KEENA ANGLER. - ROB BROWN

Kemanogate

N THE GUN-TOTING, _ crack- riddied empire to the south of us there have been some memorable scandals in recent history. There was the Watergate imbroglio where, in an awkward atlempt to secure political advantage, the covert plumbing of Dick Nixon’s minion men led to the collapse of the Republican regime and the fall of a president. There was Iranscam where a zealous Ollie North went a little overboard in an arms deal consistent with the policies of — but ultimately embarrassing to — his doddering chief.

Who can forget the salacious sexual harassment scandal swirling around the appointment of Judge Clarence Thomas or the litillating escapades of wild Bill Clinton? —

And now there is a furore called Whitewater: some kind of murky, unreal real estate deal al- legedly involving the CEO and his reform- minded lady, Hillary.

This stuff is grist to the mills of the Yankee media gods; cach scandal dominates the US air- waves, secuting Monday Night Football-sized ratings, each one winds up saturated in printer’s ink, Congressional committees are struck, Mega- watts of human energy are expended to get at the truth or obscure the truth. This is how scandal is handled in America; not so in Canada,

Here an enormous scandal, with far-reaching implications for the Canadian people, touching the highest echelon of government, gets nothing near the kind of exposure and coverage it merits. Call it Kemano Completion, or Kemano II, or

Kemanogate, the events surrounding Alcan’s.

megaproject raise fundamental questions about how: this. country has been and will-be run, Con- sider the following disturbing events and the questions flowing from them,

In July of 1980 Romeo LeBlanc, the federal:

minister of Fisheries, worried about the survival of Fraser River salmon that had just experienced the driest period ever recorded for the Upper Nechake Watershed, ovdered the Aluminum Company of Canada to release more cokd water into the Nechako river. Alcan, with a new agree- ment recently signed with BC Hydro, defied the minister and sent the water to ils generators. The Minister took the Aluminum Army to court. The case went to the BC Supreme court where justice Berger enjoined Alcan, ordering them to release walter into the river.

Seeking to avoid court, Alcan hired a private consulting firm called Envirocon to do studies on the impact of Kemano II, while the DFO con- vened a Kemano Task Force to review those studies and do studies of their own.

Late in 1985 Alcan chose to defy the injunction, When the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) took the company back to court, Alcan challenged the federal jurisdiction over the water flows in the Nechako. In preparation for the legal battle, the DFO assembled a team of scientists, representing the best qualified, most experienced men to deai with the issue. But before the case could be heard a closed door mecting between Al- can and provincial and federal scientists was held. Within four days, the so-called "Settlement Agreement" was hammered out giving Alcan the flows it wanted all along. Conspicuously absent from those talks were the members of the Kemano Task Force.

Subsequently, members of the Task Force have leveled allegations of high level political inter- ference and claim, they were purposely not invited to the 1987 Settlement Agreement Meetings, al- legations backed up by leaked DFO memoranda.

In 1990 environmental groups and the Carricr- Sekani Tribal council filed for an Environmental Review under the Federal EARP guidelines, whereupon Robert deColret, with the blessing of Prime Minister Mulroney, issued an exemption to the BARP guidelines. — the first and only one ever issued — to the Kemane Completion Pro- ject,

Later, an all-party commitiee of the House of Commons with the Job of overseeing par- liamentary regulations characlerized the Kemano exemption as ‘‘illegal, unconstitutional, and in- consistent with the rule of law, and an usurpation of parllament’s sovercignty.’? The committee chairman suggested the exemption was akin to exempting an individual from the Human Rights Code, ‘Something you might expect under a sub- versive government,” he said. ‘*But, something that can't be tolerated in a state governed by The Rule of Law.’”

With a wide trail of slime leading right lo two Prime Ministers and some of their cabinet minis- ters, it’s time for the current PM to make good on his election promise and allow the federal scientists who worked on Kemano to speak open- ly on the issues surrounding Kemano. Both the PM and Premier have got to show some testicular fortitude and open the way for a complete review of Kemano II, one that will investigate the. past, present and future political and environmental im- pacts of the projecl, + '

MALCOLM BAXTE

Men stay on Christy fields

HAVING PUT the matter in the hands of its administration, cour- cil has decided not to’ interfere with the decision to allow the Men’s Soccer League to use the fields al Christy Park,

In a report to a council com- mittes, recreation superintendent Steve Scott concluded ‘‘the cor- rect decision was made.’”

Oullining his reasons, Scolt

noted the 1984 agreement be-

tween the clty and Terrace Youth Soccer Association (TYSA) guar-

anteed the organization use of the Fields for 15 years.

However, he added, “‘It does not indicate the association will have sole use of the park facilities.”’

And, he pointed out in that same agreement TYSA agreed to involve other community sports groups. ,

Scott. maintained that provision suggested ‘community use is not only possible, but also desirable’’.

As For this particular season, he sald TYSA had told his depart- ment it would nol need the fields most Sundays.

Men’s Soccer is using one of the flelds on Sundays from 5 p.m.

Tuming to TYSA concems aboul the condition of the playing surface being harmed by the men, Scot pointed out they were using the fields on a rotation basis with only one game played per week.

There were also weekly inspec- tions of the turf‘and the depart-

ment would take steps at the first sign of trouble.

However, he added, “To date the turf is deemed to be in ¢x-— cellent condition.’

Finally, he reminded counell- lors of Policy #6 which required city recreation facilities be made available to as many people as possible.

The committee decided to receive the report without recom- mendation. Council adopted the same approach.

cn

| Peddling for the Pope ~

TWELVE YOUTH spent Sunday, June 26 peddling in a 150 km bike relay the Terrace weigh scales to Kleanza Creek and back. They were raising money from pledges to travel ta hear

Pope John Paul Il speak at 10th World Youth Day being held in Manila, Philippines January 10-15, 1995. The relay was organized by the local Knights of Columbus,

Cole Petroleum blaze to win

HURLING HURRICANES Larry Lamb and Cam Ratcliff led Cole Petroleum to an undefeated run and top spot in the Men’s Fastpitch League toumey held here June 23-24. And when the perfect record looked in jeopardy in their final game, against SKB Wreckers, the bat of Troy Farkvam came lo the rescue. His two-run blast in the sixth

put Cole on top to stay as they compieted a 5-0 sweep of all- comers.

Farkyam, Phil Webb and Kevin Lagrow had shown a lalent for finding the fence throughout the weekend’s play to lead the Cole Petroleum attack. .

Solid defensive play in the field which kept the opposition additions to the

scoreboard to a minimum added the final element to Cole’s formula for success.

The Terrace Oldtimers put up the strongest challenge to Cole, mustering a 3-2 record while the Chevron Juniors took third spot with two wins and a tie in their five games.

Cole took home $800 for the win, the Oldtimers $400 and the Juniors $300.

he i

ie A agin ea ae

A PERFECT record left the Cole Petroleum t

Hassan

The tournament’s home run hitting title went to Chevron’s Bruce Neid.

Although they finished at the . bottom of the table, the Rockies had reason to celebrate.

Their win over Tymoshuck Agencies was their first of the season,

Now their hoping it’ll become a habit.

fo

they swept all before them in a

Fastpitch League tourney here,

SECTION C R 638-7283