6 Terrace Review. — Thursday, January 2, 1992 A year of hard | "decisions begins rovincial forests minister Dan Miller said on more than one occasion during his long service as opposition critic a that a major cause of the long term economic difficulties in the B.C. forest industry was lack of political courage in making tough decisions. It appears that Miller has taken the first step toward making one of those decisions in appointing a two- man commission to evaluate the Westar situation in the north- west. "Westar announced several months ago that all its forest-related assets in the province were up for sale, either as a whole or piecemeal. Just before Christmas Westar Timber president Peter Berry said interested parties, who numbered 11 at the beginning, had been narrowed down to three, two of whom were engaged in serious negotiations. On Dec. 23 Miller announced that Garth _ Langford, an accountant who has done forestry evaluations for ‘the government in the past, had been hired to advise the ministry -on issues raised by the transfer of Westar’s tenures in the Kis- — piox Forest District. The second commissioner will be George ‘Watts, president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, who will : report on the aboriginal issues involved in the sale. “It’s difficult to imagine that this announcement could have anything but a negative effect on the saleability of these mills. The overall operation is one of the province’s leading examples of mismatched resources and processing capabilities, with the timber supply in its tenures deteriorating in quality and escalat- ing in operating costs and mills mismatched to the timber pro- ‘file. We can only speculate on what sort of offers Westar has ‘Teceived, but the continued existence of the Carnaby and Kit- -Wanga mills-within the current timber supply: context is probably “hot part of the picture. A more likely scenario would be acquisi- tion of the operation as a pulp log source, with sawlogs on the ais ‘tenures: being-sold on the stump to local operators. Miller. will. ‘want to ensure that'even if sawmills have to be closed some of ‘the resource stays in the area for processing. And the New “Democrats are politically committed to considering native inter- esis and making sure that the new tenure holder also considers : “The shuffling about of crown resources, particularly timber, _athong corporations has been a dimly-defined business since the tree farm licence system and long-term renewable forest licences — were established in B.C. The Westar evaluation could be a model first step for assuring that the public interest is served in such es ransactions. (een Coveno on 7 Ba? THe PUBLICLY Tle) TERRITORY OF NUNAVUT... seiisie i ti eal a vow written A Ngee “ Chal dill | Mae agnor i; a rl Terrase 5 a, ‘oe. VERIFICO OAcULATION o Lv of PAV. o, |) Established May 1, 1985. . _|-The Terrace Review is published -" gach Wednesday by Close-Up Business Services Ltd. Second-class mail registration No. 6896 ’ All material (Including original artwork) appearing space occupied by the erroneous item will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. Advertisers - ‘Tod Strachan, Betty Barton National Advertising: . Must assume rasponaibllity for errors in an . Marjorie Twyford classified ad hich is supplied to ‘he Terrace Local Advertising: Raview in written form. In compliance with the Jack Beck B.C. Human Rights Act, no advertisement will be published which discriminates against a person _ Office/T ypesatting: due to age, race, religion, colour, sex. nationality, : Carrie. Olson ancestry or place of origin. Production Manager: » - Jim: Hall 4535 Greig Avenue, a, Production: Terrace, B.C. Brian Slater, Charles Costallo, V8G 1M? Gurbax Gill, Phone: 635-7840 : George McLean, Gu Fax: 635.7260 os. “Ranjit Nizar- AX. G30 _ _ Accounting: Marj Twyford, Alice Tinsley one cared $3800 Art and Graphics: Seniors in Tarvate sed Diet $30 00 Stri ! Marianne. Br orup Weston Seniors out of Terrace and District $33.00 - Mark Twyford, President GST will be added to the above prices, Close Up Business Services Ltd. . Latiers to “he editor will be considered for publication only when signed. Please include your telephone number. The editor reserves the right a condense and adit 1] letters. Opinions expressed a are not necessarily those of the Terrace Review. Pret Hepa Publisher: in the Terrace Review is protected under . Canadian Copyright Ragistration No. 362775 and Betty Barton cannot be reproduced far any reason without the . . Editor: permission of the publisher. . : ; Errors and omissions . Advertising is accepted Michael Kelly on the condition that in the event at a Statt Fieporters: typographical error, that portion of the advertising . Ourforests, ni eh oe Treeeeeee : PE cate aes ce 2 tery cru ra am The 1 view from: . Victoria— . es by ‘John Pier VICTORIA — Year-end reviews in newspapers and on television will remind you enough of the dis- graceful end, in April, 1991, of the bizarre reign of Bill Vander Zalm as Premier of the province of B.C. _ They also will record the sub- sequent fallout in which his Social Credit Party was all but wiped out in the fall general election. . History also will note how in _ 1991, Canada’s first woman to hold the office of Premier, Rita Johnston, lasted only six-and-a- half months in the chair, before being swept aside in the anti-Zalm election mudslide which she could do little to deflect. And there will be more than enough pontificating about how New Democratic Party leader Mike Harcourt systematically worked his way up from being mayor of Vancouver to become . the apparently honest, sane, pre- dictable alternative to the Clown - Prince, taking the premier’s chair in the Oct, 17th election. So, instead of a review of the exceptional last 12 months in B.C. politics, let us look instead at what looms ahead in the first few months of the New Year. January looks like being a crucial month for the NDP gov- ernment, with announcements and decisions made whith will set the tone for the first session of the Legislature, and for the dealings outside it. _ What appears to be ihe NDP’s top priority is a jobs and environ- ment accord, as the first step in a province-wide land-use strategy in asepap bi gh ehabbsbeinina root SOnd signals.to British:Golumbians Watch in January for the gov- ernment to try to bring together, finally, the tree cutters and the tree huggers, to try to reach some com- mon ground. Except for a handful _ of rabid extremists, on both sides, _ most of those involved recognize that forestry is part of the lifeblood of B.C.’s economy, while at the same time acknowledging that environmental concerns no longer can be ignored. Mr. Harcourt has preached for months about the need for a sin- gle, province-wide process to deal with conflicts in the forests, rather than watershed by watershed. Now will be his chance to deliver, to set up a process which is acceptable to the adversaries, and which can be adapted to all - regions affected by the cutters-vs- huggers conflicts. - How will the NDP fare in this one? Well, a Sidney lawyer and mediator, Craig Darling, said in a recent article on the subject that “finding agreement in a forest land-use conflict is a lot like trying to herd cats — an elusive business demanding considerable flexibility and no small amount of creativi- ty.” Amen. Also to watch out for in Jan- uary and early February is Mr. Harcourt’s second trip abroad — a two-week jaunt to New York, London, and Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum. How he performs on that jour- ney, and at the forum made even more important because of the economic implications of the dis- solution of the Soviet Union, will as well as to customers and © ~ investors he is trying to woo. Mr, Vander Zalm went to Davos with an oompah-pah band and a bunch of B.C. scarves and _ buttons; and the province still has yet to see any concrete return from that visit. Perhaps the colourless Mr, Harcourt, by shunning the . hoopla and getting down to busi- ness, might just make the trip worthwhile in terms of i investment in B.C.’s future. Cancer clinic Speaking of sending signals to. the people of B.C., one govern-. ment decision at the end of Jan- - ‘uary will clearly show whether taking decisions for purely parti- san political reasons is a thing of the past, or alive and well and liv- ing within the NDP. - Trefer to the controversy over whether Kelowna or Kamloops should be the site of B.C.’s third full-service cancer clinic. No less than four approved studies over the past 10 years have said that if the clinic is to be located any- where, it should be at Kelowna General Hospital, period. _ Yet, in the few months since the election, which saw two NDP MLAs elected in Kamloops, and a Liberal and a Socred in Kelowna, Health Minister Elizabeth Cull looks to be leaning a bit towards Kamloops for the clinic, under pressure from her NDP colleagues there. And during the election cam- paign, Mr, Harcourt told BOTH hettanas sme GOntinued-OR-pager?rti-—-s