oan years.

a

| A4-The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 17, 2008

US isthe

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 :

Le. “WEB: www. terracestandard. com et
EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard. com’

~ Rupert way -

“THE FUTURE: of Terrace. very much resides j in.
" what’ S going on 90 miles down the road i in Prince
Rupert. coy e “ :
‘So that’s why n news ‘there of a SAI 4. million
“contract. being awarded to two companies to build.
. the inland portion of that city’s S container port is.

bog. welcome. a

| By July 2007 all of- the container yard work
. . heeded prior to. installing three. massive cranes
>. which will be used to lift containers from railcars
"© will be in place. - a a :

_: «To date, $82. million i in ‘contracts have been let
“toward construction, of. the container ‘port. which-
will: “offer: ‘the. closest .sea connection 1 between

; >. North’ America’ and Asia.

.°, *. Just as encouraging is today’s start of Prince’
_ Rupert’ s cruise ship season when two ships ¢ are
oa due i in port followed by two tomorrow. .

: '. Prince Rupert has played host for several years

. of: smaller cruise ships but it’s the big ones that
a have spurred economic development i in that city.

In 2004, 55-cruise ships with a capacity of’
60, 000 passengers docked. That: grew last year‘to

at -73 port: calls of. ships. with a capacity to CATT al :

. ‘most. 98,000 passengers.

oy ‘There won’t be any growth this year but Prince.
: - Rupert officials are developing the reputation :
of t their city as an: attractive location for future,

The key here t to ) Te errace’ S. s future. may not come
a in the fortn of direct employment. Instead we will

7 benefit from spin off benefits by having more peo-
- ple in Prince Rupert working who will then visit
- here to. shop and purchase services not available
_ in,that -port,city,.That:s always been;the case in

this: Tegion' ‘where ‘each city and town. is dependent “

upon each other.
Less encouraging news from Prince. Rupert i is
_. yet another extension given to Chinese-owned
_. Sun Wave Forest Products which is trying to put
‘together a deal .to re-open the long-closed pulp
| mill there. .
~. Prince Rupert officials counsel patience in what
isa complicated process, that ultimately relies on -
the approval ofthe Chinese government for not:
‘only the purchase Price ‘but the money | needed to”
_ Te-start the mill. |

. - But. the extension also effectively locks t up the
fibre ‘supply that would be used to feed the mill.
Simply put, other companies which might be ina

position to invest in.innovative ways to‘use that

fibre are either left hanging or looking to pit their
money elsewhere. .

‘This also puts the Terrace Lumber + Company i in.
a tough spot for while it may be able to sell lum-.
ber, it needs a market for its chips. —

For those keeping score, that’s two pluses for
the new economy and one minus for the old econ-
~ omy. Call it a glass half-full. |

- PUBLISHER/EDITOR:

: ~Rod Link
ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach
~ PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur

NEWS: Sarah A. ‘Zimmerman ,
COMMUNITY: Dustin Quezada
. . NEWS/SPORTS: Margaret Speirs.
. FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping, Carolyn Anderson

- CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Alanna Bentham. : ws

; ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS:

_. Bert Husband, Ellie Higginson 2005 WINNER
* .AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik  . NEWSPAPERS
COMBETITION |

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 .

BL. AND YUKGN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION,
" GANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION

. AND :
B.C. PRESS COUNCIL (wwnw.bepresscouncil.org) _ “Jueie Coeabe se bode
_ Serving the Terrace and Thomhill ztea. Published on Wednesday of @si » Prac
each week at 3210 Clinton Svesi, Terrace, British Columbia. VeG 522. Black Press
emace Standard TO aF

Stories, photographs, itustrations, designs and Typastes in tne 7

Resxoductio in hoe or in pat. wetoxt writen permission, i speatoaty prot
Authorized 2s second-class mail pending the Post O'fos Department, for pawment

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

_ tario,

4

7 wow! THis 1S $o (COOL.. WE™
CAN Act UALLY WATCH THEM

. FEATHER |
“THEIR |
} iNest

7

“JUSTHOURS after the Harper” f
Conservatives tabled its fed-' -
“| -eral’ budget ‘scrapping signed
provincial- federal. child care+
_ agreements, over 150 parents |"
|. ‘and their children, grandpar-
of cents,» early ‘childhood : educa-
tors, child care operators, ad-._
” vocates and concermed citizens .
jammed a public forum in Vic- =
storia, =

- They asked why the BC gov-.

ernment remained ‘silent on-

“this critical issue.

Unfortunately, there was no *
‘one. in attendance who could °:

explain © the provincial’ ‘gov-
ermment’s: inaction, ‘despite.

~ an ‘Ipsos-Reid poll last: month

‘that showed two-thirds of Brit-

cial child care agreement.
-Earlier in the day, B.C. fi-
nance minister Carole Taylor

, publicly applauded the federal
budget, calling it “very. -POsi-.. ,
tive” despité the élimination
~ of a $5 billion, five-year com-

mitment. to a national child
care program that would have
provided almost $200 million
a year for additional child care
spaces. , — .

- Other provincial’ govern-
ments have spoken out against
the scrapping of the national

< ish Columbians disapprove of.
scrapping the federal-provin-.

child care plan, including On--

Manitoba,
ewan and Quebec.’ These
squeaky wheels have managed
to get some oil, squeezing:
additional federal child ‘care’
monies for themselves, but not

B.C. This is no time for our -

government to be silent.
Child. care, in’ B.C. has
_ reached critical mass. There

Saskatch-»

are simply not enough afford-.

able child care spaces to meet
the "needs. of families.

In the

. GEORGE HEYMAN

. past three years, the B. c “sow

ernment has cut $40 million.
from child care funding ‘and
reduced subsidies for low-in-
come families. The cuts have
forced child care centres to
close or reduce spaces, lay off
early childhood educators, and
raise parént. fees ‘by#as much
ds 30 percent.
hood educators have seen their
wages and benefits cut, some

_by as much as 50 per cent—in —
‘many cases, voluntarily, sim-

ply to keep their centres from
closing.

The $1,200 a year taxable
family allowance (but only for
children under six) — the fed-
eral government's answer to,

a national child care system
. — doesn’t come close to cover-

ing the real cost of child care,
nor does it create child care
spaces. After taxes, the $100
a month per child amounts to
significantly less.

Just ask Jennie, mom of
five-year-old Jake. Never in

"a million years did Jennie ever.
think she‘d wake up one day a —
single parent without a nickel .:

of child support from her son’ s

7 - father, no 0 family support, and
~ -indesperate need of child care.
_ She works ‘three jobs, includ-

ing overnight ‘shifts, weekends -

and days. ‘One job pays $10.50

an hour. After deducting $10.

an ‘hour -for overnight. child

* Care, she’s earning 50 cents, an

hour.. That’s $4 for an eight-
hour shift. And it gets worse:

- the provincial government re-
cently cut her child care sub-—
~'sidy by two-thirds because she

apparently ‘makes too. much,

‘seem

money.

Believe it or not, Jennie “is

one of the lucky ones. She’s

- found a caregiver for her son.,
But it’s a far cry from the li-’.
ccensed child. care centre that
Jake is used to, where he was ©
greeted by hugs and affirma-

tion, where he “developed em-
pathy and was known as the
“ambassador” for helping oth-

benefits, °

‘they can just fly.”

to endl up in ‘poverty and more

_likely to succeed as adults.

~The ‘Vancouver Board of

“Trade. supports. publicly. fund-

ed child care for its economic -

back for investment. in chile

~ dren aged 0-6 years. ne
Fortunately for Jennie, little” _

Jake spent. most .of his pre-" -

“school years ‘in licensed child’ .:
“care and will reap the benefits.

when he: starts. kindergarten -
next: year and for years :to. ©
“come. Says Jennie:

“All that. *
nurturing, support, and non-. *’
punitive learning prepares a.
child for school. From there, 7

So why is the B.C. govern-.-

- Ment sitting silently by while
“our country’s dreams of a na-. .

tional: child care system are
dashed? , -

er children, where, he Jearned,.5.... -Premiet.Campbell, as os

-, to build a’ ‘volcano; and read.
Early child-

But. it’ 's a place: Jake can’t -
go to anymore even though he
loved it and misses it terribly.

Even. if they could afford

it, Jake has lost his space in
the child care centre.

be in kindergarten long before
he makes it through the long
waitlist to get another space.

‘ The truth is, when it comes to

licensed child care, it’s a dog-
eat-dog world out-there.
Savvy parents. know

at more than once child care
centre as soon as they become
pregnant.

, Funding child. care is el-
ementary. - -Study after study
has shown that children who
receive quality, licensed early
childhood education do better
in school, have fewer behavior-
al problems, and are less likely

He'll .

to’
“put their. names on waitlists

< equivocal - in his” criticism’ of, -

Harper Conservatives for re-
neging on the Kelowna Ac-
cord: on First Nations and I
commend him for it. ~
Speaking i in the legislature,
the premier called-on the fed-
eral government to “respect
the letter, spirit and content of .
the undertaking of 14 of Cana-
da’s 14 first ministers only five
short months ago”, and vowed

‘his government will “stand up —

strongly” to ensure the federal

government's honors its com-

mitments.

Where, are the strong words
in support of the signed fed-
eral-provincial agreement on

_ child care?

George Heymari is
president of the B.C. Govern-
ment and Service Emplovees’
Union (BCGEU) and a former
resident of Terrace, B.C.

newspaper. ©

Consequently 1 was taken
off-guard when I tagged along ;

with family |

I merely |

to the house of .

the Clay Artists of Terrace So- ©

ciety.

housewarming combined. with
‘a spring sale to celebrate the

. studio’s grand opening. -

Instead I thought I was at-
tending to admire the pottery
achievements of youngsters
including my youngest grand-

daughter. I was prepared to
“murmur words. of encourage-
ment. over warped lumps of

“gray clay passing as coasters, .

catchall bowls and_paper-

' weights. Quelle surprise!

With only $10.in my pock-
et, intended to pay for a round
of soft ice-cream cones on our
way. home, I filed in. Within
a few strides of the front door

I began reading labels identi-
fying the potter, with printed
prices ranging from $8 up.
Clearly much more was ex-
pected from me than a pat on

Had I read the paper T°
- would have known this was a

THROUGH ‘BIFOCALS:

"CLAUDETTE SANDECKI
my granddaughter’ s. shoulder

in recognition of an attractive
leaf-shaped tray awaiting its

- turn in the kiln.

Another line I hadn’t read

‘in the newspaper would have

alerted me to the tables of

baked goodies ranging from —

two of my favourites — Na-
naimo bars and butter tarts — to
mouth-watering clumps of red
and green grapes, and moist
carrots. ,

I passed both by. I’m not

_depriving myself of treats

since Christmas to lose win-

_.ter pounds only to gain half
back in one reckless afternoon.
- Even if the calories are free.
_ I distracted myself from the |
- tarts by nudging into:a circle
of intent visitors observing a

veteran potter as she threw: a
vessel ... twice.

‘Who can help be entranced
by the curves and symmetrical
shapes an experienced pair of
hands produce molding damp
‘clay as the electric potter's
wheel revolves. Playing mud-
pies with permission. one visi-
tor called it.

We all exhaled as the potter
sawed a length of piano wire
underneath the clay. cutting
the vessel loose from the spin-
ning platform. We all gasped
as the vessel collapsed: she
tossed the clay mound into’ a
collection of clay bits, like pie
crust to be re-rolled.

Visitors moved from one
small room to the next. I ad-
mired more than one vibrant
blue piece [ liked. Even if I had
not been cash poor, I'm not a
knickknack sort. Neither do
I give others something that

This talent is as clear as mud >

‘LAST. WEEK, due to a top-
~ sy turvy schedule,
skimmed the headlines of the .

must be dusted weekly. (The |

best gift I ever received was
a.terrycloth potholder which
hung handy to my range for’

years and revived my niece in | =:

my thoughts every time I lifted
a hot pan out of the oven.)
~ The. Greig ‘Ave. studio,

though fitted w ith much ‘of the

same equipment as my broth-
ers: pottery studio near York-
ton, has a more cramped feel- -
ing. Russ’ studio is.one large
room. ‘Each summer he digs
pounds and pounds of natural
clay out of surrounding river
banks and hauls it home.

My. brother's career as a
potter resulted’ after a high
school teacher assigned him to

papier mache an animal over

a Wire armature. His 20-inch

. giratfe led to a B.A. from the

University of Wisconsin and
a lifetime of self-employment
mucking in mud.

My granddaughter enjoys
mucking in mud and kicking
the potter's wheel. Her Friday
pottery. classes equip her to
mold one-of-a-kind handmade
gifts as she adds another skill

to her list of hobbies. |

citing | studies that - |:
show a,2 to 1 economic pay-: one:

the» ~