“—@@a 6 Terrace Review —-. Wednesday, October 23, 1991. ~ Tower to pigs: _ cleared for take-off | T he election campaign that came to a rather dramatic conclusion last week was somewhat reminiscent of.- the advertising competition we see between major manufacturers of cola soft drinks: the products are virtually indistinguishable and the sale is all pitched on image and disparaging of the competitor. In a four-week series of interviews with the candidates following the election call, the Terrace Review asked the candidates to present their views on several major issues. The resulting articles had an eerie quality in that had the names of the front-runners been deleted, readers would ‘have had some difficulty telling who was who from the ‘content of the articles. That observation is certain to provoke a reaction from both sides, but in fact the platforms of the Socreds and New Democrats differed only in minor detail on nearly all the issues. Both sides support the settlement of the aboriginal land question; the New Democrats vowed to recognize aboriginal title, but for the average non-native observer that would appear to be fine point, Both sides supported cleaning up the environment, although the NDP talked tougher. The NDP would eliminate health care user fees and talked about pouring more money into critical care, but both parties were in agreement about the — fundamental structure of the health care system. In fact many of the initiatives taken by the Social Credit government over the past two or three years could just have credibly been put forward by an administration much further to the political left than the Socreds would admit to being. In the end it was the image factor that swept the electorate, and in the resulting confusion we now have an official opposition about which virtually nothing is known except the name of its leader. Despite the savage and unnatural tone of the campaign, this has been one of the more enlightening provincial elections of the past 50 years, simply because it appears that both major contenders were driven to construct platforms founded on workability. For nearly every problem that government can have a hand in solving, circumstances dictate only a narrow range of solutions that might actually work. The parties in this election seemed to be crowding the political centre, but in fact they were crowding practicality. - When politicians are compelled to present themselves to voters on a basis of viability rather than political correctness, an observer could get the idea that this ‘province is finally reaching political maturity. "EDITORIAL ~ QUEK!. supe THE CHEQUEBOOKS! Second-class mail . Established May 1, 1985 registration No. 6896 The Terrace Review is published each Wadnescay by ase-Up vnclud ; j i . 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The editor reserves the righ! to condense and edit tatters. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those al the Terrace Review. (Crack Doro vues Marjorie Twyford sted ad which Is supplied othe Terrace Review ising: in written form, In com th the B.C. Local Advertising: a writen frm, Jr comple wo ; lished which discriminales against a person due Office/Typesetting: to age, race, religion, colour, sex, nationality, . Carrie Olson - ancestry or place ol origin. Production Manager: Jim Hall 9 4535 Greig Avenue, _ Brian Slater, Charles Costello, Phowe a8 40 George McLean, Gurbax Gill, e. "- Ranjit Nizar Fax: 635-7269 - Accounting: = “Mer, Twy0r, om re anes Harminder K. Dosanjh Out of Ganads $100.00 Art and Graphics: ~ * Soniors out of Terrace and Distict San “T I ie = VANCOUVER — Let’s call it a cleansing. . ; Fuelling the New Democratic Party’s victory and the Liberal Party’s resurrection in Thursday's general election was the demoli- tion of the once-proud Social Credit Party. And it’s overwhelming rejection by the people should have come as no surprise to anyone, least of all to thie 15 Cabinet members who were thrown out of office. For at some stage or other during - the last three years, many of those 15 had expressed privately a blis- tering condemnation of the actions of disgraced former premier Bill Vander Zalm, and the damage they were causing. ; But publicly, only one of them — Municipal Affairs Minister Gra- ham Bruce — had tried to stop the rot, when as a backbencher, he and three colleagues bolted from the Socred caucus in late 1989. The intention then was to hold Mr, Vander Zalm accountable for his considerable role in six by- election defeats in less than 18 months, and for plummeting party popularity. The Gang of Four wanted the then-premier either to change his ways or to be replaced, just as some had wanted that at the 1988 party convention in Penticton in the wake of the resignations of Mr. Vander’s two most valuable Cabinet members — Grace McCarthy and Brian Smith, But the 1989 mutiny fizzted-out when none of those 15 and the rest of caucus, nor any of the sycopan- tic party executive, had the jam to join the cry for change, and to sce it through. t The view from Victoria — _by John Pifer it took another.16 months, to April 2 of this year, before the once-charismatic Vander Zalm did Clearly, Gordon Wilson and Co. will want to keep out the far-right, single-issue, rabid Zalmoids, and the job for them himself, with his __ to retain those on the right of the resignation in disgrace. NDP, while attracting as many By then, it was too late. The ex- — more middle-line moderates as premier left in his wake a frac- . _ possible. tured, fading, pathetic party whose Don’t forget, the Liberals won 17 only course was charted directly seats on the strength of support towards oblivion, with no time from people who used to vote remaining to steer a different Socred. In fact the swing to the route. Liberals was an increase of 26 per- Now, by electing only seven cent, exactly what the Socreds MLAs, only three from the most _ lost. recent Cabinet, the Socreds have So do not be surprised to see an reached that target. unholy alliance spring up, proba- Among the dozens of Socreds bly named Liberal or The B.C. defeated, there were some honest, Party, as we get closer to the next capable MLAs, yes. (Rita John- —_ election. ston, Ivan Messmer, Carol Gran And yes, politics do make strange and John Reynolds spring to bedfellows. mind, for example). Obviously the question of And they will be missed in the whether the Liberals can even Legislature, But they and their col- make it close four years from now, leagues chose their own fate when Will depend almost entirely upon they decided not to stand up and _the performance of Mr. Harcourt be counted and when there might -and his government. have been a chance to save Social + The NDP will face pressures Credit. from all sides for immediate action —~- whether it be the demands from trade unions for wage settlements, or from busi- Few will lament the party’s pass- ing. But don’t attach all the blame — as many are doing — just to Mr. Vander Zalm. ness and industry applying the He had a lot of help. screws to a green government. ; And Mr. Harcourt will also face So, is it fair to call the new Oppo- Pressure from within his own cau- sition party merely a realignment — cus, from those with leftist view- of Social Credit, say Son of points demanding immediate Socred, or Socred II? action on social programs or on The Liberals say no. environmental issues. While ready to admit that they One other thing. spe om expect the next election to be You may rest assured that how ~ another polarized two-pafty ' Mr. Harcourt and his party gov- erns, will be scrutinized and ana- lyzed just as closely as we moni- tored Mr. Vander Zalm and Mts, Johnston, squabble as all but this one have been since 1952, any deals with any remaining Socreds will have to wail awhile.