ae tae fee me tat 65 Page Ad — Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 14, 1990 coe tibia ie ae c : proves his Year 2000 plan, he . -dislocating his shoulder. : . For despite record p&rent tur-' ' mouts at information meetings _ . called to familiarize them with 7 ‘ ' t ‘ ' 4 a ' ' i 1 ‘ ‘ ‘- ' t ' in ,, ‘ ‘ . ' t ‘, r ' ’ LA ’ 4 & t ' ' + , c Fr, 1+] stores, photographs, iN oy ~ oo ene l pl Veh , dasigNs and ty ustralion repeo services and advertising agencies. Aroroduction in whore or 1 part, without written permission, 1s Specilically pronitited ‘sg th Trac Published on Wecnesy of each wt bao Press (1989) Lid. : vies In the Teirace Standard are tha Proaity af the copyright hukars, icfiiag Canboa Press (1969) tu, imi. Actharoed ws sec css mall pending Me Post btfice Department, for payment at postage in cash at i647 Lacan ave, ‘Terrace, s otsh coiumba, : ee / Edouard Credg eu 0 respondent (or heir. time rand wits ome ¢ “Tothorrow- evening's civic all- . candidates meeting at the R. E.M. Lee Theatre might be interesting. Or it might not be; depending upon what type of questions are asked and what type of answers are received, One big question that deserves careful answers from the eight people running for the six council seats is their stand on the city’s desired community-conference centre. What was a $4 million, give or take, project of earlier this year is now a $5 to $6 million, give or take, idea, And, judging from local reaction to the idea, the prospect of something that had a tinge of being heavily oriented to conventions is now turning into something geared toward community use. It’s a more saleable prospect given the kinds of tax’ money that will be re- quired to support the proposal. While voters should not dissuade politicians from dreaming, there is a re- quirement by voters to be vigilant so that. _the dreams not turn into financial _ boogeyman nightmares. In this case, it The name game _ Still with elections, one person runn- ing for a council seat did a phone poll last week of 40 residents. The results aren’t encouraging. ~The great majority of callers indicated there was no main outstanding issue in _ the campaign, Some matters brought up . did include economic development and ‘the pond behind Sampson’s Poultry ‘Farm which claimed the life of a young ‘boy this spring: Those ‘called also had difficulty ; in ‘identifying the six people now on coun- ‘cil. The majority could name three of the six — those being the people who have been on council the longest which-makes their names better known and those who have developed a high public profile. rer questions — seems council members have had some . dreamless nights because there’s been a definite lack of comment from aldermen about the idea. . And this is where tomorrow evening * becomes very important. The centre idéa — was to have been the subject of a referen- - dum at the same time of these elections. ‘That was set aside this past summer when the city found a less than joyous ‘response to the centre prospect. - This then means that tomorrow night - 1s the only opportunity for voters ‘to learn what council hopefuls think. It will be three years until the next civic elec- tions and three years is a long time in politics. The six that will be elected this Saturday will be those responsible for the final decision on the centre. The one expectation from council elec- tions is that there be more lively debate,. This past council has been made up of . people who think and act alike. That’s not an entirely bad thing but it does in- dicate there are opinions and views from - . the community that don’t make it to the o council table. : There are various theories as to why - people aren’t that involved with politics of any kind. One is that in. good economic times people are busy with work or other pursuits. It's only when times take a downturn that they then — ‘begin looking. around and asking. ques ¥ tions. © One other theory, especially in regards to local politics, is that there isn’t a lot of exposure given those in office. People — only become aware of aldermen when something happens that affects them | directly. If that. theory is true, then the elections this Saturday and the all’ can- didates meeting tomorrow evening are excellent methods to become aware for. elections concern every resident. ~ HESA BIrTIeKED OFE, = - ~ ALLWEEK LONG THERE “WAS NOTHING. a) PROTEST ABOUT... = "VICTORIA —‘What is it about this world that is prepared to spend $2 billion a month on an armada in the Gulf, but can’t find the peh- nies a.day to save the lives of kids??? it was more than a thetorical question. It was.an | ‘impassioned plea ‘for sanity in . ‘a deranged'world: And decp- ~ down, I'm sure, every person in the audience felt a sense of shame, because Stephen Lewis, . Canada's former ambassador ‘ to the United Nations, was br- inging his audience face to face with some very disturbing im- ‘ages of themselves. “'While we’re all preoc- cupied with what we.calt the _: loud emergencies of ihe Gulf,. the silent emergencies proceed + inexorably to take their toll,’” ~ Lewis told a gathering at the ‘ University of Victoria, - Doubtful ways — ’ By now. B.C.’s Minister of Education should be recovered © from the injury he suffered Oc- tober 29 after nominations clos- ed at noon. I expect he was so tickled to learn Terrace ap- Through | Bifocals by Claudette Sandecki i - eat clapped himself on the back, . in the’ ip . Victoria’s . latest curriculum, : School District 88 is shy three :*-trustees for the Terrace allot-: + Ment, We won't have an elec-~. tion until 1993, Think of the ' ‘money we'll save, _Acclamation shortchanges : everyone except the returning : officer: ‘Without an election, there are no all-candidate forums where candidates can gauge their op- position the way artillery gun- jers. ‘assess their enemy's a rsenal. ‘4 Likewise without an election the electorate is robbed of the "fun of tossing an unrehearsed “question at the candidates and watching them scramble for cover, : candidates meeting as a means ‘of informing future law-makers What. taxpayers.expect, of them... "Besides. giving candidates a fair reading of how voters ac- S Cept, their platforms, election of: counts establish a: pecking ; order among. board members, 4 perky This: relieves chairmen of much "gavel -pounditig, i. “Protocol behooves downpla perlority of comin The electorate deserves an all: rH ade chats Pita WT ie aie a Pay cba, | ih first in the polls — until a heated argument flares during an in-camera session, Swiftly, reminding him who topped him ., at the polls, the upstart is put in his place. Incumbents — whether they be mayors, city councillors, _ regional ‘district directors, or school trustees — interpret ac- clamation as acknowledgment of a job well done. It ain't necessarily so. More- likely, tio one else had’ the. stomach for convention cater- ing and countless. late night | meetings in exchange for an all-_ expenses-paid trip to cheer the - Canucks, and a few 3x $ scrat- ; ‘chpads. An incumbent's only reliable ' report card is a vote. Anyone can shake his hand and say they | Support his efforts. But’ will .,: they back him with an: ‘x? once’; they are shielded ‘by the. three sided cardboard box? Guaranteeing an ‘election. is ~ easy to do, and costs nothing. Allit takesis several elelpiblein-' ' dividuals filing - ‘nomination. papers, Once it is. determined » | sufficient sincere candidates, fil- ao ed to necessitate and election, a nomination’ can be‘ .cancelled ..- », Within . 24 hours witfout creating: any pull ) confusion. Even if they don’t cancel their nominations, those who file solely to ensure an election needn’t- worry unduly about in- advertently being elected. ‘Thiere’s little risk of that: hap: pening. As arule. Before election is possible, generally a candidate has to be an aclive. party member; well known through club, career and church - affiliations; and must campaign. ‘Badly, - because of voter apathy, for the next three years both our taxation rate and education ‘system will be dic- tated: by trustees we never ap- web aaa ue! 3 cas ot es ant eye Dh wal ot . “Seven thousand children ‘under the age of five die every * day | from dehydration induced by diarrhoea, all for the lack _ OF a little packet of oral rehydration salts, a sugar and . salt solutidn which, when mix- ed with water and ingested ‘orally, stops the dehydration and induces rehydration allow- ing the child to live. And one packet cost seven cents. Seven cents for the life of a child. “Seven thousand children under the age of five die every | day from acute respiratory in- fections, largely. pneumcnia, for the lack of antibiotics amounting to a.cost of $1 a child, - . - -“A thousand children in the : - developing world under the age of five go-blind every day for | the lack of ten cents worth of vitamin A. ; ‘Now, you will forgive me, I want to. know what kind of international society we have crafted which is capable of . that i insane daily harvest of children; I'd like to know about the values which animate international society ‘proved, But what a stunning ‘that allows this to happen. - ‘ bottom line! © What kind of society, in- in 1 these times — Capital by Hubert Beyer deed? Lewis’ message must have hit home with the au- dience, because you could have heard a pin drop. |] Know it hit home with me, so much so that I decided to leave provin- cial politics to its own devices for. once and write this column " instead. ° Stopping the harvest of hunger, misery and death, . Lewis said, is not beyond mankind’s financial ; capabilities. At a cost of $6, s billions ayear for the next 10°." years, the 45 countries of sub-— Sharan Africa could achieve ‘dramatic reductions in infant _and maternal mortality rates, eliminate measles, do away with polio and tetanus, im- prove the water supply and sewage systems and reach an © 80-per-cent literacy rate. This and more could be ac- complished just by forgiving the developing countries their debt to the developed nations, Lewis said. The'countries of | sub-Saharan Africa, he added, will pay $9.6 billion a year ser-. vicing their debt, Pulling the same countries out of their misery, on the other hand,» would cost: the: developed na-. - tions only $6. 8 billion a year, “The African ‘debt is relatively so small that the Western World wouldn't even know it was.gone, For us it is “utterly inconsequential. For . those countries, it puts.them on the knife’s.edge, and I am.. forever facéd personally with | _ this crazy. réality, that somehow .. the world has become so frac- tured, so ruptured i in its sense . “of values, that'we're writing. off hundreds of millions of people,” he said,. -But Lewis went beyond ‘simply appealing for compas- BECAUSE I WAS Too SHdeT FORD “TREPEE POLES, Too TAPERED FOR, - SABIN LoGS, Too Twisfep FoR SPLITTING AND TOO KNOTTY FoR CAR WING! “Sond Hélping a the developing worlds ‘hetsaid,” was'in: our ‘own -ticket fo'survival. “We're heading for an in- . describable collision down the. road. You can't do that to a whole societies, to hundreds of _millions, billions of people, in a fashion both cavalier and gratuitous, without paying the ‘price some day,”’ Lewis said. . ‘The: Western World, Lewis - said, needs the developing countries, because without. them there is no way to save the globe from self- destruction. . “‘We need them. desperately, not out of some sign of over-. weening generosity.on our ‘part, but because quiet simply. of the environment, There is . no way to save the globe. from self-destruction, Lewis recalled the remarks. of Robert Mugabe, then prime minister of Zimbabwe, on the _ occasion of the release of the * ULN.’s Brundtlund Report on. ’ the environment, ‘For the _ - developing world,” Mugabe said then, ‘'the environment means one thing and one thing only’— it means poverty. And if you're not prepared to deal with the poverty we cannot . ‘ collaborate with you'on saving the environment,” - Lewis said Mugabe's words. weren’t meant to be menacing. or threatening, They were wae straight from the heart. And: when one looked at the “tore. tured violation of the flow of. resources,’ he said, it was easy to understand why. Mugabe °.: said -what he did... ‘hope you'll forgive me. for having put aside provincial :’-: - polities for this once, The &:: ' change of pace, I thought, was worth it, ‘Thank you. . r So AFTER EVERYONE. “¥7 » ELSE GoT USED UPaR 4. BURNT OUT, T BECAMES' . EXECUTIVE DiRECTOR! Nea fat nts tele BG Acede SEND tag ce wine eteccteh