4 Terrace Review — Wesinesitay, April 26,1989 _. As part of the annual spring effort to:spruce up the city and clean-up the debris left from winter after the . snow melts, city crews recently. laid a-new coat of. paint on Big Bertha, the megalithic log spar parked ‘across the highway from the Chamber of Commerce: InfoCentre (see page 13). “Now it stands in yellow splendor as-the first distinc- tively ‘‘Terrace’’ thing that a westbound motoring. visitor comes across when entering the city, looking’ -- somewhat like a rocket that Werner Von Braun. . “designed ona bad day (‘‘Ah... looks great, ‘Werner — but will it /7y?°’). A Oy, The irony in making a display out of this mass of metal is that the damned thing never did work proper- ly in the forest, but in a creatively whimsical way «| we’ve made it a symbol of the local woods industry. ~ So it goes with so many .things.that come.to this — region; whoever designed and built Big: Bertha had probably never. even seen Terrace on a map, let alone been here. It was probably intended for use in an area that had ‘nothing more in common with the Northwest than the fact that both have trees, | Which brings us to the federal budget, As this — newspaper goes to press there is a man named Michael Wilson, somewhere in the bowels of a place called Ot- tawa. Right now he may be asking himself why he ever got into politics, and by this time tomorrow the rest of the country may. well be asking itself the sarne question. . We can only policy that has been cooling off southern Ontario while consigning regions like the Northwest to a deep- freeze will not be a prominent feature of this budget. The signals emerging from Ottawa at this point bode 7 ill: cuts to provincial transfer payments and the slashing of regional development funds. » oe wa! | The federal government should be compelled:to © * iat really happened ees " 10:12 A.M. — _ recognize; as the provincial government has recently — realized, that it will get the best bang for its (our) buck by allowing localities who know what they need and how to get it to use funding in a locally-developed | manner. . Having said that, we noticed that Terrace city coun- cil recently committed $526.60 to a construction fund _for building a new B.C. Sports Hall of Fame. After having observed numerous local groups petition for - support from the city and being sent away emply- handed with the excuse that helping them might ‘‘set a precedent’’, we have to wonder what kind of a prece- dent this move is.going to set. Afvin Stewart, ; _ Phone: 635-7840 — Gurbax id Linda Mercer Fax: 635-7269 ot lee | Accounting: in Canada $24.00 Mar) Twyford Beniora kr Terrace, wid Distret $12.00 _ ~. Harminder Dosanjh Seniors out of Terrace and District $15.00 op As BACTIVE LOGGING “AREA SPECT YOUR.) hope that the “one-size-fits-all”” fiscal Wednesday Perspectives by Bob Jackman =e Gary Larsen scenario of rete $e ‘Mr. Doman on line three, Mr. Bennett...’ ‘Thanks... Herb, how are you doing?’ . ‘Not bad at-all, Bill. How’s the ' wife ‘and kids?’ ‘Audrey’s fine, Herb. You ~ know. how. kids are:—— can’t seem to get them interested in the business, youngest is going through teenage menopause — the usual. What’s up, Herb?’ ‘Nothing, really, Bill. I just got a little lonely. sitting here on the Island, looking out at my pulp- mill site, wondering if 1 should build the thing or not. 1 wanted , to let you in on something, Bill — | think it’s important.’ ‘What’s that, Herb?’ —s. ‘Well, 1 know you're heading - off to Palm Springs pretty quick, and I know you're gon- na hit the golf course. I just wanted to let you know that — there’s an old guy down there — hustling, and you should watch that you don’t get skinned. He’s been using the name Louie Ziana, specifically, and more than one Canadian tourist has wound up digging. into his wallet after 18 holes - with the guy.’ . ‘Gee, I'll keep that in mind, Herb. Sure wouldn’t want to get fleeced: By the way, how’s your game going?’ ‘It’s got its ups and downs, kind of like the stock market, if you know what I mean. I’ve got a game lined up at Qualicum this afternoon, in fact. I’ve been playing like a duffer lately, but the old handi- cap hasn’t changed. Love that Zalm, eh?’ - ‘Well, I’ve got a pretty heavy. . morning going here, Hetb, so I. don’t want to get into that ’ discussion, We should get to- ° - gether for a game pretty soon, eh?’ . ‘Right. Give me a call next week.’ ‘Okay, bye for now!’ 10:16 A.M. ° ‘Mr. Bennett, it’s your brother on line two.’ ‘Thanks, Suzie. Morning, Bill.’ - “Hi, Russell. Just had a call. from Herb Doman. They're golfing in Qualicum already!’ *That’s great! Let’s fly down next weekend. See if our broker wants to make it a four- some. See ya!’ 10:17 A.M. ‘‘Good morning, Knowlton, Nash, Foster, Hewitt and Ous- ton.’ 7 ‘This is Bill Bennett. Tell Mr. Foster to drop everything — we're going to Qualicum for a ‘ bout with Doman next weekend’? ‘Thank you, sir, I'll let him know. Have a nice day, now!” 10:23 A.M. | ; 1 wonder if Bilt called Foster?? * Geez, I can never rely on that — _ guy. Suzie, get me Knowlton, Nash, Foster, Hewitt and the twit, please!’ 10:24 A.M. | ‘No, Mr. Foster, I’m sure they said drop everything, the Island has weakened and they’ve gat some qualms about Doman. | wrote it down right here.’ . ‘Well, I remember how ticked he was when I didn’t unload BCRIC at $9.75. I better dump ~ those Doman shares right now.’ ‘@ The Northwest Mining Con- ference was a resounding strc cess! After a kick-off banquet Thursday night, one-of the - strongest contingents of con- ~ ference speakers I’ve seen kept . over 4 hundred delegates in- terested, alert and excited for. almost seven straight hours on. — Friday. ; As different speakers re- . . peated the high-risk/high ‘return theme; talking about 1988 exploration costs.of $160 — ’ million in B.C., over half of: that in the Northwest, and the fact that only one mine in a ‘thousand. tries becomes opera- tional, it became evident that “suppliers, communities and ‘economic development people might place more emphasis on the jobs and income generated: _ by exploration rather than hop- ing for the elusive 120‘or 200 full time jobs that come with a successful mine opening. The shortage of skilled - labour was well documented by local CEIC manager Shirley Kimery, who saw 1,280 poten- tial jobs from mining and only - 380 UI recipients skilled , enough to: be able to fill those | jobs. Younger workers (the Baby Bust generation, as she : called them), have high expec- ' tations — good pay, good benefits and good working con-— ditions*— but also have very __ little in the way of marketable — job skills. She suggested that mining companies (and in- dustry generally) should be in- .. -novative, hiring women for - non-traditional jobs, older semi-or-early retirees, natives (original Canadians), new Canadians, the handicapped, temporary workers and my favorite, contingency workers . «= legal, computer, accounting ~~ : or technical consultants who can come in, do a specific job, me continued on paye 8 ©