A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 10, 1998

STANDARD

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

PUBLISHER: ROD LINK
ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2
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Into the woods

BACK IN the early 1980s in a town not so far
from here a man, then working for a large north-
west industrial concern and, at last report, work- ,
ing for a provincial ministry, had an idea,

Considering there was a crisis then — as there -
is today — with the fishery and with the forest,
the man’s proposal was this ~— take all the com-
mercial fishermen out of the water for at least a
four-year salmon cycle to give the fish stocks a
chance to survive and to prosper.

And then put the fishermen into the woods.
where they would be paid to plant, thin and gen-
erally improve the state of the province’s forests.

It would be a matter, said the man, of killing
two birds with one stone — enhancing the sal-
mon population and enhancing our precious
wood resource, Sounds simple, sure, but not that
far fetched in the late 1990s as those two primary
resources are taking a kicking.

With the livelihood of thousands of people in
the commercial fishery at stake because there
aren’t enough fish to catch and cuts to provincial
silviculture programs which could influence the -
state of the forests over the next generation,
something needs to be done.

That ‘C’ word — compensation — is already -
being tossed around for the commercial fishery
so having those people gainfully employed to
work in the forests seems like a reasonable trade
off.

And it’s not as if there aren’t plans of this type
already. The provincial government has created a:
large hiring hall to put displaced sawmill and
other forestry workers into silviculture jobs so
extending this to include commercial fishery .
workers isn’t that much of a stretch.

During the Depression, massive amounts of
public monies went into hiring unemployed
people for public works projects. A modern-day
equivalent involving the commercial fishery and
silviculture would seem to be a reasonable and
rational plan to provide an income and to accom-
plish a greater good.

Zooming Zalm

THERE’S NOTHING like a good rumour to
spice up an early summer day and the latest is no
exception — the Zalm has surfaced.

That’s right, Bill Wander Zalm. Social Credit
premier between 1986 and 1991 and forced to
resign over the Fantasy Gardens scandal, Mr.
Vander Zalm has been called back to help what’s
left of the provincial Reform party. .

It’s not as if Mr. Vander Zalm ever went away.
He’s been a bit of a dabbler in other more fringe -
political movements since leaving office but’.
hitching his wagon to the provincial Reform or-
ganization has more than a few people worried,

Those people now form the coalition called the,
provincial Liberal party. They fear that a charis-
matic and likeable Zalm factor could siphon off
enough support to the Reform party to deny the
Liberals the edge they need to defeat the NDP in
the next election. . .

You have to know that Mr. Vander Zalm has at

least one strong fan — Premier Glen Clark.
ec
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Serving the Terrace and Thornhill area, Published on Wadnesday of each week at 3210 Clinton Stree,
Terrace, British Columbia, VaG 5R2,

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THE CIRCU IT
AGAIN

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| opine SB

NV

Campbell stirs deadly soup

VICTORIA — I’ve heard of
unholy alliances and strange
bedfellows before, but the dirty
little affair between the alleged
B.C. Liberal Party and the fed-
eral Reformers taxes my gag
reflex,

To forge a coalilion against
the NDP government here in
British Columbia under the
Liberal Party banner was one
thing; for Liberal leader Gor-
don Campbell to climb into the
sack with federal Reform
leader Preston Manning is
quile another,

The impending love fest be-
tween The B.C. Liberals and
the federal Reform Party was
brought to the public’s atten-
tion by Marlyn Brown, execu-
tive director of the B.C, Liber-
al caucus aid special advisor
to Campbell, in response to
Manning’s call for a ‘‘united
alternative’? whose mandate
would be to defeat Jean
Chreticn’s Liberals in the next
election.

And as if that weren’t
enough, the Reform Party, in
its lust for power, is even
courting the Bloc Quebecois,
the folks who see it as their
duty to destroy Canada.

Manning has called for a
“united altemative assembly’
to be held next year. Brown,
for one, said he would certain-
ly enlerlain the idea of partici-
pating in such an assembly.

“7 think there is a lot of

CROCODILE TEARS shed by
sports fishermen and guides
over the DFO coho ban wring
no sympathy from me. For
years they’ve fished their
limits and watched as others
overfished theirs.

How can the coho closure
devastate the sport-fishing in-
dustry when already there are
too few coho?

When we came to Terrace in
1968, an hour’s fishing on the
Skeena filled a dishpan. From
then on each year it took
longer, and a smaller pan.
Eventually fishing became
riusing hooks. Catching any-
thing finned was as unlikely as
bruising a toe ona gold nug-
get.

Writes K. Kellow of Camp-
bell River in Tast Monday’s
Province, '“The last good year
for coho in Area 13 was 1992.
I help run a charter fishing
company and since then, I can

* count on one hand the number

of coho canght by clients.”
Kellow continues, ‘‘Most

FROM THE CAPITAL

HUBERT BEYER

potential here for the {federal
scence. That’s just my voice,

‘ but | think this is a promising

move for Reform and it shows
a lot of moxy on Preston’s
part,’’ said Brown, adding that
there were a lot of areas the
B.C. Liberals and the federal
Reform Paity saw eye to eye
on, One wonders who is leader
of the party, Campbell or
Brown?

Next day, Brown’s remarks
were played down, not by
Campbell, but Ida Chong, Lib-
eral MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon
Head. There was no move
afoot by B.C. Liberals io
defeat the federal Liberals that
she could see. ,

Well, thal ain’t what Brown
said, and Brown is a very
smart guy. He wouldn't make
such far-reaching pronounce-
ments without first checking

clients are now fishing for
springs, halibut and bottom
fish,’?

When you get right down to
it, what’s so different wilh a
coho ban? So you can’t land a
coho. Kellow proves that’s
been the situation pretty much
for five years.

Who ever guaranteed anyone
would catch his limit? How
many did? Sure, it helped to
have a knowledgeable guide, a
powerful boat, and recom-
mended lures, Yet we all know
the joy of fishing comes from
escaping work and worries.
And wives. Why else do so
many angiers give away their
catch?

We taik about our superior
health care system while in
Terrace, patients wait . twa
mouths for physiotherapy. If
we can pretend we have a
health care system, why cat’t
we pretend we have a sport
fishery?

Tourists find imaginary
aquatic animals irresistible.

with his boss.

For Brown, the liaison with
Reform is no big deal. He was
communications chief for the
provincial Reform Party until
it died a merciful dealh. And
now his not so sublle influence
on the B.C. Liberals has come
to the fore.

Let me stress here that politi-
cal promiscuity is quite
permissible under Canadian
law. Politicians are free to
engage in passionate acts of
political embrace, regardless of
stripe or convictions or lack
thereof, without inviting the in-
terference of the morality
squad,

But when two lovebirds like
the alleged B.C. Liberal Party
and Manning’s shock troops
start ganging up on a rival who
is 3,000 miles away from B.C.,
my sense of fairness is of-
fended. —

Mind you, there’s one saving
grace to the affair. Try as he
might, Campbeil can no longer
claim to head a Liberal Party,
The crew this premier-in-
wailing leads consists of

recycled Socreds and died-and- |

resurrected Reformers,

The only semblance to any-
thing Liberal died when Camp-
bell wrested the leadership
from his predecessor, Gordon
Wilson. In fact, if the Liberal
name were available in B.C.,
Wilson could claim it. His
Progressive Democratic Al-

Wanted: a northen Ogopogo

SOT T TTT

THROUGH BIFOCALS,
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

Think of Ogopogo enticing
Japanese film crews to the
Okanagan, or the Loch Ness
Monster luring internationals
to Scotland for decades. All
without scientific proof cither
critler exists,

The key to their attraction is
the community’s solemnity
when strangers arrive keen to
witness the elusive beast, Lo-
cals never guffaw and slap
their thighs. Tiey rent boats,

liance is Liberal in all but
name, while Campbell’s party
is Liberal in name only.

Until this possible alliance
between Campbell and Man-
ning surfaced, I was quite im-"
pressed with Campbell’s per-
formance. He created a viable
alliance of former Socreds and
provincial Reformers that ap-
pears capable of defeating the
NDP in a fair and square fight
in the next election. And he
was beginning to look and act
the part of a premier-to-be.

But his fling with Manning
worries me, a lot. I never
trusted Manning and I never
will. If he ever achieves power,
the working pcople of this
country will be in for a rude
awakening.

One of Manning’s Reform
MPs recently inteoduced a pri-
vate member’s bill in the Com-
mons, the aim of which is
nothing less than to destroy
trade unions and tum the coun-
try into a right-to-work place
where minimum wages are the
order of the day.

Seeing the leader of the B.C.
Liberals align himself with
such reaclionary forces should
prompt all those who plan to
vote for Campbell next time
around to have second
thoughts.

Beyer can be reached at:
Tel: (250) 920-9300; Fax:
(250) 356-9597; E-mail:
hubert@coolcom.com

steer tourists to the supposed
spot, and sell Kodak supplies.
For added authenticlty, they

name their motels and
restaurants after the phantom,
Do tourists Icave the

Okanagan disappointed? Do
they sue for failing to capture a
likeness on film? Do they vow
never to return, or threaten ta
warm their friends away?

Of course nol. Neither do

their hordes diminish the
anticipation of successive
hopefuls,

Atleast — with the coho ban
— you'll save on lure replace-
ment Your boat will stay clean
and odour free without hours
of scrubbing. You'll have more
time to hoist a beer, or to nap.

And above all, you can an-
chor anywhere, away from the
fishing flotilla, any time of
day. No more carly starts to
cast a line before mists rise, If
Campbell River can happily
pursue a species other than
coho, why can’t Terrace?

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