AA- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 23, 2000 ‘TERRACE STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 ¢ FAX: (250) 638-8432 EMAIL: standard@kermode.net Mike Scott CRITICS OF Mike Scott too easily write off his parliamentary career as being anti-native, being mean spirited and being down right nasty when it comes to land claim treaties. To be sure, Mr, Scott devoted a substantial amount of his career opposing how treaties are structured. He thought there was too much money involved, too much power and authority being handed over and that it was wrong to con- Stitutionally Jock in native self government. But Mr. Scott’s opposition goes beyond the terms and conditions of land claim treaties. He supported, for example, native women who | feel the current reserve system of government is male-dominated and works against their rights and who then worry about how that would play out in native self government powers. He felt the existing band system of government was not accountable to the people it was sup- posed to serve. In short, Mr. Scott mirrors the philosophical prime directive of first the Reform party and now the Alliance party — too much government is bad and that individual rights are stifled as a result. The irony is that there is a smidgen of common cause between Mr. Scott and natives. Mr. Scott fears government no matter what its structure. Natives say they’ve suffered under a particularly domineering and oppressive form of govern- . ment. So in the end, Mr. Scott’s legacy may well be that both he and natives are right. Boat rides ABOUT A decade ago Danny Sheridan, then a city councillor, discovered a ship tied up at a dock on the lower mainland. With some work, he judged, it could offer excursions up and down the Skeena River — just the thing for an area looking to develop a tourist attraction. Unfortunately, Mr. Sheridan’s plan never got beyond the thinking stage, but now, given the ex- - ample of the $5 boat rides offered this past River- boat Days, it deserves to be revived. If there’s one natural resource which could be used more for tourism, it is the Skeena River. What German or Japanese or American tourist could pass up a day or half a day on the river, complete with a lunch and a bit of history thrown in for good measure? How many pictures would be shown off back | home given the chance for a picnic lunch on a sunny sandbar or the opportunity to see a native fishwheel in action? How many local people have never had a chance to travel the river and how many visitors have we all had who marvel at the Skeena and would want to see it up close? PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS Jeff Nagel = NEWS/SPORTS: Keith Freeman NEWS/COMMUNITY: Jennifer Lang FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Carole Kirkaldy ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: | Sam Bedford, Mark Beaupre & Stacy Swetlikoff TELEMARKETER: Stacy Swetlikoff DARKROOM/COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik & Clare Hallock SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $54. 88(+$3,85GST) per year: Seniors $48.62 (+$3.40GST); Out of Province $61.69 (+$4,32GST) Outside of Canada (6 months) $151.60 (+$10.61GST) MEMBER OF = 6.C, AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION Ss AND + CNA compart emmares B.C. PAESS COUNCIL “Picnd Caleta ool Fates Serving the Terrace and Thomhill area. Publishad on Wednesday of aach waek at 3210 Clinton Streat, Tetrace, British Columbia, V8G 5R2. Stories, photographs, illustrations, desions and typestyles in the Terraca Standard are the property of the copyright holdars, Including Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd., tts dlustration repro services and advertising ae ston in whole of in part, without written permission, ls specifically prohibited. Authorized as second-class mall pending tha Pos! Office Department, lor paymant of postage in cash. Speciai thanks to ali our contributors and correspondents ~ for thelr time and talents MR, DAY IS AT THE DOOK AGAIN»... ON HIS KNEES THIS TIME... : ted € Nea 7 u 3 po This is not the way to treat an MP VICTORIA — For seven years, Keith Martin has represented the Reform/Alliance party in the Vancouver island riding of ~ Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca and judging from his popularity with voters, he has acquitted ~ himself well. Then he lost the leadership race for the Alliance Party to Stockwell Day which seems to have scuttled his future politi- ’ cal prospects. The first sign of trouble for Martin was Day's decision not to include him in his shadow cabinet. The wise victor does not humiliate his losing opponent, but tries to close the rift every leadership race causes by of- fering his former opponent an olive branch. I'm sure Day is astute en- ough to know this. His problem was..not so much that ‘Martin ran against him, but that sev- éral of his key positions are diametrically opposed to his own. First and foremost is that Martin does not vociferously oppose abortion. Although Day has pledged to abide by the will of the public, he is per- sonally opposed to aborting and doesn't want anyone in his inner circle who might allow that aborting is acceptable under certain circumstances. Martin's view that a two- tiered health car system could A salesperson in the making» ENTHUSIASM SEPARATES the lasksadaisicakal novice from the accomplished expert, and whether they excel in sky jumping or tie dyeing, watch- ing a champion perform is a joy. Hints of adult enthusiasms to come often show up at an early age: Oscar Peterson began playing piano at eight. Tiger Williams clubbed golf balls with vigour and accuracy before he was two. And Satur- day 1 met a ten-year-old who could become Salesperson of the Year in 2010. I found this budding sales- girl in the Barbie aisle of Zel- lers on my way to the jigsaw puzzle section. Though she seemed to be alone, out loud she was arguing the pros and cons of two boxes she held. She was fresh faced, coltish in-her movements, until during a break in her monologue I asked, “What would be a suit- me ALRIGHT. SkooKUM 17 Ba HOME IN (0 HouRS!! z ' FROM THE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER benefit our ailing public sys- tem is also too controversial for a patty that wants to form a government. The pro-life faction in Mar- tin's riding didn't take long to clue in to the new leader's un- spoken wishes and has pro- duced an opponent to Martin's. ‘nGmination in ‘the- person of Robin Richardson who ran Day's campaign in the riding. Richardson's campaign manager says Martin is too liberal to represent the party, an obvious reference to the man's stand on abortion. T understand the total oppo- sition to abortion by many Al- liance supporters and share it to the extent that I find partial- birth abortions horrid, but a partly that aspires to govern the nation should display a little more respect for dissenting opinions, THROUGH BIFOCALS : CLAUDETTE SANDECKI able gift for a seven-year-old pranddaughter?” As gracefully as Karen Kain, she stretched ta take down a tiny box from a row on the tap shelf. “This!” She handed me a feather- light box. Inside, behind a clear plastic window, stood a four-inch high princess dressed One of the Alliance Party's cherished political planks is to allow more free votes in Par- liament, a worthy objective. But what's good enough for Parliament, aught to be good enough for the Alliance's own ranks In a spirited defence of the riding association's move to unseat Martin, Blake Mac- Kenzie, Richardson's cam- paign manager, allows that Martin has a right to his opi- nions, ‘but that he must also expect criticism of his posi- lions. “That's called freedom of speech.” Well, freedom of speech is one thing. A re-enactment of Brutus! disaffection with Cae- sar is quite another, MacKenzie points out that any. federal Liberal MP dis- - agreeing with his or her leader to the extent that Martin has disagreed with Preston Man- ning, the former Reform lea- der, would have been kicked out of caucus. That's some comment from a man who is determined to unseat Martin and thereby ef- fectively kick him out of the party. Canadians may well ask what they can expect from a potential government that while championing free votes in Parliament, is willing to de- stroy the political career of in glittery medieval finery. “It’s a Kelly doll. I have ten of them. They’re Barbie's daughters.” Now my granddaughters have bins of dolls, many this size, they fill the bathtub with them on a hot afternoon while they soak away an hour. But I'd never heard of Kelly befare. “ld need one more. For her older sister.” She searched the row of boxes for an identical doll. No luck. She took down a court jester dressed in pink and green with a head dress that stuck out like a Texas steer's horns. The doll did at least have variety in its favour. “You can also buy clothes for them:” She held out a much larger box with several scraps of colourful cloth skew- ered like butterflies to card- board. “These will do fine,” 1] said. “Thanks for your help.” ° erals. " one of its own because he doesn't toe the party line or, more specifically, the leader's line. Day has burst onto the Ca- nadian political scene with un- deniable force. He halds perso- nal values dear and has the courage to express them in no uncertain terms. Many Cana- dians share those values, but their sense of fairness may well be offended by Martin's remo- val. Day would be well-advised to put out the fire in Esquimalt- Juan de Fuca, which is easier said than done, considering that, knowingly or unknowing- ly, he was the one who set it. Meanwhile, my advice to Martin is the same I gave him a few weeks ago: cut your losses and tun for the B.C. Tib- Under Day's Alliance lea- dership, Martin's obvious poli- tical talents will be wasted in Ottawa, but he could contribute a lot to British Columbia. For one thing, as Vern, a re- tired doctor and e-mail buddy of mine, points out, Martin is squeaky clean, and that is something we could really use in British Columbia. Beyer can be reached at: E - om a i ! hubert@cooleom.com; Tel (250) . 381-6900; Web Atlp:/iwww.hubertbeyer.com beet I left her to continue the ar- - gument with herself and made my way to a checkout where a clerk waited. Too often salespeople are portrayed as manipulators wha push us to buy what we don’t really want. In fact, a good sales person knows his pro- ducts, their merits and draw- backs, levels with us, and in the end helps up to buy a pro- duct that exactly fills our ex- pectations at a price we can afford. That's what the ten-year-old did for me. I left (he store con- fident our choice of a birthday gift would delight my grand- daughters and Mom, who will have few pieces to pick up. The dolls don’t make noise. They take up little space. And they will never need batteries. If only 1 could always so ea- sily find an equally heipful, knowledgeable, and enthusias- lic salesperson, HIGH FoOR OL BUDDY! \ TSKTSK! YOU NORTHERN BUMPLINS | US WGH FVE!: } ae Nor WH ASlEP | D0 IT AIN' HL!