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A2 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 1, 2005

~QOut-going MLA has chance to say goodbye to colleagues

OUTGOING SKEENA MLA Roger Harris attended his last cabinet meeting May 24, giving him a chance to say good bye to friends and colleagues. |

“J don’t think you could spend the last four years. as we

did without building up some friendships and bonds,” he:

said upon returning.

Although defeated May 17 by New Democrat. Robin Austin, Harris remains as the minister of state for forest op- erations until Premier Gordon Campbell and his new gov- ernment is sworn in next week. ol

‘He was one of eight cabinet ministers to be. defeated i in the election.

' “Certainly the premier reminded the ministers that they still have work to do, that they are still on the job,” said Harris. «

Named to his cabinet post in January 2004, Harris became " chair of the province’s pine beetle task force, charged with’ «dealing with the attack on the province’s interior forests.

He hope its work continues, saying there is great oppor-

from the pine beetle-trees now being harvested to control the - . spread of the pest.

“Engineered wood products are the future and now there is fibre through the pine beetle to have that happen;” said Harris. . ‘

° . . SHE

Harris leaves office with a rather modest severance pack- _ age based on his four years in office.

He qualifies for a month’s pay for each year in officé. That works out to four months and the amount is based on

his basic Member of the Leg- islative Assembly (MLA) salary of $68,500 year for a total of $22,833. It is paid out every two weeks. |

Even though Harris was a minister of state, his sever- ance amount is based only on his MLA salary. ©

And legislature rules’are so tight :that’ the severance pay stops should the ex- MLA find a job, public or private, during. the pay out period.

Harris also qualifies for

Roger Harris. a up to $5,000 for re-training

or employment assessment.

It must-be spent.in B.C.

There is no allowance for moving furniture and other ef- fects from Victoria back to an ex-MLA's hometown.

Harris also received nine per cent of his salary i in the form of a defined contribution RRSP-style pension. That works out to a contribution of $24,660.

The severance and RRSP package is far less generous.

than what existed for MLAs who were elected prior to 1996. MLAs who fit into that category received fairly hefty pen- sions.

_ But those guaranteed pensions were done away with in : the face of. public criticism. "

NDP MP Nathan Cullen happy — with provincial election results —

» SKEENA-BULKLEY MP Nathan Cullen is very pleased ~ with the result of last week’s provincial election which .

resulted in two new NDP MLAs now sitting within the area - covered by Cullen’s federal riding.

’ “T think all three campaigns across the northwest were Teally. well run,” Cullen said, adding he plans on giving all of

the successful NDP candidates a call in the coming weeks to .

congratulate, them. ‘Though the Liberal party ‘maintains a majority, Cullen _ believes opposition members in the region. should be able to

work effectively to represent their constituents.

“I think opposition MLAs can be very effective,” he said. “I’ve always believed in the power of the person and the in- dividual’s ability to work across and over party lines.”

The makeup of the legislature is now poised to be more healthy and promote more debate on certain issues, he:said.

He’s especially pleased with MLA elect Robin Austin’s win in the Skeena riding.

“} just know Robin Austin is an excellent person and I look forward to great things from him,” Cullen said.

Police crack down on drivers

- POLICE WERE generally happy ‘with area motorists fol- lowing a May-20-26 traffic enforcement campaign.

“The big thing I'draw from the [May long weekend] is

“nobody died on our highway and there weren’t any serious injury matters,” said Sgt. Don Murray of the local highway patrol detachment. “That’s what counts.” 7

Murray said his officers issued 197 violation tickets to

drivers in the Stewart, Kitwanga, Prince Rupert, Kitimat and |

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Terrace areas.

Of those tickets, 161 were for speeding, 25 were for fail-. -

ure to. wear seat belts, eight were for miscellaneous infrac- tions such as driving without a valid licence, three were for

excessive speeding (more than 40 km over the posted speed

limit), and one impaired driver was charged. ’. Police also gave verbal or written warnings to motorists but the total number wasn’t tallied.

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‘D Max Min Total || D. Max Min Total A Temp Temp Precip|.| A Temp Ter? Precip Y °C mm Y °C mm . 20 15.7 6.2 0.4 20 26.8 9.7 0.0 21 18.6 7.9 0.6 21 19.9 9.9 T 22 18.0 7.5 5.2 22 22.9 9.3 0.0 23 12.5 6.7. 1.7 23 19.9 6.3 0.0 ; 24 n/a n/a nal|24 169 86 1.2.

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