6 Terrace Review —— Wednesday, February 5, 1992 GS” GS" AE wf #8 # Is this game for us? acing recently to the local chamber of commerce, Skeena ‘Cellulose division chief Reg Lightfoot seemed to conjure up the fearsome spectre of a long-distance Latin American-stye coup, in CAMS NOD NTE CURRENT TREND OF BARTERING FOOD LOOK... 1. KNOW WE ASKED FOR this instance the overthrown party being our local pulp industry. Lightfoot pointed out that pulp manufacturers in Chile, and those -who intend to build plants there, enjoy logging and transportation ‘costs that amount to less than half the costs of doing the same thing in this area. » Reliable reports indicate the Chilean government is offering “that country’s forests to pulp and timber operators at zero stump- age with no silviculture obligations. Along with that goes lower “labour costs for construction and operation, and a type of conif- crous tree called radiata pine that grows to maturity less than 30 years after planting. Technical experts say that as a pulp feedstock the Chilean forests are the equal of northern old growth conifers on every count. Over the coming decades Chile will draw billions of dollars -in capital investment with that kind of industrial attraction. After ‘a-period of time, given a certain level of political stability, the ‘workers will experience a rise in their standard of living and . want more. People will become concerned about the effect of numerous large pulping operations on the environment and begin _to wonder how many pine forest rotations the soil can support _ without becoming terminally depleted. We should know — we've been there. .... Mr. Lightfoot is asking the chamber members to support ~ Skeena Cellulose’s efforts to compete in the same market with “the burgeoning Chilean industry, even hinting that a bit of lobby- -ing from the chamber in the direction of city hall regarding the ‘company’s local property taxes would help. Should we really be _ preparing to go to the wall in direct competition with a develop- * ing country? . . | | ~~. Pulp can be made with anything from lawn clippings to Sitka spruce trees.-The real uniqueness. of the forest resource in this . region, relative to what there is in the rest of the world, is its strength as finished lumber. Pulp has been the dominate indus- trial use of trees in this area for the past 50 years because it’s easy and because it’s profitable. Those conditions are changing: it’s no longer easy because of the terrain from which the logs shave to be taken, and by all appearances the volume of new pulping capacity being built world-wide will spell an end to the profitability of high-cost operations, as the Chilean example painfully illustrates. . ~ Can we afford to stay one with better odds? in this game, or is time to look for mm vcnieco CRCULATION Established May 1, 1985 - The Terrace Review is published each Wednesday by Close-Up Business Services Ltd. 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The view from Victoria — by John Pifer VICTORIA — The NDP govern- ment of Premier Mike Harcourt passed a crucial test at month-end with its decision on the site of a $20 million cancer treatment cen- tre... but it failed another one. It is commendable that this administration did not bow to political pressure and award the clinic to Kamloops, where there are two NDP MLAs who screamed loudly and long that they should get the 110-job clinic. Instead, Health Minister Eliza- beth Cull stuck to her guns, and agreed with medical and commu- nity experts that Kelowna — | where there are fo NDP MLAs — was the better site, by far. . note not just in the Interior, but right across the province. For by acting out of reason, by following good professional advice, rather than making a deci- sion based upon purely partisan reasons, the NDP may proudly state that it is different from its Social Credit predecessors. _ But before they all start patting themselves on the back too vigourously, the New Democrats should also learn from the test which they failed... living up to their pledges. The reason the contest to get the clinic became such a pitched battle between the two cities was because of Mr. Harcourt himself, and anow-broken campaign misc. Amid the October election hoopla, the NDP leader told Kam- loops voters that they would have acancer clinic. Period. Not "might have” or "hope tohave", but ~ “would have”. He told Kelowna residents the So now it is left to Kamloops MLAs Art Charbonneau and Fred Jackson to face their angry constituents and try to explain what happened to the promise from their leader. Given that the NDP rode to power on a platform which bashed the Socred government for its string of broken promises and its "creative accounting" of its finances, this flip-flop is an embarrassing reminder of why politicians are generally held in such low esteem, regardless of their leanings. It just is not good enough for our elected or wannabe politicians _ to say that such promises are merely wishes; nor can they just be shrugged off as things said in the heat of the campaign fervor. Most people want to trust those - who should be serving them, and trust is the last thing which will flow to Mr. Harcourt and Co. from this performance. One other thing. One wonders just how much of a coincidence it is that the announcement that the Kamloops promise was simply election hot air, comes at a time when the Premier is abroad. Sure, Mr.;Haycourt will face.a flurry of questions when he retums from Europe, and he may even have a few awkward moments about the shattered promise. _ By then, there will be other - matters commanding the public's _ attention, and any heat the Premier faces will be, at best, lukewarm. © Coincidence? Perhaps. Wise polit- ical strategy to make the best out of a bad mess? More likely, 1 sug- gest. ca There is at least one former Social Credit Cabinet minister who is going to‘get away this year — in a big way — from the now- dull world of B.C. politics. Graham Bruce is going to the fair — the World's Fair in Seville, Spain, that is —- for seven months! The former Cowichan MLA, his wife Anneke and his four chil- ‘dren will spend April through October at Expo 92, helping a group of Canadian investors to manage two restaurants and enter- tainment halls in the northern Spanish community. . "There are also several retail shops, so it is not entirely clear what my role will be," Mr. Bruce . told The Citizen in Duncan recently. In an understatement of mam- — moth proportions, the affable Bruce said: "It's a total life _ change. I was in Spain 20 years ago, but I'm sure things have changed dramatically." Yes, Graham, just as they did for all but the five of your former Socred colleagues who managed togetre-elected. The 39-year-old former mayor of Chemainus will celebrate his 40th birthday in Spain on July 7, a birthday he shares with former attomey-general Brian Smith, former Oak Bay mayor and Socred candidate Susan Brice... and your humble correspondent. « ° . Parting Thought: One press gallery wag summed up the Kam- loops-versus-Kelowna cancer clin- ic battle thus: "Kamloops got the disease (meningitis); Kelowna got the cure,” an Brital. .-