™ A6” Terracé Review —— Wednesday, September 11, 1991

EDITORIAL

“This memo’s already
| done its job

t was a dramatic gesture, federal finance minister Don Mazan-
kowski suddenly telling the Americans their precious Memor-
andum of Understanding was being torn up. In the end how-
; ever, drama is about ail we’re going to get out of it.
© The MOU is what gave the rather humorous-sounding word

wee ~ astumpage" serious overtones, Winning an international trade action
in 1986, the U.S, laid a 15 percent charge on Canadian softwood

~~ Jumber imports, contending that Canadian manufacturers were in
‘cahoots with their provincial governments to avoid paying the real

-. "Value of wood they cut and consequently being unfairly subsidized.
“The Americans didn’t particularly care how the import price of

~fumber was raised so long as it went up to a level that would allow

- OP US. producers to recover some their own domestic market, so the
Canadian government decided to collect the tax on this side of the

_ = border.
- .. A series of changes to the B.C. Forest Act in 1987 relieved B.C.
“producers of the tax altogether by increasing stumpage and making
-forest companies pay for a lot of the things, like replanting and

subsequent silviculture on cut areas, for which the government had
>. «traditionally footed the bill. Since then, tax and royalty revenue for
- “the Ministry of Forests has quadrupled, which is why things are

“unlikely to change from the industry’s perspective. The provincial

ee © (government is larding that moncy all over the place, and a $650

“ million-a-year habit is tough to break.

But the MOU and the stumpage premiums it spawned is one of the

: industry’ S lesser problems. If stumpage rates by some unaccountable

. . and dismaying miracle reverted to the level they were at 10 years ago
“it would be of little help to a traumatized industry. It would not re-

~ “open the idle operations at Camaby, Kitwanga or Wedeene, and it

a “wouldn’ t help the market-shocked mills that are still running in
~\'Terrace, Prince Rupert or Kitimat.

-. Adverse market conditions are getting all the attention right now,
: but even if the currency exchange rate becomes more favourable and
_. those markets recover, it won’t solve the long-term problems in this
“region, the problems abstractly represented by a comparison of num-
bers. There is more milling capacity than long-term timber supply,
.. ‘the mills that are here can’t get enough timber to operate efficiently,
- there is going to be less timber in the future, the timber that is
available now is too expensive, and the cost of it is going to go up.
- The market reality that isn’t going to change is that there is an
- - upper limit to the amount of 2x4’s, pulp and newsprint that can be
- sold and the price those products will fetch. Even a recovery in the
- price of those commodities cannot revive the industry to anything
that could be defined as good health, even by a blind optimist.
-» Until the industry in the Northwest learns how to create more value
and more jobs from less timber, shut-downs and price squeezing will
continue to be a way of life here.

Second-class mali
registration No. 6896.

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DON'T WORRY, MARTHA w+ MAYBE NEXT YEAR THEY’ LL GET IT R IGHT th

VICTORIA — Call me cynical,
call me crazy, but I find it diffi-
cult to get too excited about the
two referendum questions which
will be on your ballot in Octo-
ber’s provincial election.

At first glance, the questions ap-
pear to be allowing you, the peo-
ple, to participate more in demo-
cratic government.

However, closer inspection re-
veals something considerably less
than that.

But first, here are the questions
themselves:

|. Should voters be given the
right, by legislation, to vote be-
tween elections for the removal
of their Member of the Legisla-
tive Assembly? Yes or No.

2. Should voters be given the
right, by legislation, to propose
questions that the government of
B.C. must submit to voters by ref-
erendum? Yes or No.

Commonly known as the right
of recall and the process of ini-
tiatives, respectively, both are
watered-down versions from the
platform of the Reform Party of
Canada.

The police officers, real estate
sales people, senior citizens et al,
who dominate the ranks of the
federal Reform Party will no
doubt be pleased with the refer-

enda.

In fact, it will be difficult to find
anyone opposed to the Mother-
hood questions from Premier
Mom. Heck, even NDP leader
Mike Harcourt says he will vote
Yes, and so will most of his -
party’s supporters.

The problem with the whole

scheme is that even with the elec-
torate's likely approval of these
questions, the small print shows
that it could be years before any-
thing concrete would emerge in
the form of legislation.

The view from
Victoria —

by John Pifer

For example, in the background

__ material accompanying the recall

question, the government says
that if it is passed, the Legislature
would appoint a committee “‘to
address in detail” such factors as:
* the cause(s) for which an MLA
might be recalled

« the number of signatures neces-
sary to petition for recall

* the length of time to gather sig-
natures

« the timing of the recall and
replacement elections

« the number of votes required to
carry the recall, and .

* the eligibility of voters and min-
imum voter participation levels.

Even the government does not
seem too keen on the whole idea,
pointing out that recall has some
crucial weaknesses.

These include concerns that the
threat of recall could tead elected
officials to avoid controversial
actions or decisions, that recall
“may be disruptive, abusive and
costly”, and that it might discour-
age MLAs from making long-
term decisions, or from using per-
sonal judgement.

(It also may be worth noting that
when recall was brought in dur-
ing the 1930s in Alberta, it lasted
only until the first petition was
proposed... to get rid of then-pre-
mier William Aberhart. Then it
sank without a trace.)

And if you think committee
work on preparing the rules gov-
eming recall will last a long time
for the political quagmire that is
initiatives, it would take even
longer.

In the past 12 or 13 years, Cali-
fornia has approved that the use
of initiatives may originate from
the best of intentions, but the
whole mess quickly deteriorates
into a confused jumble of ballots
and decisions which may best

have been left to the politicians in
the first place.

Voters are staying away in
droves, rather than having to
tackle the complex maze of initia-
tives.

I have no doubt that the steady
erosion of public confidence in
their elected officials has spurred
on these referendum questions.

But one wonders if our whole
parliamentary system may be
jeopardized if those who are
elected to take decisions on
behalf of the people become hesi-
tant to do so because of the threat
of these measures,

We have trouble enough as it is
attracting capable, honest and
dedicated people to run for
office... 1 would worry that the
pickings would be even more
slim under such a scheme.

Parting Thought: In B.C. poli-
tics, E is for economy, education
and environment, all of which are
key topics during the other E,
election.

But it is a fifth E which may be
the deciding factor in the out-
come of next month's province-
wide vote... ethics.

Watch for the NDP to hammer
home question after question
about the ethical behaviour, or
lack of it, in the past few years of
Bill Vander Zatm or Bill Reid,
or Cliff Michael or Bud Smith,
during the campaign.

And although those four and a
few others may be gone from the
Social Credit line-up, they are not
forgotten.

And that is why Premier Rita
Johnston's call to forget the past
and to look to the future may
backfire. Becnuse if the voters
truly believe that history repeuts
self, they may do all they can to
uvoid such a repetition,