Page. A4 — Terrace Standard, Wednesday, Anti 10, 1991

| ESTABLISHED APRIL a7, 198i

Ra FERRE STANPAR -D:

press (1969) LW. at an

, Bitsh Colunbla,
yp nen re oc in ro Pe ts

are Publishers:

oa Credgeu

j - Jott Hagel = Sort, Malco Baxt Nels; i :
Arlene Watis — Typesetter’, Rose Fisher. — Front Office Manager -
wolyn’ Anderson’ Typasatter; Susan Credgaur — ‘Copoalng Darton :

ohne . Advertising Manager, ‘Jandt Mivelros +. Advertising Consultant. °° |
~,Giutakon mo sieve. rm

Syecin) thanks! to, all
- our contributers ‘and

~-eorrespondents for...
~. their time and
~ faanits.. °

‘his luggage as the two men
; Checked through security at Ot-

“Fancy footwork

~The fascinating thing about the pro-
‘posed port at Kitimat is where politics
fits ‘into the plan.

“To begin with, the idea of a public
port. At. Kitimat isn’t new. That city is
_already home to three industries with
their own private berths. A public port is
-more or less an extension of those
facilities.

* What i is new is the stake Skeena MLA
“Dave Parker and the Social Credit
government have in the plan, It was Mr.
“Parker’s initiative in 1989 that started
this latest effort to develop the port. And
it was public money that financed the

proposal now. being considered.

‘It was — and is — a rather ‘tricky
situation for Mr. Parker. He is the
minister responsible for northern
development. Such proposals are part of
his job as a minister of the government.
Yet he’s also the MLA for Kitimat and
bringing home the bacon i is part of his
job as a politician.

Opponents of the port proposal have
concentrated on Mr. Parker’s role as a
politician. They say the proposal is a
convenient re-election platform for him.
They also criticize the economics of the

proposal, hoping that kind of analysis _
will give credence to their first line of at-... .
public purse must be the overriding

tack.
And there’s an undercurrent floating

Food for

Last Friday’ $ soup ‘kitchen, the first of

what promises to be a regular event,

shouldn’t come as a surprise to the great

majority of northwest residents.

It’s an indication there remains in this
country and in this community a signifi-
cant number of people who live at or
below. the poverty line. This comes
despite years of having a healthy
economy and despite billions of dollars
of public investment. .

What we've created is not so much an
underclass dependent upon: the public
purse and charity for survival, but a class

around which states that a re-elected
Social Credit government is necessary to

develop the port while an NDP govern- |

ment will sink the proposal.
Yet there are already signs of port pro-

ponents putting some distance between
themselves and Mr. Parker and the oe
_ Social Credit government. -

One of those is Terrace. mayor. Jack.
Talstra, the vice-chairman of the port .
society advocating the project: ‘Speaking -
one day before Premier Bill Vander

Zalm’s Good Friday announcement, Mr.

Talstra said the port will-be built, no
matter what party forms the next
government. The only question witli.Mr.-
Talstra — one of the more. cagier politi-

cians in the northwest — is: when the -

construction will take place. ©

This is a sure sign there'll. bea lot: of
pressure put on the NDP to: follow

through on the proposal — particularly _
if that party has a chance to win 1 the next -

election. -

It’s also a sure sign a great deal of -
scrutiny will be needed to ‘protect the ©
public interest given the requirement for.

$23 million and change in tax monies to —

build the port. Politics is a fascinating.

art, but prudent management of. the

obligation of those elected to office.

thought.

of people who cannot and have not ‘been
able to return the investment society has

made in them.

That’s why the soup kitchen concept,
financed through a federal program to
train people to become camp cooks, is
worthwhile. At the same time as people
are being given the skills to find jobs,
their training is being used for a com-
munity good. The soup kitchen is called —
Food for Thought — a. phrase that has

more than one application in. this ‘cir-

cumstance.

Tt’s humiliating

Until last week, I had never

heard of a court discharging
‘anyone on the: grounds of
humiliation.

Through

Then the former federal Bifocals
‘housing minister joked about Cl =
his companion toting a gunin ©Y¥ Claudette Sandeckl

‘tawa International Airport.

‘Besides breaching aviation
security laws, Alan Redway

‘made himself the target of as
-Tany media cameras as Stor-

min’ Norman Schwarzkopf.
‘Luckily for Redway, instead
of socking hims with a max-
- imum $500 fine after he pleaded
- guilty, the court let him off with
‘an absolute discharge. Why?
: Because. the poor boy had

television uses laugh meters to
grade a studio audience's reac-
tion to a sitcom?:

Was the courtroom equipped
with a Pittsburgh paint. chart
against which :Redway’s flush
could be compared, the way

diabetics check their-urine sugar .

with a shaded litmus strip? .

Or did the court award,
humiliation points as the Im-—
migration: Department does

paigns. Or the pointed ques-
tions asked of politicians during -..
parliamentary corridor: media’ - :
scrums. mo
Bet the mercury would spout

right through the top of. the'.”

meter. Yet it’s arare parliame
tarian who. even . bats::ai

You don't suppose’ these.

- blush-meters are responsible for .
Canada - refusing: to exiradite:,

= PIETA i99 =

se 25

‘The good things

will be buried _—

VICTORIA - — When Bud
_Smith,threw. his support...

“. sbehind Bill: Mander:Zalm: iatithe

Whistler: convention four-and-a -
-fielf years ago,-he became in-
directly responsible for.the -
most turbulent years in B.C.

‘politics,

It was Bud’s inability to Tet
the brass ring go to Brian
_ Smith that catapulted Vander

Zalm into the Jeadership pasi-

tion, and although some peo-
"ple warned at the time that
there was no reason to believe
Vander Zalm had undergone
some miraculous transforma-
tion, most political observers.
were willing, to give ‘him a
chance. -

They argued that, in all. .
fairness, Vander Zalm desery-
-ed to be forgiven for past...”
_trespasses, like saying welfare
recipients should -be equipped.
with shovels, like bitching -
‘about French on corn flake
‘boxes, like: offending
, Quebecers by a singing a song
about frogs at a Party func-
tion, like proposing marriage
qualification tests.

Bud, too, must have been
expectiing a new and improved
Vander Zalm when he decided -
‘to be: king-maker and walked -
~ over tothe. Vander Zalm: : *

' ‘camp; undoubtedly dragging a

good. many of his supporters:

with him.’
Every ‘chapter of the Vander

“Zalm years was marked by .

. eye. -:
‘before a microphone, 2.0. sontroversy. The man 800-plus

Socred delegates whohad
‘chosen Vander Zalm as their -

From the. -
Capital «
by Hubert Beyer

tion controversy, Wearing his
personal religious convictions
on his sleeve, Vander Zaim
waded into the abortion debate
with a vengeance,
Ignoring the law of the land,
he tried to force his personal
beliefs on government. Abor-
‘tion clinics, he decreed, would

“not be funded in British Col-.
‘Uumbia,

“There followed scandal after
‘scandal, conflict after conflict,

controversy after controversy.
ss “There: was sale of the Expo ~

lands in Vancouver and
Vander: Zalm’s attempt to get
his frierid Peter Toigo into the

act, and the Knight Street Pub.

", Why were the media so ~
preoccupied with his family
business? Why didn’t they

; believe him when he said his ~
” Wife Lillian was looking after

the Fantasy Gardens family
.business?. Why were the media
‘ignoring every good the
government did?

That theme was picked up

; last week by a number. of :
political: experis. Vander ‘Zalm;
: + said polical scinece professor -

Norm Ruff, would unfor--
'- tunately not be remembered

for some of the progressive

‘sthings his administration did.
‘The electoral reform, he said,

leader in July of 1986, ‘the man + was just one.of them. -

_ That statement prompted: -
Hughes to say in his report’

the public doesn't find out

’ tion'was not the end. ofthe,
-vstory. Vander Zalm is still -
-under investigation: ‘by the

-of potential: perjury charges
‘the Hughes reports: 2

oath, Huges'said in his report;:
cand sworn to tell the truth, the

what British parliamentary — —
democracy is all about. I»:
detected that blind spot in -
Vander Zam! four years ago. *-

I wrote a column at the ©
time, suggesting that first- ,
generation immigrants’ «©...
shouldn't be able to hold the. -.
office of premier or prime ann
minister, —~ wh

Today, my assessment of: te
Bill Vander Zalm stands. He |
never understood our system .
of government,.To the last’

. Moment, he insisted tht, he™

did nothing wrong: ae
He told Hughes’ there never!

was a conflict until the media :

started meddling in his affairs,

that the premier obviously ‘
believes there is no conflict

about it. a
Unfortunately, his'n resigns

(RCMP for his alleged ‘ con-
travention of the Real Estat:
Act. There are also a number

: Vander Zalm: Was under

whole truth and nothing, bat
‘the truth. And. while: Hugh
“doesn’t. actually, say: ‘Vander:
“Zalm-lied to him; hes says that:
in several, instances, hee
deliberately withheld. the! tru
from him. Vander Zaim isn’

already, suffered enough
. humiliation.

If an alcoholic, someone on
welfare, | or a native made the
same stupid, illegal remark, can
you pictiire a judge being equal-
ly lenient? : Hah!

when foreigners apply. to im
migrate to Canada. ° :
Immigrants’ must score at
least 70 points Gut of a possible “pi
100. Ten points are allotted in
each of ten categories: if the im-
migrant is sponsored by a Cana-

ws British Columbia voters ot “Well, Norm, that’s politics -
geviewe wanted for crimes i”  peinstalled i in'his position as. for you. Nobody remembers
What is the skin colour’ ‘of. premier. in October of that... ' Mussolini for his great social’:
people like’ Charles Ng and: »-year,: was to dominate the‘: “+ programs; all they remember is
“headlines like n0 other prem » that he was a.Fascist andin
before him. * Z league with Hitler, °. 0-7:
* Mander: ‘Zalm’s. flist big "Mander Zalm’s undoing was

‘Robert Satiacum confuses .the -~:
meter, making them eligible fo
_ Tefugee status in Canada?

sof PTs ee. be nett gh cig

-mortiiestion?

‘But if that were so, I'd be safe
* before any judge on any charge.
‘Tye ‘always been easily
a en As an eight-year-
az)
“miles; home when I arrived ‘at
- school, took-off my coat, and
‘discovered : I stilt wore my kit-
chen apron | tled about my, walst.

“In

ely $500 worth ‘of

" blush-meter’. to: calibrate. the
‘defendant's nfiture just as

‘his’ dumb remark, . promptly
. resigning his cabinet post, being

_ sandidates during election cam-

dian; suitable age; occupation; ’ I

education; job experience;
knowledge of, “French or
English...

In Redway’s case, no doubt
he ‘would’ earn points for:
apologizing to Canadians ‘for

a Conservative, being a -good

friend of the prime minister... ae

' For the sake,

rating ° be. of"
taunts and jibes flung about by .

: : ad
oN

For. shame!

Hae at et soit Vossen ccs coteeich are siete wth te nied ected ee

goy! 60 BeLow AND a
WeE' eS, poe

mistake came during: the abor

that ‘he had absolutely no idea,

~yeau! ‘50 THE WIND cw [tL
- OUT. THERE MUST BE. -

a SOMETHING: NAWE SOME! ¥,

ao. jb scdig 9 SAE ate ete br eb Beh ee

out tof the’ ‘woods: yet