Candidates face public

TERRACE — A sparse
crowd of less than 100
concerned members of the
Terrace public turned out
recently to hear four can-
didates for municipal of-
fice respond to questions
on current local issues.
The forum was hosted at
the REM Lee by the Ter-

race Jaycees, and Neil
MacDonald served as
moderator.

The four candidates will
be. competing for three
available two-year alder-
manic seats on Terrace
city council. Bob
Jackman, Robert Cooper
and Doug Smith are in-
cumbents, and Graham
Geeraert is the only new
face on the slate.

Questions fielded by the
candidates involved two
long-standing issues in
Terrace, fluoridation of
drinking water and the
establishment of a fair
wage policy, and an in-
quiry about the delay in
delivery of B.C. Winter
Games legacy funding.

The most remarkable
quality of the answers was
their uniformity: all four
appeared to be in agree-
ment on the purpose of
municipal referenda, and
on the appropriateness of
stipulating fair wage levels
for workers on contracted
city projects;; each also
seemed equally surprised
that the $37,500 in winter

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reserves the right to
condense and edit letters.
Opinions expressed are
not necessarily those of
the Terrace Aeview.

Terrace
Review

Established May 1, 1985

The Terrace Review is published
each Wednesday by Close-Up
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Publisher:
Mark Twyford
Editor:
Maureen Barbour

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4 Terrace Review — Wednesday, November 12, 1986

games legacy money had
not been paid out to the
Terrace Youth Soccer
Association.

The questioner concern-
ed about the addition of
fluoride to the municipal
drinking water supply ask-
ed the candidates if they
would favor a referendum
to settle the issue. Bob
Jackman replied that he
had established his posi-
tion of supporting
fluoridation on the basis
of examining evidence and

testimony from profes-’

sional organizations.
Robert Cooper declared
conviction for the benefits
of fluoridation, citing his
personal experience in
raising four children,
three in the pre-
fluoridation era with den-
tal problems and one who
grew up with fluoridated
water and perfect teeth.

Doug Smith approach-
ed the referendum topic
with caution, saying
referenda require con-
sideration and lengthy
preparation, Smith
pointed out that if enough
people are opposed to an
office-holder’s stand on
an issue, the people have
the recourse of rejecting
that official in elections.
Smith concluded by saying
he doesn’t perceive op-
position to fluoridation as
a broadly based communi-
ty issue.

Graham Geeraert said
the idea of a referendum
warrants examination,
remarking that the pur-
pose of referenda is to
resolve conflicts between
the voting public and their
elected representatives.

A fair wage policy
would establish guidelines
for wages paid to workers
employed by contractors
doing work for the
municipality. Doug Smith
called it ‘‘a good concept”’
and said he would want
council to take a good,
hard, long look at im-
plementing such a policy.
Geeraert stated he is
‘definitely in favor’’ of a
fair wage policy, and Bob
Jackman indicated he had
put a fair wage motion
before council recently.

Robert Cooper supported.

the principle, but pointed
out the City of Vancouver
had been subject to court
action over a ‘fair wage
bylaw, a circumstance
making the adoption of a
policy more appropriate
than a bylaw.

In response to the ques-
tion about unreleased
legacy funds for the Youth
Soccer Association, all
three incumbents assured
the questioner they had no
information and promised
to investigate the situation
immediately.

In his closing remarks
Doug Smith stated, ‘‘I

consider my work on
council, and other com-
munity organizations, as
public service. My deci-
sions as an_ elected
representative are not

- determined by party lines,

but by what benefits the
community.’’

Bob Jackman closed by
emphasizing the openness
of council proceedings,
and encouraged the au-
dience to attend commit-
tee meetings as well as the
formal weekly council
proceedings.

Graham Geeraert said
he will work hard to guide
and maintain the city’s in-
frastructure and promote
expansion of the commer-
cial base through secon-
dary industry and
tourism.

Robert Cooper said
there are many issues and
initiatives in Terrace, and
he singled out the applica-
tion to host the 1987 B.C.
Festival of the Arts as an
example of civic pride.
“It’s an indication of the
people, facilities and spirit
we have here,” he con-

cluded.
Voters in Terrace will
choose their three

representatives on Nov.
15. Polls will be open
from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in
the gymnasium of
Clarence Michiel Elemen-
tary School at 3430 Sparks
St.

aS ay

Terrace's naw RCMP bulldt

locals,

bat

ng continues to take form,
months behind schedule due to disagreements between t

MPs

but construction is presently four
he general contractor and two union

Construction resumes at RCMP site

TERRACE — A carpen-
ters’ union picket line
recently halted work on
Terrace’s new RCMP
building. Although the
carpenters returned to
work after two days, the
issue behind the dispute
has not yet been resolved.

John MacCormac,
business agent for the
local carpenters’ union,
stated that the dispute has
moved from the building
site to an office in Van-
couver. Legal counsel for
the carpenters and the
general contractor, Hegge

Construction, are present-
ly discussing the issue of
overtime on the RCMP
job.

MacCormac said the
disagreement began when
an out-of-town carpenter
was given a half-day of
overtime on Nov. 8, a
Saturday. The union's
view is that the work
should be done by hiring
more local carpenters to
work straight time during
the week. ‘‘We see this as
a provacation,’’ MacCor-
mac said. He added that a
favorable decision could

result in the hiring of more
members from his union,
but there is very little
carpentry left to be done
on the building. MacCor-
mac said he expects three
of the four carpenters
presently working on the
site to be laid off within
two weeks.

Job foreman Brian
Lewis confirmed that
work has returned to nor-
mal on the RCMP
building, and he estimated
the completion date for
the structure to be
sometime in April 1987.

Hubert 7

Beyer

Terrace Review

Victoria Correspondent

Politicians and media
need to clean up

their: act

Premier Vander Zalm wants to strike a blow for the
democratic process by improving the voter registration
system, a laudable effort, but hardly a pressing issue.

The NDP has always made a big deal of the ineffi-
ciencies of the provincial voter registration system. For
a while during the last session of the legislature, not a
week went by without Gordon Hanson hammering Pro-
vincial Secretary Grace McCarthy about all those
downtrodden folks who would be robbed of their fran-
chise because they weren’t on the voters’ list.

Now we’re told that an estimated 60,000 people may
have been left off the list. That figure is too high, no
doubt. In a system where civil war and anarchy have

been replaced by the ballot box, nobody should ideally

be disfranchised.

But whose fault is it that these 60,000 people weren’t
on the voters’ list? The government's? Come off it.

Anyone who really wanted to be registered could have
taken steps to make certain that they were on the list.
The taxpayers spend hundreds of thousands of dollars
on newspaper, radio and television ads, reminding peo-
ple to make sure they’re on the voters” list.

It’s unlikely that 60,000 people missed those ads, And
even if they did, they still had a chance to vote under
Section 80 of the Election Act. All they needed to cast
their ballot were two pieces of identification.

The only conclusion is that they couldn't be bothered.
That may be deplorable but shouldn’t come as a sur-
prise.

If every registered voter had gone to the polls on Oct.
22, the turnout would have been 60,000 votes short of
100 per cent, probably around 98 per cent. As it was,

baliot for a turnout of little more than 70 per cent.

Too many people just don’t give a damn about elec-
tions. They should regard their right to vote as a sacred
duty, but they don’t. To whine about an inefficient
voter registration system that disfranchises people is
ridiculous.

Nor do I believe in the mandatory voting system prac-

_tised by some countries, including Australia, where you

get fined if you don’t vote.

{ don’t want the outcome of an election to depend on
voters whose only incentive to go to the polls is to evade
a fine. I much prefer to put my faith in those who vote
because they know it’s important.

The only thing that will improve the system is an in-
creased public awareness of the importance of the right
to vote. Just spending more money on reminding people
to register won't do it. Nor will silly slogans telling peo-
ple to ‘‘vote as you please, but please vote”’.

There are two major segments of the democratic
system that can play an important part in bringing
about greater public participation — the politicians
themselves and the media.

Public opinion of politicians is not very good. And
the media don’t fare much better. In fact, some surveys
have shown that the public has an even lower opinion of
journalists than they have of politicians. And neither
were too high on the list,

Politicians have come to be regarded as sleaze bags,
while reporters are often considered to be radicals and
trouble makers. Unfortunately, there are examples to
justify the public’s mistrust of politicians and the
media.

If the politicians and the media cleaned up their
respective act, the public may eventually have more
trust in both, an achievement that couldn’t help but
create greater public confidence in the entire democratic
system.

While commendable and certainly not counter-
productive, Vander Zalm’s plan to improve the voter
registration system will treat a symptom at best, but not
the disease.

only about 1.6 million of the eligible voters cast their