As the dust settles

In attempting to read the entrails of the two elections

_we’ve been through this past weekend, it’s difficult to

know where to begin other than with a sigh of relief.
There are few things that are obvious, but we can state
unequivocally that the decision-making powers of dis-

_ ¢riminating voters have been strained to the limit. -
~ On the local level it appears the electorate thought it .
was time for a moderate change, with one incumbent out —

of three returned to city council and two out of three

__ elected to the school board. Darryl Laurent will'make a -
valuable addition to council if he runs municipal affairs

as well as he runs the airport, and David Hull, if nothing

else, may add an athletic note to council’s rather sedate -

deliberations. a oo, .
The election of Eva Daniels as a trustee could be taken
as strong indication that local electors are fed up with

the pace and posturing surrounding the contract - =

negotiations between the board team and the teachers.

In the campaign she was noteworthy as being the only ©

candidate who came right out and said that if it takes a
property tax hike to settle the dispute, then so be. it.
Daniels topped the polls in both civic races with 1,129
votes. . -
On the federal level we at least have the blessing of
stability with a majority government, The winter

weather in this area combined with the prospect of |

another election in a few months would have packed the
Mills Memorial psychiatric ward to the ceiling.

~The Free Trade issue has been done to death in the .

campaigns, and for better or worse it’s now as good as

}  GaNA WiLL
eee
NG

Dis

AWASBEA ®

_ This be

signed. The re-election of Jim Fulton in this riding can § 8

be attributed to a number of factors, but it probably
reflects a level of confidence that Fulton has built up
with the people of Skeena over a period of years, coup-
led with a continuing groundswell of dissatisfaction with
‘Ottawa. or
Despite having a strong candidate in Ray Halvorson,
the Tories had a lot of problems to overcome in Skeena.
Free Trade was the foundation of the national cam-
-paigns, but there were far more important issues in this
riding. oO |
Aboriginal land claims was just one of those issues.
Although the federal government came through with
two land claim settlements before and during the cam-
paign, the Dene-Meti agreement in the Northwest Ter-
ritories involved title to land that had few conflicting in-
terests and the Lubicon Lake settlement was a small one
in terms of area. Halvorson said he would like to see a
‘continued on page 23

Terrace Review (Gecna

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PAID

Established May 1, 1985
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. religion, color, sex, nationality, ancestry or place ~

PETER MARTINSON: Stun-

ned and speechless after !

city action.

TERRACE — Peter Martinson
of Bornite Mountain Taxidermy

has taken the city to task on
awarding a ‘‘nd cost’’ contract .

for the mounting of a Kermode
bear to another local business,
Britton’s Taxidermy. ‘According
to Martinson, the manner in
which city administrator Bob
Hallsor awarded the contract
violated Section 291 of the
Municipal Act, and at the Nov.
14 meeting of city council Mar-
tinson made five demands he

says he feels will correct the
‘situation. Section 291 of the

Municipal Act is related to the
granting of a ‘‘financial

privilege’ by a municipality to a

business or individual.

by Tod Strachan

Martinson’s demarids asked

. that: (1) council set up an un-
» biased review panel, (2) take
‘steps to ensure a similar situa-

“tion doesn’t occur in the future,

(3) offer some form of restitu-

tion to himself, (4) review a let-

ter from the Inspector of |

Municipalities, and . (5) take

disciplanary action on those

responsible for the contract.
These demands were sent to

‘the committee on Finatice, Per-
sonnel and Administration,

which met last week and recom-
mended to council that they ac-
cept the first two demands only.
Council will discuss this recom-
mendation next Monday and
also consider a request from
Martinson that the mounting of
the bear be put on hold until the
‘matter is resolved.

Martinson’s problem began
on Sept. 20 when a Kermode
bear was brought to his shop.
He turned it over to the local
conservation officer a week.

--Jater, On receiving the bear, the
officer laid charges against a-

Queen Charlotte Island resident
for shooting the bear and made
a ‘strong’? recommendation
that the bear be stuffed and
donated to the city.

Martinson says he phoned city
administrator Bob Hallsor from
the Ministry of Environment of-
fice, and after describing the

‘situation made a verbal bid to

mount the bear on a base, place
a spawning salmon on. its
mouth, attach a brass name
plate and a sign describing the
bear, and then place the whole
thing in a glass enclosure. And
all of this, he says, was offered
free.on the condition that it be
displayed in a public place.
When he phoned Hallsor the.
next day, however, Martinson
says, he was told that his bid had
not been successful and the con-
tract had been awarded to Brit-
ton Taxidermy, who he says had

only offered to mount the bear

on a base and attach a brass
name plate (all free of charge).
This was far less than he had of-
fered to do and Martinson said
he was ‘‘stunned and
speechless’. , ,

He said that his next move
was to phone Mayor Jack
Talstra: and was’ told: that
Hallsor had said that the bids
were “‘equal’ and therefore
names had been ‘‘picked from a
hat” — giving the contract to
Britton. a

_ Martinson says he has talked

‘to the Inspector of Municipali-
‘ties ahd has since come to the
conclusion that the law. has been, -

ar’s been around _

broken. He claims that the
donation is worth at . least
$10,000 in advertising and that
_by- awarding the contract to Brit-
ton the city has granted a finan-
_cial ‘privilege’? to him which
violates Section 291 of the
Municipa! Act.
When asked by the Terrace
Review for an interpretation of
- the act, John McDonald, an in-
spector with the Inspector of
Municipalities office said that
the whole case was intriguing
and an interpretation. could |
probably only be made. by a
judge. In one interpretation, if
Britton’s work was a donation,
the contract had no monetary
value to the city and no law has
‘ been broken. On the other hand,
says McDonald, if Martinson’s
claim of the advertising value
holds up, the donation could
very well be described as a finan-
cial privilege and a violation of
the act. ,
In an attempt to resolve the
matter, Fred Thompson, deputy
inspector of municipalities, has
written a letter to Hallsor re-
- questing copies of letters and the
city’s side of the story, At the
same time he suggested, ‘“‘A
joint display may serve to in-
crease the perceived fairness in
this matter.’” .
During a press conference at
city hall last week, Talstra
outlined his position in the se-
quence of events described by
Martinson. Talstra said it is his
job to respond ‘to residents”
complaints by determining
whether city staff followed
‘proper’? procedure, and then
make an attempt at reconcilia-
tion if he feels there are ground
for a grievanice, _
In this case however, Talstra’s
- version of the sequenice of events
basically agrees with Martin-
son’s, but his evaluation differs
in that he doesn’t believe there
* are any grounds for a grievance.
1 think that Peter Martinson
perceives this as more than a
. gift,’? he explained. ‘‘He thinks
that someone is going to make
thousands of dollars in advertis-
-- gontinued on page 21