per
month.

Bennett, unfortunately, is in an even more
difficult position. He pays the executive director of
his office twice that much, For $30,000 plus a guy’s
gotta settle for whatever he can find.

But we do feel a little sorry for Tony Tozer, the
executive director of Bennett’s office, who, it
appears, has suddenly been disowned from the
family.

Heis, after all, the brother of the premier’s sister
but, as Bennett told us, that doesn’t make him a
relative. He has,-of course, been with the family
business for a whole lot of years but that doesn’t
make him family either.

Let’s just assume he’s one swell guy, one of the
few ex-hardware store men available at the slave
wages the government offers these:days. .

Besides, it’s not Bill’s fault that he can’t be quite
sure which relative is where at which time. After
all, he himself didn’t become Social Credit leader
for reason of nepotism or even because his name
had a familiar ring.

There just weren't any other people available
thathad less experience in politics than he himself.

fERAAN :

C1977 Unkeerso! Pres Syndicate

“IF you have to ask, you can't afford it.”

HERE ARE ABOUT 326 MILLI
Tie KILOMETERS OF YON

174 ON EARTH...

“ANDOVER A MILLION MILLION GALLONS PER CU.
MILE. 97% OF THE WORLD'S WATER IS tN THE
OCEANS, THE AMOUNT OF ARESH WATER ON
EARTH IS APPROXIMATELY 3%, ABOUT 34 OF
VIHICH IS FROZEN IN ICECAPS AND GLACIERS,
THE AVERAGE PERSON CONSUMES NEARLY |,600
GALLONS OF WATER IN A LIFETIME, INDUSTRY
USES MORE WATER THAN ANY OTHER MATERIAL.
OUR BODIES ARE 24 WATER. CHICKENS ARE 9/4
WATER. BY 1980, OUR DEMAND FOR FRESH WATER
WILL BE TWICE WHAT IT WAS IN THE 1960'S

Foreign aid crucial to poor nati

ree countries last.
year were above the level of‘.

WASHINGTON (CP) —
Developing countries
already suffering from high
oil prices: general inflation
and shaky commodity
revenues saw their financial
foundations further
weakened last year when
the floy of money from
richer countries edged
- downward.

-Recent statistics from the
Organization for Economic
Co-operation and
Development (OECD) show
that the net financial flow to
the developing countries
eased to $39.5 billion last
year from $39.9 billion in

19%.

First step taken to open up g

' ByIONA CAMPAGNGLO ~
M.P. Skeena

Access toe Government
information - A subject that
concerns us ,

The public and press have:
the right to know what. the
government they have
elected is doing. The federal

‘

..Old Remo Road, near the

That reversed a trend that
had seen the flow jump from
$10.7 billion a decade earlier
as the industrialized
countries made. a sustained
effort to combat world
poverty...

In 1975, the industrialized
countries reached the goal
of sending one per cent of

‘their gross national preduct

(GNP) to_the ‘developin,
countries. But that declin
to 0.95 per cent of GNP in

Perhaps more seriously
for the developing countries,
the GNP percentage
devoted to —- official:

government has taken an
important first step in the
process that will lead to
more. public access to
government information,

To start the debate, a
Green Paper was tabled in
the House of Commons on
June 29 by Secretary of

_ State John Roberts.

ae

errace end, has been turned into one lane month work pr
the end

‘Interpreting the news

development aid dropped to
0.33 from 0.36.
“Official development aid
is only one-third of the flow
of financial resources, but it
is crucial ta many countries
because 89 per cent of such
aid isin the form of grants.
Also, such ai is
concentrated in poorer
countries while the private
loan and investment share-
of financial flows goes
mainly to ‘developing
countries. with stronger
economies. , ;
The drop in percentage of

Only

07 per cent of GNP bein

devoted to  officia

development aid: the
Netherlands and Sweden at
0.82 and Norway at 0.71.

. Canada had risen to 0.56

per cent in 1975, when it
rovided $280 million (U.S.)

in official development aid.

But that fell to 0.47 per cent

last feat when “Canada

provided $386 million.
Commenting , on the

Canadian figures, the.

GNP devoted to official International Monetary

development aid. left the Fund said later the decline

donors less than halfway to in GNP percentage resulted
Report from Ottawa

‘Outlined in the discussion
paper are the problems to be
overcome before a proposal
for legislation on . public
access to information can be

-drafted.

_ The paper shows that
secrecy in: government is
already limited by a number
of restraints built into the

.

? Fong

‘the

ogram to

Canadian system, Apart
from the constitutional rule,
there is the watchguard role
of the courts, an the very
wide questioning powers of
parliamentary

tion, .. ‘

tever form the future
law is to take, it will
certainly enable the

RAE at SB coe BSE, ter
improve it.

ane f

opes there will be €
of the project to crush gravel thesurface.

There areh

from disbursement delays
rather than policy decisions
to cut foreign aid. ;
Other major percentage
declines came in ald: from
Australia, Austria,
Belgium, West Germany
and New Zealand.
Since 1973, oil producing
countries have became a
significant source of foreign
aid in addition to tne
industrialized countries, but
their financial flow also de-
clined last year, to $7.5
billion from $8.1 billion.

The: increasing balance~

ofpayments problems being
faced by the developing

overnment to make more
nformation avilable to
eveyr sector of society.
Members of Parliament and
journalists will be able to
require the government to
make more of its documents
available. Business and
public interest groups will
able to use the law to get

bare

nough

+ COMMON. SENSP,
dedetal..«- gavernment..

PARIS (CP) —
Economie experts painted a
gloomy picture Wednesday
of growth among in-
dustrialized countries,
suggesting that ‘inflation,
unemployment and foreign
trade problems will plague

most of them in the nexf 12 -

months, P

U ik R E will at ease b nly out

PROSPECT

three per cent this year, said
the 24-country Organization
for Economic Co-operation

and Development (OECD)
in its twiceyearly survey.

Gl ( )¢ iM Y It suggested that the
nom forecast volume increase in

the gross national product
{GNP) in Canada will be
insufficient to reduce
industrial slack and the
unemployment rate,
currently about eight per
cent, “‘may stay very high.”

But itsugges d that some
quickening in the Canadian
recovery may occur in the

first half of 1978.
The advisory body singled
out the United States as the.
only country where
prospects for sustained
expansion seem resaonably
optimistic. But it said: ‘“The
owth rates forecast fer
omestic demand in most
other countries in the first
half of next year would be
insufficient to provide an in-
centive for capital-widening
investments or to prevent a
further rise in
unemployment. ,
“The over-all prospects:
for any significant reduction
in inflation next year are not
particularly good,” the
OECD said. However, it
predicted a modest inflation
slowdown, with consumer
prices growing at 7.5 per
cent in the first half of 1978,
down from nine per cent in
the first half of 1977 and
eight per cent in the second

“Mirroring developments
in demand, unemployment
inthe OECD area is likely to

‘remain on a plateau of

around five per cent, fallin
irs the United States, bu
with a rise in nearly all
ather member countries ex-
cept Japan,” the QECD

sald,

A rate of five per cent
represents about 15 million
unemployed, excluding
Portugal and Turkey, whose
jobless statistics are only
sketchy. If these two
member countries are
added, the figure would be
around 17 on.

Businessmen in the
interior of the

area, have reported a surge
of tourist inquiries. *
“Of course, we weren't as

‘badly off last year as Van-

couver Island, because with
the ferry increases we got a
lot of their business,” said

rovince,:
especially the Okanagan .°
techniques and the help of at}

Lou Rossner of the Vernon
Chamber of Commerce.
The Vancouver Island
tourist industry isn’t ready
to give up. Despite the hard
times of the past year, many
are ready to wear the B.C.
smiles being promoted by
Mrs, McCarthy.
“1's time we threw in the
ing towel,” said Wagner.

‘cry
“Business could go up by as

much as 10 per cent this
summer if we get out and
work,

“There aren’t too many
hard indications right now
that business is improving,
but there sure are a lot more
factors this year that could
turn in our favor.
“Aggressive | marketing

least part of the provincial
overnment, with its
rism B.C.. department,
just night get us back on the
ack,” .

VICTORIA (CP) —
Provincial Secretary Grace
McCarthy is confident
tourism industry profits in
British Columbia will pick
up this summer, despite a

the
industry.

recent slump in
y

“7 know the last three
ears have been terrible for
urism,’ Mrs, McCarthy
said in a recent interview,
“but I firmly believe that
this year is the beginning of
an upward trend that will
continue over the next five

ears,”
Theindustry would love to

’

Business spotlight ©

Island tourism remains in a slump

beHeve her message, but to
do so they have to ignore
preliminary figures that
indicate 1977 will not be
much better than 1876, one
of the most dismal seasons
in recent history.

Four major Victoria
tourist attractions opened
their books in April to
disclose losses as high as 30
per cent for the first three
months of the year. Traffic
on B.C. Ferries was down 20

per cent during the same pe-
riod,
The B.C. Hotels’

Association says occupancy

rates are down two-tenths of
a per cent so far this year,
while major Vancouver
hotels are predicting that
their tourist business could
drop as much as 15 per cent.
A proposed change in.
United States tax laws

_which would alter the status

of foreign conventions as a
tax deduction has led to the
cancellation of several
conventions, some of them »
booked five or six years in
advance,

Despite such harbingers |
of doom, industry leaders
agree with Mrs. McCarthy,

minister responsible for

tourism, that profits to the-

industry will increase. They
say tourism in B.C. will
flourish this year because
the Canadian dollar is down,
the Olympics and the U.S.
Bicentennial are over, pro-
vincial ferry rates’ have
been reduc:
is turning California brown.

Representatives of the .

Victoria tourist industry are
not sure a roliback of ferry
rates to $12 from $14 for a
car and one passenger will

bring business back to the .
* Oregon or Washington,

island.

and a drought

“{t’s tough to sit back and
say happy days are here
again just because ferry
rates are cut,” said marina
manager Wayne Wagner,
“If (Transport Minister)
Jack Davis thinks he can
undo damage that severe
overnight, he can try and
tell if to our bank
managers.” .

‘

“To avoid the ferries, they
went to Alberta last year, or
to the Interior of B.C., or
south of the border ' to

countries are being attacked
on several fronts, but most
economists agree that the
basic solution is for the
industrialized countries to

import more goods from the
developing states. ;

Such increased imports
would add to balance-of-
payments problems faced
by most industrialized
countries and likely. would
anger protectionists. —

The alternative, however,

may well be worsening -

overty and growin
H litical instability in. the
ird World.

overnment

information in support of
their cause. |

Individuals who wish to
consult records _ the
government :ma have
about them ar e to be helped
under the proposed
Canadian Human Rights
Act. And specialists,
consultants ‘and private
citizens who need data and
results of government

. studies for their research

will benefit from the
principles outlined in the
Green Paper. .

The Green Paper points
out, however, that Canada,
like every other
government, must label
some papers secret or
confidential. The field of
international relations is an
obvious example. The
deliberations Canada has
with other NATO countries
on mutual defence should
remain confidential, To act
otherwise would be to lose
the confidence of our allies
and risk our own national
securily. —
SOME RESTRICTIONS
COMMON SENSE —

The restrictions on access
as oullined in the Green
Paper are a matter of

believes we. cannot
compromise relations with
our allies, italso believes we
must restrict information
that could compromise
federal-provincial relations.
Neither could we agree to
revealing personal
information about
individuals or the
‘correspondence between 4
private individual and @
Member of Parliament. It is
also important, of course, to
restrict information that
could impede the course of
justice.

The Green Paper is an
outline for. a public
discussion of the right of
access to -government
information. It is not
government policy. A
. proposal for’ legislation on
information access will be
drawn up only when the
opinions of every: level of
Canadain society have been
received and analyzed.

FISHING VESSELS |

CONSTRUCTION
ASSISTANCE '
_ Meanwhile, it will be of
interest ‘to a number o fyou
that help to owners of older
vessels is stressed in. the
federal
construction and
changeover subsidies for
1977-78. A total of $2.6
million will be. available
comprising of: $1.6 million
for construction of
replacement vessels and
$310,000 for vessel

conversion or modification :

{plus $650,000 for a carry-
over commitment for 1976-

77).

QUEEN CHARLOTTE
CITY WHARF REPAIRS
PLANNED

fishing vessel.

Just as the...

' I was most pleased to ©

announce this week that

- $36,050.20 has been allocated

for wharf repairs at Queen
‘Charlotte City, The work
will involve replacement of

the dock with. 4” treated’

lumber. .
KITIMAT FEDERAL
HOUSING

In other areas, $35,000 has
been allocated by: the
federal
Public:

housing in Kitimat. The job

- has been let to Kenst
Construction Limited of:
Kitimat and will involve -

replacement -of kitchen
cabinets, and kitchen’ an

-bathroom flooring. oo

department of
I Works for
., improvements to federal