Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 22, 1994 TERRACE STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 . ADDRESS: 4647 Lazelle Avc., Terrace, B.C. * V8G 188 TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 * FAX: (604) 638-8432 MODEM: 638-7247 Get Smart, eh LAST WEER’S deal to shelve the Gitksan and Wet’suwet’en land claims court case in favour of negotiations gives the provincial and federal governments a rare opportunity. For some time they’ve been the target of criti- cism for the way in which talks to settle another land claim, the one involving the Nisga’a, are being conducted. An agreement between the two governments and the Nisga’a on how those talks are structured has resulted in a Get Smart-like cone of silence. Nothing is clear and the oc- casional muffled words which do get out are hard to put into context. In response the governments have said they want to do something different for all future land claims talks, What that is is also unclear but at the foundation is a ‘desire to have more commu- nication, more information and more opportunity for the common person to understand what is going on and to give opinions. One of the problems is that governments and natives have set up land claims negotiations along old-fashioned management-union lines. Everybody has a secret and those that foot the bill — consumers or, in this case, taxpayers — are left in the dark until the very end. The base for this type of negotiation scenario sets up a game plan in which natives are forced to claw everything from governments that they can while governments try to hang on to as much as possible. Land claims negotiations of the size and scale underway in B.C. have never been done before. Since they are new, why then should the parties use old-line and outdated methods to conduct talks? The Gitksan and the Wet’suwet’en for years - have been saying they have nothing to hide in what they want. Their court case, by necessity, has laid bare their intentions. That being the case, a more open claims negoti- ations process is possible. It may not be exactly comfortable going for the negotiators or for their political masters. But it ultimately will be healthier and more democratic. Riot’s roots | THERE WAS a disturbing sameness to the mob which rioted in Vancouver after the last game of the Stanley Cup. Those in the mob were young, white, predominantly male, stupid and most like- ly drunk. It was a proud testament to a society which teaches freedom without responsibility, en- courages self expression without self control and permits anarchy without a basic understanding of what it takes to be part of a civilized world. Equally as disturbing as the riot is what is going to take place now. Most of the handwringing will concentrate on the actions of the police. Was what they did right? Did they overreact? What could they have done differently? It’s as if the politicians are going to look for somebody to blame. And it’Il be far easier for them to criticize the police than to look deep into their own hearts at the root causes which laid the foundation for such behaviour. QS if) PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Mike L. Hamm PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edoward Credgeur eontaccers A there! .., Welcome bEK... 5, Pea it Ie BE ‘ ‘AIDS, HI Roberta and there’ ‘ 15 OU HOG, COME... GEER NN. Fe LENE... i - Lies s 2 t eS) ) —_— =, if My a? VICTORIA — *‘No more fa- vors for friends and insiders” — Mike Harcourt during the 1991 election campaign. The public bought into Har- court’s promise in spades, Jaded by five years of scandal- ridden government under Bill Vander Zalm, voters wanted change, and the NDP was the most promising alternative. British Columbians got change all right, change for the worse, at least when it comes to patronage. ’ , Now, [ have to tell you that I never had much of a problem with patronage. In a province, as politically polarized as Brit- ish Columbia, a newly-elected government looking for people _in- high positions -hasn’t got much to choose from. Most folks are either left or right of centre. oO , I also submil that.a govern- ment. would be extremely foolish to fill important jobs with people who are politically opposed to it. The problem with the NDP, however, is that it fiercely op- . poséd any kind ‘of patronage | appointment when the party _ was in opposition. British Columbians, therefore, hada right to expect better from the -FROM: THE CAPITAL” HUBERT BEYER NDP government. But not only did the NDP embrace patronage, once they ' were in power, they, did so with a vengeance. During the two and a half years in power, the NDP has dispensed more political patronage , than the Socreds did-in the previous 16 years, . - Nothing unusual happened in the beginning. Nothing wrong with bringing a few party faith- ful into the premier’s office. Soon, however, a long line of NDP hacks began to pop up all over the place. The traffic got so congested that the govern- ment hired John Pollard to oversee the appointment of about 4,000 positions to government boards, commis- sions and agencies. The long list of prominent NDP supporters who were paid off with lucrative positions in- clude such luminaries as Doug McArthur, Robyn Allan, Johanna den Hertog, Joy Leach, Mare Eliesen and Tom Gunton. There are also disturbing signs of personal favors being granted to NDP supporters. One recent case in point. was the granting of taxi licences ' worth about $1,8 million to a personal Friend of employment minister Glen Clark’s. © The application by Richmond-based Kimber Cabs was turned down by the Motor Cartier Commission. When the company appealed to cabinet, a - practice that has since been abolished, Clark, who was to have heard the appeal, turned the job over to Energy ‘and mines minister Anne Edwards. After hearing submissions for a couple of hours — the Molor Carrier Commission had heard submissions for several days — Edwards overturned the commission’s decision, awarding the licences to Kim- _ ber cabs, And while she may have acted in good failh, she did ad- mit that Clark told her he couldn’t hear the appeal: be- cause of his friendship with the applicant. One must wonder to what éxtent that knowledge in- fluenced Edward’s decision. And finally, government crit- ics point to another alleged. form of patronage. The new — labour code, they say, favours trade unions and is a payoff for — past support. On this issue, the critics and [ part company. Having been’ — (rade Strong supporter of unionism for most of my life, the new labour cade would” — have favored labour even more ‘- if Thad written il, As:for the rest, yes, the Har- court government has elevated patronage to‘a new level; one that would have scared even Mulroney. Without shame, the same people. who went after the Socreds with a fury for any |. ‘appointment “that had. the faintest smell of patronage about it, are now herding their insiders. into . government boards, commis- friends — and- i tee tt Gagging on NDP favours sions and agencies with im- punity, Gag me witha spoon, Books list needs change — TERRACE’S PUBLIC library wants patron feedback on its May 1994 new books list printed as a cost cutting measure by computer, Pre- viously a staff member typed a list of titles received during the . month. Instead of being sharp, clear, © inviting, the printing of the May list is uneven’and messy looking. Columns. waver’ like: earthquake recordings on a seismograph. © Dewey decimals designa- lions are reduced to strings of numbers’ up to twelve digits jong with no. decimal... This makes finding the correct shelf uncertain in the low, number such as 005369 or 0705. Shelf numbers aren’t all. that leave me guessing. No longer does the list ‘specify for in-. slance Adult Non-Fiction, or | THROUGH BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI Junior Non-Fiction. I’m left to puzzle over c#1l, c#2 and ci#3, clueless as an illiterate in an airport. “Worst of all - and why J feel this cost-saving measure fails - long tilles are lopped off, often . with incomprehensible results, Take these four titles: * What Canadians believe but shouldn’t about * Source Book: a com- pendium of information on * The Lands of charm and cruelty: travels in S * Tenth report on the north- western tribes of vs For all these four titles told me, they could have “been © omilted, Because. I can’t visit the library regularly, monthly lists help me keep up with new titles. I read lists form beginning to end, circle prospective titles, then file the lists to cheek later for extra goodies. I recall my satisfaction when lists began to be printed with the month and year on the cover. I’m delighted the library is finally undergoing expansion; I just didn’! realize, to help. fi- nance the project, I’d have to compromise on the monthly New Books list. And while | appreciate the li- brary’s search for cost-culting measures — would that other tax-funded —instilutions fol- lowed suit — I miss ‘a crisp, ‘handy, enticing monthly guide to new books. If, in the future, I must make do with monthly lists printed In this haphazard fashion, could I be indulged with a brief inter- pretation of c#1, c#2, and other’. computer jargon? And’ can the computer be programmed -to hang in until it prints the full :tiile of a book - regardless of how many cxira trees il takes? ' Little economies do add: up. But this economy I‘don’t ”. favour, MAYBE ON THE i EPUCATION CHANNEL? WOULP IT BE OKAY To SIT ANP WATCH A FIRE iF iT WAS wee HOW COME ITS. BAD \i2 my TO WATCH TV FOR m HOURS BuT OKAY TO WATCH A FIRE ? NEWS COMMUNITY: Jeff Nagel * NEWS SPORTS: Malcolm Baxter OFFICE MANAGER: Rose Fisher .DARKROOM: Susan Credgeur ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Collier, Janet Viveiros, Howie Oram CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Charlene Matthews Serving the Tertace atea. Published on Wednesday of aach waak by Cariboo Press (1969) Ld, al 464° Lazalle Ava,, Terrace, British Columbla, . ‘Stories, photographs, illusttations, designs and typastyles in the Tartace Standard ate the property of {he copytight holders, Including Caribco Prass (i960) Lid, i's illustration repfe services and advortising agencies, va, : Reproduction In whole or in part, without written permisslon, is spacifically prohibited, ; Authorized as second-dass mail pending tha Fost Office Deparlment, for payment of postage In cash. IMPONDERABLES OF THE NORTH! Speclal thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for their time and talents