Vol. 4, Issue No. 23

Gaerne Events
“Comics _

. Crossword.
Dining. Directory
Editorial.
‘Entertainment. 7
‘ee

YOUR HOME TOWN LOCALL Y OWNED AND OPERA TED NE EWSPAPER

TERRACE, B.C., WEDNESDAY, June8, 1988

er

Legislative Library,
Parliament Buildings,
Victoria, B.C.

V8V 1X4

SOCENTS

Terrace was = overflowing with uniformed vi
Elks held their 60th annual convention here. The fou
_of the high points was a parade under sunny skies from the
/ Sunday. The new / president of the provincial organization’

sitors last weekend as the B.C. Benevolent ‘and Protective Order of | -
r-day event attracted more than 400 visitors to town, and one
Terrace Arena to the cenotaph in front of City Hall on

lg Terrace resident Noel Martel. _

Arbitrator upholds Jyrkkanen firing

TERRACE — The long and
controversial story of a man
who took on the government
from the inside reached its final
conclusion last Friday - he lost,
in some ways.

by Michael Kelly

Jorma Jyrkkanen was fired
‘. from his six-year position as a
habitat technician with the Ter-
race office of the Ministry of
Environment about a year ago.
He filed a grievance against the
action through the B.C. Govern-
ment Employees Union, and last
month the matter was heard
before an independent arbi-
trator, Although Hugh Ladner
“stated in his finding that Jyrk-
kanen’s talent and abilities are
‘unquestioned’? and acknow-
ledged his ‘“‘commitment to du-
ty”, he upheld the charge of
“surreptitious release of con-
fidential documents’’ and found
jn favor of the government.

Jyrkkanen’s outspoken
criticism came to a head last year
in June when he gave letters in-
dicating serious errors in herb-
icide use by the Ministry of

- Forests to the Skeena Society to —

Oppose Pesticides. The material
was presented as evidence at an
Environmental Appeal Board
hearing in Terrace; the appeal
failed, and Jyrkkanen lost his
job.

Jyrkkanen said he was unhap-
py.about several aspects of the
hearing process, particularly the
failure to address his specific

arguments about pesticide man-
agement, and the arbitrator's
refusal “to admit the constitu-

JYRKKANEN: | was being
too effective in pesticide
_ Management.

tional question of his freedom of
speech, He feels there was a con-
certed effort within the govern-
ment to have him sacked.

“*] was being too effective in -

College

B Cc... Advanced - Education

‘Minister Stan Hagen recently

announced that up to $8.3

‘million. in ‘additional funds —
‘would ‘be provided for colleges
and institutes based on actual in-

greased: enrolment. this year.
|The additional funds will pro-
vide: for: an“increase of up to
2,600 full-time students into the .
“community colleges i if the fall fof doesn’t anticipate : a dramatic in-
"-* otease in enrdlment, but there -

this year.

pesticide management,’’ he
remarked, ‘‘Forestry has a great
momentum, and they don’t
want anyone to stand in the way;
there was a deliberate effort to
discredit the work I was doing.’’
Jyrkkanen claims that during
the year previous to his dismissal
his silviculture and pesticide
referrals were virtually ignored
by the upper management of
both the Ministry of Environ-
ment and the Ministry of
Forests.

However, he feels there were
some victories, especially in his
work on the widespread nature
of dioxin contamination in the
general environment and the
dangers of supposedly safe
phenoxy herbicides, Shortly
after his dismissal he hand-
delivered a brief that examined

both issues to the Minister of

Environment’s office in Vic-
toria; the reply was a terse letter
from Bruce Strachan thanking
him for his ‘‘unsolicited
report’’.

Early. this year a_ federal
laboratory announced that trace
amounts of dioxins had been
discovered in paper products
ranging from paper towels to
disposable diapers; shortly after
that the B.C. Ministry of En-
vironment stated that dioxin
contamination had been detect-
ed in river estuaries near pulp
mills throughout the province,
and in fact every pulp mill in
B.C. was exceeding emission
standards for a variety of pol-
lutants. Agriculture Canada an-
nounced recently that it is
reviewing approval of the
phenoxy herbicide 2,4-D, al-
though the review won’t be com-
plete in time to affect this year's
spraying programs — on the
Queen Charlotte Islands alond,
MacMillan Bloedel has permits
to apply five tons (active ingre-
dient) of it to control brush on
tree plantations.

Jyrkkanen feels vindicated,
and in some ways relieved.
‘‘Now I have the freedom to
speak,” he said.

seeks extra funds

. According’ to Northwest Com-
munity College information of-

- ficer Betty Kofoed, most colleges

in the province anticipate an in-
crease in University . Transfer
Program enrolment beyond

their. present ‘capacity and. have. .
requested additional, funds.

 Kotoed ‘gaid. ‘that NWCC

may be room for expansion’ in
some areas and college president
Dr. Val George is discussing the

possibility of additional funding.
tion Group indicated they would

~ be interested in proposals that

with ministry. officials today.
This year there are 850 to 900

graduating students in the col-’.
- lege région, says Kofoed, and at. Prince Rupert highways opera-

> the present time they are only -

able to accept another 50 into Ne couldn’t specify whether any

he” :
t University 1 | Transfer Pro- - both operations.

gram,

~ Short list
et for
highways
takeover
contract

TERRACE — Five companies |

have met the pre-qualification
standards to bid on the highway
and bridge maintenance.contract
for the Terrace Highways
District.

Privatization Group represen-
tative Peter Clark said yesterday
in an interview from Victoria
that three of the companies are
based in Prince Rupert and two
are from Terrace. Clark declined
to name the companies, saying
that they haven’t yet been
notified.

Clark said the group hasn’t set
a deadline for the receipt of
detailed tender proposals, but he
expects to have the completed

‘ bids by mid-July. At latest; he

said, the award will be announc-
ed by the end of August.

At a bidders’ meeting in Ter-
race a month ago, the Privatiza-

would combine the Terrace and

tions in, a single bid. Clark said

of the pre-qualifiers will bid on

u

wed

Vhew 7

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