B PUBLISHER: ROD LINK
WEB: www. terracestandard. com

ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. « V8G 5R2
- EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard. com

A4- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 9, 2005
ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988
TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 ¢ FAX: (250) 638- 8432.

= “WHAT A lifforonee 40 miles makes. Here in

Oe

Cn

Terrace, city council is struggling to find a way.

to finance its planned second sheet of ice sport-
- splex. What was once pegged to cost $4 million
is now at least $5 million, perhaps more if and
‘when the project actually goes to tender. Council
"has $3 million and change, and. how it will raise
the remainder is in question.

Just down the road, Kitimat’s council wants to
“update and improve its pool complex. It was to
‘cost $4 million but the price tag is now hover-
ing around the $ 10 million mark. The solution? In

- fairly. short order at a meeting last week, Kitimat
council: ‘voted to borrow $6 million. No fuss. No-

.muSS.

Of course, Kitimat has the luxury of a massive |

~ industrial tax base courtesy of Alcan. It’ll indi-
eetly shoulder the lion’s share of the’ ‘loan.
Given: ‘the ability of Kitimat to borrow large
«sums of money with little or no cost to its resi-
_.dences, Terrace council could do something very

innovative. It could ask Kitimat for help to close

_ the financial gap. for its sportsplex.

_ Too crazy? Not really. Kitimat would gain |.
huge political points for assisting a neighbour-

ing municipality. Shared-cost recreation facilities
‘would. benefit both: municipalities, providing a

~ boost to the quality of life for everyone. Terrace’s-

economic well-being:is very.much tied to the for
tunes of Kitimat. Closer bonds:cannot hurt. —.

If this does not. tickle the fancy of Kitimat and _

“Terrace councils, there’s another investment. op-
- portunity. Terrace’council i is very much involved
in an effort to buy the New Skeena mill here. Per-
_ haps Kitimat council is interested

pera te atl:

~~ Stop this —

WHEN IT comes to public safety, the provincial
government should not charge a fee. But that’s

_ exactly what it’s doing when motorists call to ob-

tain road report information.
The 75-cent-per-minute charge is a bit much

considering the need for motorists to receive the
most up to date information possiblé' before set-

ting out, particularly in the winter months.
The fee is even more wrong considering the
information is ‘freely available over the internet

through the transportation ministry’s website.
But not every person will have ready access to

the website if, for instance, they are staying ina
hotel or are parked on the side of the road, worry-
ing about what waits ahead. |

It’s not-as if the province can’t afford to elimi-

nate this fee for service. With a $2 billion surplus

sloshing around in the bank, the province has the

cash available. It’s something provincial finance

minister Colin Hansen should do as part of his
provincial budget announcement next week.

%

PUBLISHER/EDITOR:
Rod Link
ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgcur
NEWS: Jeff Nagel

2002 WINNER

CCNA BETTE NEWS/COMMUNITY: Jennifer Lang
NEWSPAPERS _ NEWS/SPORTS: Margaret Speirs
COMPETITION » FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping

+=" CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Alanna Bentham
ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS:

’ Bert Husband, Debbie Simons _

AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik
PRODUCTION: Susan Credgeur

SUBSCRIPTION. RATES BY MAIL:
$57.94 (+$4.06 GST)=62.00 per year;
_ Seniors $50.98 (+$3.57 GST)=54.55;
Out of Province $65.17 (+$4.56 GST)=69.73 —
Outside of Canada (6 months) $156.91(+10.98 GST)=167. 89
MEMBER OF
8.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION,
CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION

AND
B.C. PRESS COUNCIL (www.bcpresscouncil.org) ;

Serving the Terrace and Thornhill area. Published on Wednesday of each week al 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace,
British Columbia, 8G SR2.

Stories, photographs, illusirations, designs and typestyles in the Terrace Standard are the property of the copyright °

holders, including Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd. its illustration repro services and advertising agencies.
Reproduction in whole or in part, without written permission, is specifically prohibited.
Authorized as second-class mail pending the Post Olfice Department, for payment of postage in cash.

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

eo

“THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE

BoTHER ME,
BUT BEING
AS WE LIVE
INTHE
~ DEMOCRACY ~

WE po, |.
REPRESENT

EVERYBODY: a

forse os

WHO GET INVOLVED IN AN AWFul

LOT OF THINGS IN SOCIETY THe
REALLY, REALLY.

eae

ExcePT cuted BRIDES IN

ARRANGE PD MARRIAGES To

OLD GEEZERS LIKE ME------
AND BOY CHILDREN TOSSED OUT

OF TOWN BEFORE
. Tey CAN COMPETE

WITH OLD GEEZERS,

B. C. CONSERVATIVE MP Jim ABBOTT, ON POLYGAMY IN BOUNTIFUL:

IT'S raining money In Victoria

VICTORIA - It’s positively en-
ergizing heading into. work at
the Press Gallery right now. con-
-fident that each day will bring a

new spending announcement to:

report. -

The mining industry gets a -

$25-million boost one day, wom-

en's shelters $12.5 million the

_ next. Schools hit the jackpot, and

get $150 million. Legal aid gets
$4. 6 million more,
My rough count puts the tally

al something like $400 million in

the last three weeks. The steady —

flow of press releases and prom-
ises prompted BCTV to dig back

into the video vault; and find film -

~ frome the Liberals’ 1996 election
campaign:

Back. then they staged a stunt,

" that had a guy ina bad Glen Clark

mask slinging gold. coins offa

dump truck, the theme being that

the NDP was shovelling money
off the back of a truck to try and
buy votes.

- Gordon’ Campbell - nine
years younger — was there with a
shovel, scraping up. the coins off
the pavement and throwing them
back on the truck.

The whole thing was kind of
cheesy looking, the kind of stunt
that probably cost the Liberals:
votes in that close election.

So is it the same thing in re-
verse almost a decade later?
Are the Liberals doing just what
they accused the NDP of doing,
chucking money off the back of

o

IFROM THE CAPITAL

PAUL WILLCOCKS |

a truck and trying to buy peoples’

Votes with their own money?
Not really.

Sure, they’re trying” to. per-~

suade you that all sorts of good:
things will come if you just re-
elect them. And the Campbell
government, witha reputation for
indifference at best, mean-spirit-
edness at worst, is trying to show
that. it really cares about improv-
ing services.

But there’s at least one signifi-
cant difference this time around.
The Liberals can actually af-
ford to deliver on their promises
— or at least the ones made so far
— without creating future deficits.
Government revenues over the
next several years will cover the

c

increased costs. That wasn't true
forthe NDP in 1996,

The Liberals have their own
problems around these spending
announcements. |

Take the $150 million in ad-
ditional school. funding, for ex-

— ample.

Sounds like a lot. But even
with the increase, the money go-

ing to.school districts will have.

increased by 8.2 per cent since
the Liberals were elected. The
consumer price index, the basic
measure of inflationary pressures,
will have risen by almost, 14 per
_ cent through the same period.
Education minister Tom Chris-*
tensen argues that’s not really a

fair comparison. The number of ~
~ students in the system has gone

down, so school districts should’

‘expect less:money. -

That’s partly true. But a drop
in students doesn’t necessarily
translate into a drop in costs for
school districts; if there are 15

fewer children in a school. the

heating bill, admin costs and oth-
er fixed expenses stay the same.
(it’s especially critical in districts
outside the Lower Mainland,
which have seen the biggest en-
rolment declines.)

Still, the government can now
point to a real increase in the
amount of money available per
student. Since the. election the
amount of money school boards
get per student will have risen by
about $225, or 3.5 per cent, in

real terms, .

Other questions will remain
for some voters. Christensen said
the new money would be targeted
at providing library services, arts
and music programs and special
needs. Those were all areas hurt
by the education funding policies

_ introduced by the Liberals in their

first year.

The government position is
that there: was no choice, the
province couldn’t afford to pro-
vide the desired quality of educa-
tion for students.. Voters will be
judging whether that is true, and
how much the Liberals’ ‘mas- :

sive first- day tax cuts created the »

funding crisis.

Those judgments will be one .
factor in how: people view these.”
spending: announcements. The

‘other major factor will be. trust.

The Liberals have to convince ~
voters that they are promising the
spending because they believe

_the services are important —,and
.-not just.because we are in the last;

months before the election...
Footnote: Expect the an-'

nouncements to continue, Almost

all the initiatives unveiled so far.
will be inciuded=iti-the..Feb. 15
budget, but the Liberals want to
make sure they won’t be lost on
in the flood of news on budget
day.
That leaves almost two more
weeks of spending good news.
willcocks @ultranet.ca

LUCKILY LIT TLE things can
make my day: Like learning
Shoppers. Drug Mart has. ap-

’ plied to Canada Post for permis-
. Sion to open an outlet to replace

the one formerly situated in the

Bargain Store.
Or that thanks to the upcom-

ing election, the B.C. govern-

ment is about to restore $150
million to school districts.

My. best news this week,
though, was phoning ‘Terrace’s
GM dealer and having my call
answered by aliving person in-
stead of an automated system.

Hundreds of consumers like

me shun automated telephone .

systems.
I'm told tower mainland city
dwellers favolir automation.

Another demarcation . between
urban and rural thinking?

The mere prospect of deal-
ing with a Press 1, Press 2 sys-
tem makes:my temper flare, my

_ voice climb to a_helium pitch,

and my foul language vocabu-
_lary erupt.

. Automation so: repels me.

When I need general banking
information, not something

“specific t to my account, I dial:

a Now 1 T Wat YOUR GRAN

a FOR AN ATV TRAIL ne
BEEN APPROVED WE mMuST

Bee DISCUSS YOUR WORKPLAN

Me CERFORMANCE MONITORING

‘THROUGH BIFOCALS
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

the Terrace and District Credit
Union to speak with a person
immediately.

When my bank’s voice asks’
~ me, halfway through the riga-
~marole,

to punch ‘in my cus-
tomer number, I hesitate. Do
] have a customer number?

Where would I find it?. The

bank’s phone tires of waiting
and hangs up on me. It expects

. me to dial all over again. How
much do they think a customer

‘will take?

” ig : PAYMENT SCHEDULE. he

Mcl Lastman, long-time To-
ronto mayor, cared about serving
his public. In 1998 when he was

_mayor of North York, before it _
and 12 other cities amalgamated

with Toronto, he riding his city
hall of automated phones. He
instructed all employees to an-
‘swer their phones with a pencil

"and notepad handy.

To verify Lastman‘s orders
are sull being followed, in No-
vember | dialed Toronto city

“hall at 416-338-0338, A pleas-
_ ant female voice answered and
- ask me how could she direct my
call.

She ‘confirmed that Last-

- man’s outlawing of automated

phones still held. “We have a
voice menu for licences, and
callers then queue.” she told me.
Otherwise. she routes all calls,
Voicemail is used only to catch
the calls of anyone not availabic

- to take a call.

During our brief ‘conversa-
tton she excused herself for a.
moment and I heard her say, in

an aside obviously in. response

to. a visitor’s question,
the hall and to the left.”

“Down

Hearing her direct foot traffic: ;

You CAN’ T
ALK THIS

Press ‘1. to drive you insane

in the middle of my ¢all cheered
me. Not automated system can

‘multi-task as she did.

_ Often when I phone a busi-
ness such as a utility compa- -
ny; I'm not sure who can best
help me. Yet I must listen to a

-lengthy menu, trying tojudge

Whether [ve already been of-
fered my best. option or should |
Wait for a better option. If I find
I’ve run out of options, | must
re-listen to everything.

— Too often I must dial again
and start over. Where's the cus-
tomer service in that?

Telus is one of the most frus-
trating systems I’ve encoun-
tered.. No wonder subscribers:
are signing up with - alternate
providers. Besides Telus” exten-
sive menu, its “voice” is hard of
hearing. * a

So when I. phoned MacCar-
thy Motors today and reached
a helpful young man, not a
recorded voice, | was elated.
MacCarthy canceled its auto-
mated system experiment after
complaints by customers.

Too many companies ignore
customers’ complaints and ad-
here to automation.

QRK/

or You! «. You
pe | OBVIOUSLY.
4, HEVER HON