| A6 Terrace Review — Wednesday, December 12, 1990

EDITORIAL _

‘

ile special interest environment groups are
giving the forest industry a pounding on. -
Vancouver Island, the south coast and parts of
the interior, it appears the industry in this area needs no |
help from protectionists — it can drive itself into the
ground with a bit of encouragement from Victoria.
_ Over the past summer and fall we have chronicled the
downfall of two operating sawmills, noted the fact that
_ highway loads of logs less than six inches in diameter are
being trucked from the Kalum Valley and from within the

‘municipality of Terrace to feed a sawmill in Houston that

has its own forest tenure, seen a major forest licence less
than 100 kilometres north of Hazelton awarded to com-
panies in Prince George that have done nothing with the
wood after two years, and watched mountains of wood
chips grown next to the Eurocan pulp mill in puzzlement
while West Fraser/Eurocan chase every fibre of available

wood in the region.

Now we have a project that appears to make a great

deal of sense: the Orenda plan to build a pulp and paper

_ plant right at the site where the trees are harvested, using
a method that may not be perfect but certainly looks a
great deal cleaner than any existing operation of its kind.
The Kitimat-Stikine Regional District has reacted with
wary approval, and so it should.

It is in situations like this one that the regional board
really demonstrates its value to the area, taking the
Orenda proposal and looking forward to its impact and
the potential for problems. The commuting arrangements
for Stewart employees are probably unrealistic,
particularly during the winter when the Bear Pass is
subject to occasional closures. In this matter they are also
doing a service to Orenda, in view of the cost and effort
required to start up the plant if it has to shut down
because workers are unable to get there.

The possibility cf unrestricted development in the area
of the plant is also very real, and the board’s concern for
doing things right from the pround up will save the area a
good deal of aggravation and trouble later on.

_ If the Orenda project is stopped for some reason, the
timber cutting will go on until there is a land claims
settlement or a change in Ministry of Forests policy. In
either case it would be preferable to have a thoroughly
reviewed and viable project like the Orenda concept, as
opposed to the status quo in which the timber is shipped
out of the region or out of the country until it’s

exhausted.

Bat vere

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SUiciDe BOMBCR.

a

The view from
Victoria —

by John Plier

VICTORIA — Are we media
‘members and political pundits
being too quick—maybe even
too eager?-——to label as Very Im-
portant, the latest internal party
revolt over the leadership of Bill
Vander Zalm?

Some Social Credit Cabinet
ministers seem to think we are.

Several of them have made no
bones about the fact that they
consider the grassroots call for a
leadership review to be of little
significance, purely media hype.

And the. Premier himself has
virtually dismissed the rumbles
from disaffected party presi-
dents, as babble from ‘“‘a bunch
of ghosts’’.

Perhaps they all should look ~

more closely at how quickly and
ignominiously leaders fall, once
the questions about their vera-
city, competence or (especially)

‘electability come out of the

backrooms and into public dis-
cussion. |
From Julius Caesar to Mar-
garet Thatcher, leaders have
found that many of their sup-
porters and sycophants melt
away pretty quickly when the
sticky-sweet smell of death
(politically, that is) hovers over
The Boss. |
For example, last month as
the sharks circled around them
— British prime minister That-
cher, her closest advisors and

‘communications gurus contin-

ued to underestimate the
strength of opposition mounted
against her.
They confidently told Maggie
that she would weather: the
storm, when in truth, the game
was over before the first leader-
Ship vote among Tory MPs was

- even held. .

'- When reality sank is, . and

even support from her loyalists
continued to erode steadily after
the vote, she did ‘‘the right

thing’’ and resigned rather than

see the party torn asunder.

So far, there is nothing to sug-
gest that the Social Credit unrest
will go that far down the road.

And in fact, the power of the |

Premier and the party brass is
being brought to bear on the

Tebels in’ the biggest damage-

control effort yet mounted by
those seeking to maintain the
status quo.

Nevertheless, this correspon-
dent thinks it would be most un-

- wise for the premier, party, and

Cabinet to continue to treat the
“revolt’’ lightly.
Some of the players who have

. Stepped forward to be counted,

such as Maple Ridge constitu-
ency president Donna Telep and
South Saanich leader Joan Wil-
liams, are not rabid antiZalmites
as you might think. .
In fact, Williams and her al-
derman husband Ray were dele-
gates to the 1986 Whistler con-
vention which elected Vander
Zalm as leader and Premier.
True, they initially supported
“native son’’ Mel Couvelier, but
went with him to The Zalm

Camp when Mel threw in the

towel.

And Telep was a Vander Zalm
delegate from the first ballot.

It is just. that now they do not
believe their free-enterprise par-
ty has a chance to win re-election
without resolving the leadership
issue.

Party presidents in all 75 con-
stituencies have now received a

‘package from Telep and Port

Coquitlam president Ken Tuin-
inga which includes the latest

public-opinion poll on the state

of the party and its leadership,
an affidavit which confirms that
at least 17 presidents agree that a
leadership review is necessary
and a covering letter explaining
their concerns.

The next likely step will be for
two dozen or more ridings to call
special meetings (they have to
give two weeks’ notice) to deal
with the question of calling for a
leadership convention.

If 15 of them get a ‘Yes’ an-
swer, the party board will have
no choice—under the new con-
stitutional laws—but to call one.

That is the same party board
which rejected the initial call for
a leadership convention—but
not unanimously, as HQ tried to
maintain.

Methinks if it ever gets to an
actual convention being agreed
to, two things would likely hap-
pen:

_ 1. The board would waste no

time in setting an early date for
the convention. (After all, this
government is in the last throes
of its five-year mandate, and to
delay would be, at the least, ir-
responsible),

. 2. Bill Vander Zalm would not

let his‘ name stand, but would
step down, rather than risk hu-

_ miliation at such a convention.

Besides, even if he were to par-
ticipate, it would be likely to
worsen the division within Social
Credit, rather than to heal it.
You may consider this base rant-
ings of a confused columnist,
but think about it.

EARLY SESSION?

Some senior government
officials are advocating an early
recall of the Legislature—say,

— Continued on page A7