Brice withdraws at worst time

VICTORIA — Susan Brice,
mayor of Oak Bay, was the
Socreds’ best bet to win back the
Tweed Curtain seat which became
an NDP trophy in last December’s
byelection.

It was the sixth straight byelec-
tion defeat and it nearly caused
Premier Vander Zalm to step
down.

When he decided to stay on,
there was an initial surge in the
party’s fortunes. The polls sug-
gested that Vander Zalm might just
be able to win an election, pro-
vided the party stopped its in-
fighting and bickering.

Socred strategists began to take
stock of the situation and one
conclusion they came to was that
the Oak Bay defeat had been a
fluke. There was no doubt that
with a good candidate, they would
recapture the seat in the next
general election.

The assumption was fairly safe.
Oak Bay has always been a small
“Cc” conservative town. And if any
of the six byelection defeats could
be interpreted as “a message to the
government,” it was the Oak Bay
one.

But while some Socreds were
still talking about the contribution
Brice would make to provincial
politics, her worship phoned the
premier to inform him that she was
no longer a candidate in the next
election.

Instead of exchanging municipal
politics for the provincial arena,
Brice decided to join the ranks of
the media. She will be the host of
an open-line show on a Victoria
fadio station.

B.C. willing to

by Hubert Beyer
Special to The Review

VICTORIA — Even if it’s an
election ploy, as Larry Guno, NDP
MILA for Atlin, strongly suspects,
the Socred government’s apparent
willingness to start negotiating
Native land claims is to be
applauded.

Whatever the reasons, Native
Affairs Minister Jack Weisgerber
said he'll ask cabinet to endorse
the findings of a report by the
Premier's Council on Native
Affairs.

The interim report, which calls

The party’s fortunes, sagging
once again, played a major part in
her decision, I’m sure. Even
though she probably would have
won the seat, she didn’t relish the
prospect of being an opposition
member.

Then there was her role, albeit a:

small one, in the Siemens contro-
versy. While a member of the local
hospital board, she had travelled to
Europe to inspect new Siemens
equipment.

The controversy arose from the
fact that members of the delega-
tion were wined and dined by the
company. Some also had their
hotel bills paid for.

And even though Brice was only
mentioned peripherally, the con-
troversy may have been enough to
disillusion her,

Her decision is bad news for the
Socreds who will have a hard time
finding as credible a candidate as
Brice for Oak Bay. But more

negotiate native land claims

for “a just settlement of Native
land claims,” has been submitted
fo cabinet, and I doubt Weisgerber
would publicly endorse it, unless
he already has the green light from
Premier Vander Zalm to do so.

It’s quite a departure from the
premier’s previously intractable
position which didn’t even recog-
nize Native land claims, much less
held out a hope for settlement.

Guno could be right. The appar-
ent change of heart could be an
attempt to appease the Native vote
prior to the next election. The
government may not have the
slightest intention of actually fol-
lowing through with the verbal
commitment to negotiate the land
claims.

That, however, would be a

> =

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656-1151

important, her defection leaves the
general impression that the future,
once again, looks bleak for the
Socreds:

Well, to tell you the truth, it
does. It looks so bleak that a very
prominent, dedicated and old-time
Social Credit MLA believes the
party would be lucky to win one
seat in Greater Vancouver if the
election were held now.

While it’s difficult to imagine
why on earth the premier would
call an election when chances of
losing are pretty good, he may not
have a choice any more.

He must call us to the polls by
October 1991. That’s when his
five-year mandate is up. So what
about next spring? Could be
exceedingly dangerous. Word has
it there are no more balanced-
budget rabbits in the bag.

Waiting beyond next spring
would be certain political suicide,
The closer a government gets to
the end of its mandate, the less
influence it has on events. The
damage-control centre, which has
already been working overtime,
will no longer be able to control
anything.

That’s why Vander Zalm may be
forced into an election this Octo-
ber. He’s been looking for an issue
for some time, but the selection
isn’t very good.

I'm sure his advisers now hope
Vander Zalm will profit from his
tole as peace-maker between the
Native Indians and the communi-
ties affected by a number of road
blocks.

Perhaps it’s the issue he’s been
looking: for.

cynic’s view. And to repeat one
more time, I’m not a cynic: a
bruised idealist, maybe, but not a
cynic. Guno, a Native Indian him-
self, may have more reason to be
cynical.

“Many Indian leaders have said
we should put aside arguments
over aboriginal rights, title, sover-
eignty and related issues, abandon
emphasis on court proceedings,
move to the negotiation table and

concentrate on that non-

Continued on Page A25

Gas exports
approved

Mobil Oil Canada last week was
issued three Energy Removal Cer-
tificates, allowing the sale of
nearly 150 billion cubic-feet of
natural gas to three customers in
the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Energy
Minister Jack Davis said Mobil’s
application met all criteria to pro-
tect B.C.’s interests,

“The sale helps firm up our
long-term export markets, the gas
is surplus to B.C. needs, the price
at the border doesn’t discriminate
against B.C. gas buyers, and the
sale is backed’ up 100 per cent by
Mobil’s established reserves in the
northeast gas fields,” Davis said.

The value of the gas sold to
Mobil’s three customers could be
as high as $350 million during the
ten-year to 13-year terms of the
certificates. The B.C. government
expects to get about $30 million in
Toyalties as a result of the sale.

Company sued

Homemaster Building Products
Inc., a Burnaby-based company, is
being sued by the provincial gov-
ernment because the firm
allegedly ripped off consumers in
the worst way, particularly elderly
people.

Sixteen consumers from Vic-
toria, Duncan, Ladysmith, Nan-
aimo, Prince Rupert, Comox,
Campbell River, Chilliwack and
North Vancouver are named as the
aggrieved parties.

The company, which sells its
services door-to-door, is alleged to
have charged “grossly excessive”

prices.

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GOD’S TRUTH

Philosophers, throughout the
ages, have asked the question,
“what is truth?” They have felt
that if only they could answer
the question, they would have
an understanding of the reason
for man’s existence — for if man
knew the truth, he could seek it,
and that search would be his
destiny.

The question has usually gone
unanswered. What answers
there have been, have not been
Satisfactory. But no person has
yet been able to state flatly “lam
the truth,” — That is, no person
except for Jesus Christ, the Son
of God. If we look in John, ch.
18, v. 38, we see that after
Jesus had told Pontius Pilate
that he came into the world to
bear witness to the truth, Pilate
asked sarcastically, “What is
truth?” Jesus did not respond to
this, for there would have been
no point. But he had earlier
answered the question in
speaking to Thomas in John,
ch. 14, v. 6, where he said “I
am the way, the truth and the life:
no man comes to the Father but
by me.” Jesus is the truth —
because in his life of perfecig:
obedience to God he embocied |
all the moral qualities of God.
His life was a perfect example of
all that is true and good, be-
cause he lived according to the
will of the only true God.

Jesus, in his teachings, bore
witness of God’s truth. There
are frequent references in the
New Testament equating the
word of Ged with truth. But
God's truth isn’t something to be
merely appreciated  intellectual-
ly. Instead, it is something that
the believer must obey and live.
Inthe Second Epistle of John, v:
4, the apostle says that he
rejoiced greatly that he found
the elect lady’s, (that is the
church’s) children, walking in
truth, “as we have been com-
manded by the Father.” They
were living the truth.

If we wish to live the truth, we
first must know it, so Bible study
remains important. If we know it,
then we can begin to live ac-
cording to it. The writer of the
Proverbs in ch. 3, v. 3, said, “Do
not let mercy and truth forsake
you; bind them around your
neck; write them on the table of
your heart.” lf we follow this
advice and make the truth part
of our life, then, in the words of
John, ch. 8, v. 31, we shall know
the truth and the truth will make
us free. Eventually, it will make
us free even from the bonds of
death, through the grace of the
only true God and His son who
is the truth, Jesus Christ.

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Opinion 7 eReview Wednesday, August 8,1990 — A

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