6 = Terrace Review. —— Wednesday, November 13, 1991

EDITOR!

AL

going to be disporting themselves amongst the whales

and sharks.and fishing boats of the Dixon Entrance siarting next year, it is necessary to understand the American attitude toward national defense. National defense, to the U.S. government, is utterly and completely sacrosanct and every other consideration must give way before it.

Despite the collapse of the Soviet economy the U.S. defense machinery grinds on, a perfect example of what Spengler termed the "cultural pseudomorph", a. ritual powered by its own inertia that goes ahead even when emptied of meaning, like throwing spilled salt over the left shoulder or writing the government to object to the absurd level of taxation. The U.S. Navy, resembling a group of crusaders that has lost the map to Jerusalem, is tra- versing the Dixon Entrance as a small principality on its way to nowhere.

The Back Island acoustical testing facility is expected to run its high-tech ($35 million worth) diagnostics on 10-15 subs a year, which means there will be at most probably 30 transits of the Dixon Entrance annually. The vessels, ranging from relatively small subs up to the Ohio-class monsters (42 feet at the beam, 560 feet long), will go through Canadian waters submerged and without prior warning to marine traffic. Some of them will presumably be carrying a full complement of nuclear weapons, up to 24 ballistic missiles, because a submarine filled with missiles would sound different on the hydrophones than one with resonating emptiness in the armament tubes. One assumes the navy would want to test subs in both conditions.

This summer’s flurry of U.S. Coast Guard action against Cana- dian fishing boats in the disputed zone south of the A-B line can be seen as an orchestrated procedure to ward off what the Americans see as foreign traffic in their waters that might have what the navy terms "encounters" with transiting submarines. The west coast fishermen are being conditioned to stay away, being threatened first with having their livelihoods disturbed and now with the potential for accidents and fatalities.

In view of all this, the Canadian government’s last-minute effort to appear to be a partner in the situation by announcing an "agreement" is ludicrous. The Americans consider the sub transit route to be their territorial waters regardless of international opinion, which favours the Canadian position, and for that reason if any damage to Canadian vessels, or injury or death of Cana- dian citizens, occurs as a result of the situation there will be no compensation from the U.S. government - the vessels will be

- viewed as foreign intruders in U.S, waters.

The fishermen who attempt to make a living from the waters off Prince Rupert have enough problems without this, but we can expect to see further increases in U.S. Coast Guard marauding of Canadian fishing boats in the Dixon Entrance as a result of Back Island facility being commissioned. If we don’t regain the Dixon Entrance through a determined and relentless international legal effort, we’re going to lose it by default to the American obsession with high-tech anachronisms, beaten by rubber ducks that don’t float.

ChkacGs Dara

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VICTORIA — Their average age is 44.5 years. Their average experience in the Legislature is less than five years each. All but three of them have degrees or pro- fessional certificates, six of them have Masters degrees, and two of them are lawyers.

These 18 Members of the Leg- islative Assembly —— seven women, 1] men — are now your government, the British Columbia Cabinet of the New Democratic Party, under Premier Mike Har- court.

It is surely the youngest, the best- educated, and the least-experi- enced (in parliamentary terms) Cabinet in B.C.’s history.

These 18 have every right to be proud; but they also are entitled to be somewhat apprehensive, too, knowing that they will be under the strictest of scrutiny in their new roles.

For if they do not live up to expectations, there are 32 of their colleagues waiting, ready to leap into a Cabinet seat, and to accept graciously the extra $39,000 per annum the job rewards.

There were a lot of signals sent out by Premier Harcourt in the decisions he made in the member-

ship of this all-powerful governing

body.

He made a clear statement about the party’s belief in equality for women by making seven of them ministers, and by placing another in the Speaker’s chair.

As predicted, three women now hold the reins of the ministries which cost three-quarters of the annual Budget — health, educa- tion and social services.

And one other woman now must be considered the most powerful

IT WAS AIL HIS IDEA!

The view from Victoria —

by John Pifer

in government. No, not Deputy Premier Anita Hagen, although she is capable and powerful, but Surrey’s Penny Priddy, women’s equality minister.

This rookie MLA is on the plan- ning committee, or inner Cabinet, is deputy chair of Treasury Board and sits on four other Cabinet committees, more than any other minister. Watch this woman, folks.

Mr, Harcourt also sent a strong signal by refusing to appoint Moe Sihota as attorney-general, thus avoiding any immediate contro- versy sure to arise over the Esquimalt MLA’s eager participa- tion in the Bud Smith tapes scan- dal.

The new Premier appears to be determined to try to sweep gov- emment clean and to keep it clean. And he has some capable, earnest men and women eager to grab a broom to help him.

So what potential minefields do some of the new ministers face? How much of a tightrope are some

of them going to have to walk to

stay out of trouble and headlines?

Here’s a partial checklist for future reference.

Premier Mike Harcourt: The honeymoon period will end for the NDP leader the first time an issue lands on the Cabinet or caucus table which divides the New Democrats.

Rest assured that Mr, Harcourt’s reputation as a conciliator and asa man of compromise will be put to the test early, and often. But what- ever decisions he does reach will leave some potential enemics smouldering on the other side of the issue.

Finance Minister Glen Clark: At33, the youngest member in Cabinet is also the most powerful (after The Boss, of course). The considerable responsibility of serving as House Leader may prove to be too much to share with finance, because Mr. Clark is the minister all of the others have to deal with to try to get the funds they want (emphasis on “try”).

He will need a lot of moxie in preparing his first Budget, which I bet will be at least $4 billion in the red.

Labour Minister Moe Sihota: The intense young Esquimalt MLA also is responsible for con- stitutional affairs, and may want to spend as much time as possible on tha.

But this scribe believes that soon, very soon, Big Labour, including the government’s own workers, will come knocking at his door with demands for seven-to-10-per- cent wage increases, and more.

Mr. Sihota may end up pinned between a rock and a hard place on this one — damned by the elec- torate if he does give in to such demands, and damned by unions and workers if he does not.

Even the NDP’s promises of changes to the Labour Code, which most people expect will favour the unions, may not be enough to hold off their push for a lot more cash.

Health Minister Elizabeth Cull: The erudite Oak Bay MLA will find it is no easy task to ride herd over the government's biggest- budget ministry. All the goodwill in the world towards plans for set- ting up abortion clinics, reducing

— Continued on page 7