- A4-The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 17, 2005 |

TERRACE

TTANDARD

_ ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

_ PUBLISHER: ROD LINK .

_ ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. - V8G 5R2
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Gas attack ©

- PREMIER. GORDON Campbell and Prime Min-
|. ister. Paul Martin have every right tobe satisfied
7 with the State of the Provincial and federal econg-

- mies. :

_Ments are operating in a surplus position and the

“money keeps rolling in. | |

One of the stellar provincial economic perform-

_ers-is the energy industry. The insatiable North |

American. demand for-oil and gas has placed the

_ Provincial energy industry i in an Alberta-like state

a of revenue producers. ~— : 7

7 Companies’ are bidding big dollars for access

ad ‘to northeastern gas fields and they’re following

with large. investments, adding to the provincial
and federal governmental: bottom lines.

~ But as much as the two governments may pub: |

~icly revel i in the increased revenue from energy

_ exploration and production, they also Teap many. |

; millions i in hidden taxes.

And that tax comes when people fill up at the
"pump. ‘Taxing | gas is a great way for a government
“ to'raise money. By and large, we’ re all captive to
_ vehicles, creating a fixed demand for. gas result-
_ ing in'a rock solid government revenue source. _

Some of those taxes are fixed; others’ aren’t.

Fixed taxes’ would include the federal. 1.5 cent a.
litre hit imposed to fight the deficit. Odd that it’s |

. “ _ still there given the deficit has been gone for sev-

-eral years now. Also fixed’is the 3.5, cents a litre:
_ tacked on ‘by Premier Campbell to finance road:

~-construction.
Other taxes move up or down viith the price of
the fuel. That would include the seven per cent

federal GST. The more the | price rises, the greater

EGST, take’ becomes.

“Generally speaking, the cost of crude oil is 42

per cent of the pump price. Right on the heels are
the various governments, federal, provincial and

others, with a take of 39 per cent. (And as much

as we would all like to rant and rave about oil
companies, their profit i 1S approximately two per
cent of the price.)

So when is enough enough? When can the pub-
lic demand that the governments account for all

of this hidden windfall? It is simply insufficient
for this extra money to sit in a. government bank

~ account’to be doled: out whenever there i isa politi-
‘cal advantage. ae my
_ The public’ must demand that somiething spe-
| cific be done with this. new found wealth. What
would be wrong with assigning this money to a

- specific provincial account to pay down the pro--

» vincial debt?

Or how about reducing the amount of taxation? ;

What is Prime Minister Martin doing by still col-

-lecting. the deficit elimination tax when the deficit

has disappeared? It’s.always better to have money
| in the hands of the public and not with the state.

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NEWSPAPERS

, MEMBER OF
B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION,
_ CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION
. . AND
BL c. PRESS COUNCIL (worm bepresscouncl org)

Special thanks to all our contributors and
correspondents for their time and taients

By and large, employment i is ‘up, both govern-

4

COMPETITION

4

- there are a couple of aspécts —
about these articles that are €S-

oiices -

a

f
i
osm §

4

RECENTLY DON Cayo wrote ”

a couple of articles for. The
Vancouver Sun on Kitimat and
_.the continual fight embroiling

that community concerning
its primary employer, Alcan’s
Kitimat Works.

Although this community is |:

the source of endless: material,

pecially disturbing. °
One has to do with what

was said. The other has to do

with what was omitted.

- J am-sure it came with a bit

of shock for most people -in

’ Kitimat to read that their lead-

ership viewed the communi-
ty’s role as an “industrial park
for Terrace. . ;

What may have been even
more disappointing, if not dis-

- turbing, was the revelation that
‘the “fate” of Kitimat was tied —

“to! heavy ‘industry; or as the’

District of Kitimat’s economic

"development officer put it, “if

a horse is a horse, you can’t
make itintoacow”.
The article painted a picture

of the second largest flat val--

ley in B.C. being lined with
one heavy industry after an-
other; a vision not necessarily

_ Shared by. all.

In. Terrace, the thought of
Kitimat as our industrial park
would be welcomed as good
news... -

' Tam sure the Mayor of Ter-
race would be one of those was.

‘looking forward to the new tax ©

revenues. It did confirm the
success this community has
had in: marketing’ themselves

~as “the hub of the northwest.”

“It sent a clear message to
new potential investors, espe-

ROGER HARRIS .

cially in in ‘the s service sector, ‘that
Terrace is the place to invest.
‘and tosetupsshop. ..

This message couldn’ thave
worked better for Terrace in its

Cellulose.

This view continues to ig-
‘nore the fact Kitimat is a com-
munity on the West Coast of
Canada.

It is not at the end of the
road but could be a place of
“destination.”

It is located just three hours
by rail and highway to what is
‘anticipated to be the next .con-
tainerized: super port on the
west coast of North America

in Prince Rupert.

-- Today, Kitimat has an op-
portunity with the wide valley,
uncluttered rail and highways
systems, low cost. land’ and
housing that its economic de-
velopment officer speaks of to
branch out beyond just heavy
industries.

In 1950, industrial develop-

effort to re-invent itself.after.-
' Terrace lost its‘ Alcan, Skeena

“ment. was seen as the method ©

of establishing and building .
~ communities in the remote re- |

gions of the province.
-. The public acceptance of

‘resource extraction and en-
- vironmental degradation was
_ seen as the price to pay for re-. «

alizing that development.

. Communities ‘were built
around industrial parks, min-

|: ing operations, logging camps °

and fish plants. . |
But follow the history of the

J province closely. It is a his-

tory of communities that have

“come. and gone around these

same industries.

In 2005, the industries. that —
‘communities build around are

more sustainable and require a
greater degree of public scru-
tiny and acceptance.

» One look at towns like To- -
fino or Ucluelet on Vancouver -
Island or Tumbler Ridge in
northeastern B.C. show how
successful communities can
be in attracting entirely new
and different businesses into
their town to complement their
heavy industries.

They ‘have built successful,
growing communities that re-
flect the vision expressed by
all of the people who call that
region home.

_ That brings me to what is
again the forgotten component
in every discussion around the
Kitimat. Valley:

There is more than one -
community in the valley that

has a voice, opinion and vision
for the region other than the ©

District of Kitimat.

The Haisla is one of those

Kitimat’ S vision found lacking |

voices.
The absence. of these voices

seems to. be a'constant theme

today in every discussion.
This isn’t unusual as the

current. legal dispute the ‘city .

finds themselves in equally ig-
nores the role of first nations.
In that case, this absence of

view isn’t. limited to just the -

Haisla but includes every oth-
er aboriginal community - that
has an intergst in the Nechako
watershed.

You only have to look to..
the “Haida or events. around |
‘New Skeena for some idea of.
how that could look, but thatis _

_ for another article.

“In today’s reality, the Hais-
‘la; not the District of Kitimat,

will have more to say in deter-
mining how and what devel-
opment in the valley \ will look
like. et

paSoers)

What is re-assuring is their

vision has not been ‘restricted
to heavy industry but looks at
the other potential opportuni-
ties being presented.

They are looking not only
to heavy industries but also
attracting smaller community
based investments in tourism,
forestry, forest related activi-
ties, food processing and com-

mercial fishing to name a few. ae

‘ Curiously enough these are
“the kinds of industries that tend
to attract people into regions,

support local business, and di-. |

versify. regional economies, a

model that is starting to,work
well in many other communi- od

ties.

be so much more.
Maybe their “fate” is in the
vision being offered. -

YOU MAY be enthralled as

. well-funded: football team of:

TV’s professional renovators.

attack an. outgrown dwelling

' with a burly backhoe, reducing

the structure to rubble before

‘replacing it with something
- grander inside of a week.

But they don’t impress me.
“They’re working - with a

“experts. Let me see one of
them coping alone, on a shoe-

. String budget.

_ living room. Off a hall, a smal!

That’s how I modified our
home to make it work for us.

The front half of our mobile
home combined kitchen and

bedroom became my sewing
room. There, seated behind a
sewing table custom carpen-

tered to: give maximum sur-'

_ face, I toiled in the tiny room

much of the day. ©

So long as the kids were

away in school, the phone

. didn’t ring, and I didn’t at-
- tempt to cook, all went well.
Few days went well.

‘I use the word “attempt”
‘with good reason. When du-
ties forced me to multi task,
my culinary style resembled
a TV chef squeezed by an up-

CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

coming commercial break.

Some days my cooking put
both family and neighbours at
risk. For once the ingredients
were popped into a pot and en-
trusted to the range, I depend-
ed upon my nose and ears to
monitor the meal’s progress.

Engrossed in ripping stitch-
es, I often delayed responding
‘to signals such as grey smoke
and the crackle of a saucepan
boiling dry until carrots were
too bummed to eat and lamb
stew welded to the pan.

THROUGH BLFOCALS.

We ate Cajun before Cajun

became trendy.

‘Besides the need to reduce
cooking risks, I had two oth-

. er movies for renovating my
-surroundings. Our two young
_ girls would quietly scale chairs
-and cupboards to reach high ,
shelves. I worried they might

injure themselves.
In addition to our mountain

_ climbers, the phone jack had

been installed in the living

_room. When the phone rang I

had to jump up from my ma-
chine, wriggle past bulky fab-

ric or canvas to reach the door, ©
then hurry along the short hall. :
A hassle.

If cordless phones — or more
money — had been available, I
would -have called upon BC
Tel to install an extension near
my machine.

Lacking that option, I stud-

ied my unsatisfactory situation, .
determined a logical solution I °

could do on my own, and se-
lected a keyhole saw from my
husband’s shop tools.

The modification I planned
was contrary to my upbring-
ing. In the home where I grew
up, built by my grandfather, no

|So much for that Cajun cooking

one was allowed to drive even
a brad into our plaster-on-lath
walls.

_ If we wanted to hang a pic-
- ture or a calendar, we made do

with the brads Grandma had
tapped i in decades before.
Quelling my nervousness, I
marked a twelve-inch square
on the wood’ paneling parti-
tion, drilled a starter. hole,
and. poked the tip of the key-
hole saw through it. Purely by
chance, I’m sure, Tavoided en-
countering a stud. -

The resulting square hole,

though far from precise or
pretty — filing of fhe splinter
margins helped — let me see

_into the kitchen.

Sounds made by the kids
and smells created by cook-

ing carried better. And when

the phone rang, I could reach
through the hole and catch the

call without lifting my foot off -

the treadle.

My family couldn’t believe
what I had done. But once
accustomed to it, everyone

agreed the hole worked for.

them, too. The kids felt less
cut off from my company. And
we ate fewer Cajun dishes.

Kitimat ¢ and the Valley can |