AA The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 17, 2002 TERRACE. : | STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27. 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G SR? TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 © FAX: (250) 638-8432 WEB: www.terracestandard,com EMAIL: newsrcom@terracestandard.com Beyond Hope THE PROVINCE’s split personality continues to deepen. Recent news has highlighted a con- struction boom and B.C.’s falling unemploy- ment rate. Indeed more new jobs were created in B.C, than in any other province last month. Just don’t go looking anywhere beyond Hope to find those jobs. The new stats are further evidence of the growing 250/604 split. It’s boomtime in Vancouver and the burbs. The world-class city boasts B.C.’s lowest unem- ployment, a burgeoning high-tech economy and now Olympic dreams. Meanwhile out in the hinterland, where the area code is 250, many citizens and communities are mired in despair. Don’t try to tell mill workers in Prince George or loggers in Terrace that this is the land of milk and honey. The northwest region has 15 per cent unem- ployment — an improvement, believe it or not, ‘from 16.1 per cent the previous month. This government needs to demonstrate it has a ‘plan for those of us in B.C.’s non-urban hinter- land — the place where the rocks and sticks come from that pay the bills in this province. Some factors slamming the economy are be- ‘yond Victoria’s control — things like the soft- wood lumber and forest product markets. Other decisions will cut services and drive up .the cost of living in the regions. Last week, the province issued a discussion paper on the future of private-public partner- ships in building or maintaining highways and bridges. It raises the possibility of the greater use of tolls to pay for such projects. The typical family in Terrace or Kitimat can be excused for wondering just how many tolls they’re ultimately going to have to pay to drive to Vancouver in search of jobs, prosperity and a future. Maybe they won't be able to afford to make the trip. ’ Get on with it “IT’S OVER. The referendum on treaty princi- “ples has passed and with it a perplexing and probably pointless chapter in our history. All the principles got overwhelming yes backing, albeit with a response rate of around .33 per cent. The principles were also already part of B.C.’s mandate to its negotiators. Most of them, save the one involving style of self- government, were also held by the previous .NDP government and shaped the Nisga’a treaty. _ No matter, the premier says the result will reinvigorate treaty talks. This is doubtful. But however progress comes, it is sorely needed. ’ Now that this exercise is finished, Victoria ‘must move mountains to lift this cloud over the province. That’s the only path to both justice and economic certainty on the land. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Jetf Nagel 2001 WINNER NEWS/SPORTS Sarah Zimmerman | CRABS NEWS/COMMUNITY: Jennifer Lang FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping & Carol McKay _ COMPETITION . CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Terri Gordon ~ ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Bert Husband & Stacy Gyger TELEMARKETER: Stacy Gyger COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $56,25(+53.94 GST)=60.19 per year: Seniors $49.50 (+8347 GST)=52,97; Out of Province $63.22 (+54.43 GST )=67,65 Outside of Canada (6 months) $152.34 (+$10.66 GST)=163.00 MEMBER OF B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION. CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION AND B.C. PRESS COUNCIL (www. bopreascounell.org) “Seevng tne Terrace and Thomnll area. Pupisnes on Wednesday ef each week at 321¢ Clinton Street, Terrace. Brush Columba, VaG 5R2, - Sicnes. photographs, illustrations, dasigns and typeastyies in the Terace Standard ara the property of Ine copyngh hoiders, inducing Canboo Press (1969) Lid. 1s ilusttator reore sanicas and acverusing agencas, me -Repecduction in whole or in pat, wHNGUT WANEN PERMISSOn, & specheaty prombited, Autnonzed as seccnd-tiass mail panding the Post-Otice Department. {or paymant of postage in cash. Speclal thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for thelr time and talents CANAPA BROKERED A DEAL OF $22 BILLION US. FOR THE WORLDS POOR Talking global politics in France PARIS — WHEN first we met, I took him to be just another Islamic fanatic. His name is Walid Thomas. He is from Iraq. He doesn’t like George Bush one little bit. Bush, he said, was a liar. Old George, he said, was more interested in power and oil than world peace. The presi- dent of the United Sates was ne more committed to achiev- ing peace in the Middle East than Hitler was in achieving “Peace in our Time.” Walid, it seemed, fit the patiern of the perfect Islamic militant, bent on the destruc- tion of the “Zionist Entity” to & lee. Then he said, “I'm a Christian.” Next he said that Saddam Hussein is a mass murderer, whom he would ra- ther see before a War Crimes Tribunal. Actually, he added, te’ would lixe to see them there both, Bush and Hussein. By now, 1 was thoroughly confused, Walid is the night receptionist at the Ideal in Paris where Pamela, my granddaughter, and I stayed, His kids go to a Catholic school in Paris. He doesn’t go to church. His wife and kids do, I asked him how come he FROM THE CAPITAL | HUBERT BEYER and his family were Christians in Irag. The answer is simple: traq is a lot closer to where Christianity began than Eur- ope. His forebears have been Christian for far longer than mine. Walid had some pretty weird conspiracy theory con- ceptions. He was convinced othat some woman in.New, York phoned the cops when she saw “a bunch of peoplé in a car near the World Trade Center with cameras on Sept, 11, 2001. “The police arrested them and they turned out to be five Mossad agent.” Those agents, he added, had filmed the scene of the planes slicing into the twin towers. The im- plication was that they knew about the attack beforehand. I’m not here to defend the fantasies of a conspiracy the- orist. All I’m trying to explain is that I spent a great evening with a man who hates both George Hush and Saddam Hussein, but who isn’t an Isla- mic militant. Walid has been living in Paris for several years. Back home in Iraq, he is an opte- metrist. He can’! afford the two years of University it would take to allow him to practice in France. So he works as the night desk clerk at the hotel, the owner of which is also from Iraq. Our conversations took place in a little lounge, next to the front desk after my grand- daughter had gone to sleep. After the first evening, he said I was the first guest to clean him out of beer. Next evening, he had a sur- prise for me: four half-litre bot- © _tles of Bavarian “Starkbier extra strong beer al 8.5 per cent. They are a present from me,” he said, To be honest, the hotel was no great shakes, one of the many conversions from former five-storey residential build- ings you find in Europe. The elevator holds two persons or one person with a suitcase. The rooms are so small that no matter where you put your suitcase, you’ve got to climb over it to reach the door or the bathroom. At $100 a night in Paris, however, you can’t be choosy. Besides, the rooms and bathrooms were impeccably clean. The owner purchased the hotel 12 years ago for US $2 million. Having fled Iraq, he could choose between applying for political refugee status, which he refused to do, or in- vesting in France, which he did. He can’t go back to Iraq, not even for a visit, because as a former engineer and university — professor, the authorities would | not let him leave the country again. There is an acute shortage of scientists in Iraq. “It’s a tragedy that a country as beautiful and historic, as ‘well’as' ich in off,'is run by ‘a fascist murderer like Hussein,” he told me: On the morning of our last day in Paris, 1 asked Walid how much it might cost to get by cab to Montmartre. You don’t take a cab, I will drive you, he replied. And he did. Beyer can be reached at: E-mail: hubert@coolcom.com; Tel (250) 381-6900; Web http://www. Aubertbeyer.com Chicken coops too cramped FORMER Beatle Paul Mc- Cartmey in a letter to McDo- nald’s noted Canada is not meeting cattle, pig and chick- en slaughterhouse standards. “In Canada,” McCartney wrote, on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Ani- mals (PETA), “McDonald’s has not yet phased in cage space requirements for hens.” McDonald’s Canada refuted the allegations, saying in a Statement it has adopted 1999 globai standards and takes the matter of animal welfare ser- iously: “By the end of 2002, most of Mcdonald’s Canadian network will be compliant with the 72-square-inch cage sizes for egg-laying hens.” Fancy that. Each hen com- mands 72 square inches of cage space, six inches wide by 12 inches long, roughly the area a hen occupies brooding a clutch of eggs, Or about half of a checkerboard, In human terms, that’s liv- ing in a showerstall. Even maximum security prisoners have more wiggle room. BEST BERRY yeAREvER'[— ] THE BEARS FILU THEIR TUMMIES THEN FALL | ASLEEP IN THEIR DENS. THROUGH BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI Hens aren’t the only ani- mals squeezed to satisfy our demands. Until they are but- chered for veal, calves are confined in pens so restrictive they can’t turn around, Preg- nant mares stand tied to a slanchion for weeks so their urine can be collected for hor- mone treatment of women. I've never visited an epg producer of the dimensions McCartney is referring to. 1 do remember perhaps 20 years ago when we bought worn out hens from a local egg farm. : a - ae ree a ‘ , i oF 5 WHAT (F THEY FALL ASLEEP... os ye » BEFORE THEY GET To THEIR DENS?! The birds’ beaks had been clipped so they couldn’t peck each other bloody. Often the two halves of the beak crossed, making eating diffi- cult. Their legs were weak, their feet clawed like a witch with rheumatoid arthritis. Standing upright was imposs- ible — their legs folded under them like an ironing board, Those hens didn’t sink ta those conditions overnight. Imagine their typical day. Co- oped up. Lights on around the clock. Nothing ta look forward lo, nothing new on the menu, ho vistas, humming fans stir- ring the air, no praise or satis- faction for laying eggs. No chasing a grasshopper through the weeds or plucking a dive- bombing housefly in mid-air. When you want to shift, you must choreograph like a Rock- ette, “Everyone take one slep to the left.” Alt the very least, hens could benefit from an exercise machine on which they could walk minutes each day, Or make the pen’s floor trampo- line elastic. Better yet would be for scientists to. devise an egg sub- stitute from canola and let the hens retire. The cholesterol level could be monitored and lowered. The “egg” could be made square for snug packa- ging and dandy sandwich slices. No more round corners that leave bread un-topped. As a farmer, I enjoyed watching chickens gathered legs stretched out, flapping dust over themselves as they basked in the warm July sun. When we line up for our Ege McMuffin, we give no thought to the hen who sits, day and night, in shoebox confinement pecking lackadaisically at the same pellets, wailing to ex- trude another ege, If those hens were tethered in a row on the counter in front of us, we would object to their imprisonment, among other things. But to have them wedged in, Wing to wing for their entire laying life, bothers us not a whit, DID You HEAR WHAT HE SAID?