EE A EE

Wednesday, July 8, 1981

THE REVIEW

_ By RON NORMAN
{Staff Writer]

A new B.C. Forest Service air tanker base
on the west side of Pat Bay Airport went into
action for the first time Thursday morning to
put out a forest fire north of Highway 14
near. Sooke.

But the operation wasn’t all it appeared to
be. In fact, it was just a test run for the new
forest fire fighting base — and the Sooke
blaze had been specially prepared.

On hand for the shakedown run were two
A-26 air tankers and an Aerostar 600 Bird-
dog plane from Abbotsford. But the practice ©
fire bombing run wasn’t the only reason for
the..presence of. the 3,640 litre. capacity
aircraft — they. were there to christen the
new loading system at the base.

B.C. Forest Service has maintained-an air
tanker base at Pat Bay for some years to
support fire suppression work on Vancouver

| “more letters

Continued from Page 4 oo,
provincial revenues are drawn from a wide
base. These sources include resource
revenues like royalties on coal,
personal and corporate income taxes, and a
host of other items.

_ Local. school boards have. only one
revenue. base; your property tax. When
Social Credit reduces its share from 48
“percent to 33 percent in six years, you are
. forced to make up the difference. This is
patently unfair.
The: New: Democrats. have a better
solution. We announced in 1974 a five-year.
_ program to remove the burden of the school
‘tax from the local:property owner. By law, a-
School Tax Removal Fund was established.
It actually worked this way for two years,
“until Social Credit was ‘elected. By 1980,
.. property owners would have-been relieved of

“the bulk of all school tax liability. This was
as the New. Democrat ‘Strategy. It was prudent,
“to be phased i in over a five-year period, and os

_ iifordable, ae gts aa

Regrettably, ‘Social Credit swiped out. ‘the :
‘fund j in. 1976, ‘and your: property. taxes es have

oo worsened ever since. -
There’ sa terrible i irony. in all this. In 1976
“the. McMath. ‘Commission: (appointed by,

=. David Barrett) recommended that the. ‘Tatio” :

~~ of school costs be set at 75 percent provincial

“and 25 ‘percent local. This: principle. was”
eo accepted - by the B.C. School Trustees’...
- Association, the B. Cc: Teacher’ s Federation . ;

and the New Democrat Party..

‘It was also endorsed by the- then mayor of ©

Oak Bay, one Brian Smith. Today, he’s the
minister of education. I think he’s hoping we
-won’t remind taxpayers of ‘his pre-Socred
promise. :

Do we. really. want the quality of our»

- children’s education to depend on the value
‘of local real estate?

‘There are four policy alternatives available -

‘tothe government:
@ Reduce the basic mill rate.
e Increase the homeowner grant.
¢ Reduce the proportion of assessed value
for school purposes,
e Increase special

grants to
districts, oe

school

If we had.a competent government in .

Victoria, these alternatives would now be in
- place, Unfor tunately, we have Bill Bennett.

I would appreciate your. readers’ com:

-ments and. criticisms on our point of view,

and on the New Democrats’ positive. and.
alternative: strategy for making the province

pay its fair share of education costs,

Gary V. Lauk, MLA)
Oftieiat Opposition eritic for education | |
ay aniament Bailalngs

GRANT'S .
SMALL MOTORS —
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forestry, —

for youngsters

Island, ‘especially the southern end. The new
base is a move to the opposite side of the
airfield where fire fighter aircraft can land
load and take-off quicker and with less
disruption to other aircraft using the airfield.

One. spokesman said there was ‘‘trouble
with people parking aircraft in. the wrong
place’’ at the old base, making it difficult to
get in and out quickly. As well, sometimes
fire retardant splashed on the parked planes,
during loading create problems.

But the new base will change all that. It
- has emproved storage, and loading systems

as well as a fuelling system — something the
old base didn’t have.

Vancouver Region Forestry manager Peter
Ackhurst, on hand for the opening, noted
the changes bring the operation into line with
the other two air tanker bases in the Van-
couver Region — at Abbotsford and
Campbell River.

were part of delight:

during Sidney. Days...”
on July 1 holiday.

GRANT'S |
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eTune: ups
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““We needed to move away from the so-

called industrial section of the airport:

because our operation is a time-sensitive,
emergency job,’’ Ackhurst said. ‘“When we

are fighting forest fires we count costs in -

minutes — sometimes even seconds.’’

“With the new pumping and- mixing
equipment, plus our own refueling system,
an A-26 can land, load fire retardant, re-fuel
and be on their way back to a fire in seven
minutes or less.”

Base foreman Ernie Maestrello said Pat -

Page. 5

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Bay is really used as a back-up facility to
River and Abbotsford. There
aren’t .any planes stationed at the base

Campbell

fulltime, he said.

Planes are brought here if a few fires
break: out in the area and the fire hazard
Tises, Maestrello said. However, the base,
which is manned continually from May | to
Oct. 15, has a fulltime four-member crew.

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