Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 27, 2002
TERRACE —
ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988
PUBLISHER: ROD LINK
ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2
TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 « FAX: (250) 638-8432
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In the dark

WHAT? A politician without any opinion?
Strange, but true in the case of Terrace city coun-
cil Feb. 11 in considering a request from Thorn-
hill regional district director Les Watmough.

Mr. Watmough wanted city council to take a
stand on B.C. Hydro. As is the case with every
facet of the provincial government, B.C. Hydro is
due for a shake up and rumours are rampant it
may be sold or otherwise changed. At the heart of
the issue is the prospect of deregulation which
can only mean one thing, higher prices.

Mr. Watmough argued against this and with
good reason. B.C. Hydro is the crown jewel of
provincial crown corporations, providing cheap
and affordable power, giving all British Colum-
bians stable energy prices and a solid source of
income.

Councillor David Hull agreed, and wanted
council to write the provincial government urging
it to proceed with “extreme caution and dili-
gence” in any move to change B.C. Hydro.

That’s not exactly a call for armed revolt, but
Mr. Hull’s motion died for lack of a seconder. In-
stead, council did decide on a watered down letter
asking the province to “consult” with communi-
ties if it contemplates any change.

Mr. Hull’s fellow councillors did say they
could not be certain of some of the numbers pre-
sented by Mr. Watmough. Councillor Ron Van-
derlee, himself an employee of a major utility,
Pacific Northern Gas, did say no one knows for
sure what might happen to energy rates.

True enough, but Mr. Watmough’s presenta-

tion included figures. contained. in.the provincial
govetnment’s own position paper’ on energy‘ pri:

cing. It indicates a move to what is called market
pricing through deregulation would boost rates
here by 30 per cent. That alone should have
caused council to take a more active stance.

The provincial government is readying B.C,
Hydro for a massive change — a change that will
affect every British Columbian. By not being for-
ceful, council, with the exception of Mr. Hull, is
content to abandon the field even before the start
of the vigorous debate which must follow once
the province comes clean with its plans for B.C.
Hydro.

Mr. Watmough’s stand has already been taken
up by the regional district. The city is part of the
regional district. To be part of a strong motion
one week and then to follow up with a weaker
one the next is puzzling, contradictory and sends
a bad message to Victoria.

The unsettling feeling is that somehow provin-
cial partisan politics came into play here. It’s OK
to shift uneasily in your seat on the boat, but for
heaven’s sake, don’t rock the thing. That cannot
be the case here.

The future of B.C. Hydro is far too important
for mere politics.

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ey

7 Tae DEFICIT
WILL BE WIPED OUT
IN THREE YEARS

_

Collins gets some budget praise

VICTORIA — Gary Collins, the
Minister of Finance, intro-
duced the Liberal povern-
ment's 2002/03 budget Feb. 19.

First the bad news: The
budget anticipates an all-time
record deficit of $4.4 billion,
not exactly what Gordon
Campbell, the premier, had in
mind when he promised a
“New Era”.

To cope with the rising cast
of health care, the government
will raise the provincial sales
tax to 7.5 per cent from 7 per
cent, slap another $8 on a car-
ton of cigarettes and increase
Medical Service Premiums by
50 per cent.

The good news is that by
2004/05, the budget will be
balanced, deficits a thing of
the past. At least that's the
plan.

It’s an ambitious plan, to be
sure, based, according to the
minister, on conservative eco-
nomic. growtl and revenue.cs-.
tiniatés: in ‘the-yearsaheadia |

Should the ‘government be
able to deliver on it, it will
probably be forgiven for its
current austerity measures that
include drastic cuts in services
and publi¢ sector staff, as well
as the aforementioned tax in-
creases.

Putting his and the govern-
ment’s political future on the
line, Collins began his budget
speech with these somewhat
daring remarks:

“Today, 1 want to give offi-
cial notice that, on February
17, 2004, I will present to this
House and the people of Brit-
ish Columbia with a balanced

An itch

THE INSTANT a doctor en-
cases any fractured part of
your body in a plaster cast,
you gain respect for the hand-
icapped, and an itch.

At age 19 I attended the
first three months of a secre-
tarial course, posture perfect
as any army general, in a full
bodycast that sawed my arm-
pits when I walked and cut
into my thighs when I sat.

My class wardrobe consis-
ted of two washable linen
dresses, one red, one grey,
both with buttons down the
front and six sizes larger than
my normal 14. By the time
June and gypsum emancipa-
tion arrived, ] had an arsenal
of rat-tail combs, knitting nee-
dles, and a wooden yardstick
for scralching itches.

The day my cast was sche-
duled to be removed, my sister
helped me attack it with
sharp-pointed scissors. By the
time we headed downstairs to
breakfast our bed looked like a
ceiling renovation had taken
place. The sheets were
crumbed, with plaster chunks

| WE CAME.To TELL YoU
OoR BUDGET CAN'T Coved,
YOUR, £1200 PROJECT!

ent

_FROM. THE CAPITAL

HUBERT BEYER

provincial budget that will be
Sustainable in the years
beyond,”

Throughout his budget
speech, the minister was
downright effusive about the
future for which this budget is
to lay the foundation.

“We will see a different
society, We will see a differ-
economy. -We will have

filling their dreams. Children
and their parents ‘will be
healthier, and communities
will be stronger.”

That will get us darned
close to the vision of the late
and famed Phil Gagliardi, who
once told me he wanted to see
“every British Columbian go
to work with his lunch bucket
in the morming, whistling a
happy tune.”

To revitalize the forest in-
dustry, Collins promised the
government will move toward
a market-based stumpage sys-
tem, introduce tenure reforms
to help the sector compete,

eet

THROUGH BIFOCALS:
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

and scraps of stockinette lin-
ing. I skipped into the kitchen,
flexible and free.

Ever since, I’ve been a
model for Workers’ Compen-
sation, intent on sidestepping
any return to the plaster room.
Until Sunday morning on my
way to meet our grandchildren,

I stepped on the only patch
of ice on Dobbie, lying in wait
under a dusting of snow gra-
nules, and sailed into a back-
flip. Had I not halted half way,

‘epeople watkings andsfats...

WELL, AT 700 GACH
FOP AIR FARE PLUS MEALS
ANDACCOMOPATIONS ,
YOU COOLD HAVE...

provide greater certainty with
a working forest base and
streamline the Forest Practices
Code.

The industry will, no doubt,
welcome these changes and
some of them are long over-
due. The forest Practices
Code, for instance, has be-
come a bureaucratic night-
mare, The potential danger is
that regulations will be relaxed
to a point where we return to
what was once called
“sympathetic administration,”
which largely ignored environ-
mental concerns.

The small business sector is
to benefit from a measure out-
lined in the budget, according
to which the threshold for
small businesses” income tax
rate is increased to $300,000
from the current $200,000.

Collins said he wanted to
dispel “the myth that the
health care budget is being
cut,”, pointing out. that this
of “Health will increase ‘to
$10.2 billion from last year's
$9.5 billion.

“So no-one should confuse
the changes we are making,
changes designed to get more
out of every health care dollar,
and to increase the quality of
patient care. No-one should
mistake these changes for
funding cuts.”

To compensate for the in-
creased health care budget,
the government had to raise
taxes, even though it is reluc-
tant to admit that the hikes in
health care premiums and to-
bacco are tax increases. Still,

using my hand as a brake, I
might have rated applause like
Scott Hamilton. Instead I
earned a wrist fracture.

Wearing any cast but espe-
cially one that encircles your
chest is akin to waiting out the
last six weeks of a normal
pregnancy,

You know your due date but
no way can you healthfully
hasten it. If you suffer claustro-
phobia you'll fear you'll run
short of oxygen, in your lungs
or in your bload. You'll fear
that your fingers or toes might:
turn blue, then gangrenous,
You can’t expand your air in-
take beyond the limitations
imposed by the cast. Brooding
about how being trapped you
feel won’t ease your anxiety.

If any fracture can be coun-
ted lucky, this one was. [’m
right-handed; I broke the left
wrist. I could also have broken
a hip, an arm, a collar bone,
the timing, too, has a bright
side. I’m unlikely to freeze
without mittens, and by hol
weather with its yard chores of
mowing and dusty raking, the

_yearls budget for ihe’ Ministry" tn

STAYED ROME AND SENT 7
OS THE

if it quacks like a duck and
walks like a duck, chances are
it’s a duck.
Together these three mea-
sures wiil bring in an additional
$758 million in revenue, rough-
ly equivalent to the increase in
the health budget.
Sources have told me tha
the government is quite worried
the steep hike in tobacco taxes
could trigger and increase in
smuggling. Also worrying, they
said, was the fact that a-com-
mercial cigarette machine that .
can turn out the same products
as those on the shelves can be
purchased fer about $20,000.
On a more personal note, I
have to profess to a reluctant
admiration for Collins. During a
press conference in the media
lockup, a couple of hours be-
Tore he stood up in the legisla-
ture to deliver his budget
speech, Collins fielded ques-
tions from reporters more com-
most finance ministers

etently
Batbae hia NREL

“'Reportérs at press conter-

‘ences and media scrums are

considered a hostile crowd, but
Collins walked through the
minefield of loaded questions
with extraordinary ease, offer-
ing some convincing explana-
tions for the tax hikes, at times
falling back on the oldest one
that. blames the previous gov-
ernment for everything wrong.
All told, he didn’t da too
badly, And that’s as far as I'll
go in my praise. ‘
Beyer cay be reached at:
E-mail: inbert@coolcom.cam;
Tel (250) 381-6900; Web
Attp: (www. hubertbeyer.com

cast will be gone. Coe

Until the swelling subsides,
I'm banned from dish washing.
Plates spin, glasses twirl when
sctubbed one-handed. Holding
“Fall on Your Knees” aloft
with one hand means little
reading before lights out.

Safety medicine bottles are
impossible ta open. If 1 position
the bottle against the cast so I
can push down on the lid, my
fingers can’t clutch the bettle.
Conversely, if | grasp the bot-
tle, I can’t push. I settled for
transferring 42 tablets to an or-
dinary bottle on a high shelf.

Donning a jacket quickly
when customers arrive was
salved with scissors and a deli-
berate cut through the elastic
cuff and into the sleeve. Learn-.
ing to hold the phone with my
right hand and writing notes at

you cannot scratch

‘the same time will take prac-

tice. The cast shortens my
fingers until only thumb. and
index touch,

The cast was applied less
than 12 hours ago but I’ve al-
ready tied a retrieval string to
my letter opener.

Ok! Money //