Dave McCullough Mickey Read Composing Room Foreman Mark Davis Advertising Manager Warren Chernoff OurWiEWS Budget in good hands f there is trouble lurking in [castices: you certainly wouldn’t have known it from Monday’s open house on the budget. What was billed as brawl-night in our sometimes-restless city, turned out to be nothing short of a pillow fight as a well-prepared city council put on its best face before presenting its best budget. If citizens have any concerns about the much-maligned 1992 municipal budget, they can put them to rest. The proposed 1992 budget comes in at $10,072,621 — the biggest and boldest in Castlegar history. With . that, the city‘is looking to. spend some $3.6 million on capital projects. Those projects include downtown revitalization ($1.5 million), city hall renovations ($500,000) and works yard relocation ($850,000). The bottom line with any budget — be it municipal, provincial or federal — is taxes. Who's going to get hit and where. To this end, the city is acting responsible, waving its politically- granted right to tax the stuffing out of its citizenry in favor of a two per cent cut. In real terms, the two per cent drop in taxes represents a $20 to $30 savings’ to individual homeowners. At a time when inflation is running between three to six per cent, council must be commended for putting the people, not pet projects, first. Castlegar’s 1992 budget is rational, reasonable and responsible — what more can we ask for. (eltlegar Now's The hinterland for have not : It’s funny to hear politicians refer to our area as ‘The Hinterland.’ According to my ragged, 10-year-old Random House Dictionary, hinterland is: “the land lying behind a coastal district.” A secondary definition reads: “the remote area of a country.” Maybe it’s just my dictionary, but nowhere does the word hinterland suggest oe it to be “a refuge for second- .D.HARRISON Harrison Comparison Robson bridge. q What’s next? Well, if this already out-of-touch government is looking for consistency, it only has té tinker with the Westaz deal to make sure it falls Dash runners. 280 jobs to a government which thinks Britis Columbia stops in Kelowna? Castlegar and area ha’ class citizens.” Why, then, does our New Democratic government insist on providing a framework for a province of have and have nots. Let’s face it, things aren’t going our way. The Robson ferry is forever-axed in a pre- Christmas, maybe-they-won’t-notice news release. To make matters worse, Transport Minister Art Charbonneau announced the long-awaited Castlegar-Robson bridge will become the even longer-awaited Castlegar- been betrayed by the very government it help pu into office. But before you start pointing the finger at MLA Ed Conroy, bear in mind that he is equally disappointed. Why, the only thing standing between Conroy and a good public punch-up with h New Democrat companions is a huge thing called party line. That party line preven Conroy from publically criticizing his part; and its decisions — as asinine as they are- please see HARRISON page Heather Hadley Circulation Manager Burt Campbell Publisher Emeritus L.V. Campbell Aug. 7,.1947- Feb. 15, 1973 | Streef TALK Question: What do you think about the Coalition Unaccepting Rash Bureaucracy? & cal “ me ¥ £ apart faster than a pair of Think about it, what’ Dorothy McNee Castlegar “It’s important to have a citizens group check exactly what council is doing.” ‘ Pat Sweeney Pass Creek «J think they’re just trying to get a voting block for the next municipal election.” Cindy Yuris Trail “I think it’s an excellent idea. Someone has to protect us.” excellent idea.” Kathy Graham Ootischenia Al Fietz Castlegar “] think it’s an “Frankly, I think they are wasting the’ time.” ™@ Wednesday, March 4, 1992 dhe News OtherVIEWS Please address all letters to: Letters to the or deliver them to 197 Columbia Ave. Letters should be typewritten, double-spaced and not longer than 300 words. Letters MUST be signed and include the writer's first and last names, address anda telephone number at which the writer can be reached between 9a.m.and5 p.m. The writer's name and city or town of residence only will be published. Only in exceptional cases will letters be published anony ' Letters toWHE EDITOR | New News finally works Just a line to let you know that I am finally enjoying your new format and feel that the newspaper is getting better and better. You have some fine writers on your staff. I have especially been enjoying the articles written by Glen Freeman... they are exceptional. Thank you for the many years of good and reliable reporting and service you have given us, Carol Romney Castlegar Call signs are important I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Glen Freeman for a super job for his article on amateur radio in The News,Feb. 22. : On the whole, it was a job well done — he did not. mention, though, that he also spoke on the radio, as well as listened. I understand he was not allowed to give the call signs of any of the amateurs, other than myself. _ It is too bad this was not allowed, as our call signs are very important to us, and it helps to acquaint the public with who we are. They are very personal, so I'll explain; ° VE says we are Canadian. e VE7 says we are British Columbians. (The letters following the seven is like our name.) i e eight is Yukon & North West Territories ° six is Alberta. ° five is Saskatchewan ¢ four is Manitoba ° three is Ontario * two is Quebec © one is the Maritimes. There is more,but that gives the idea. The following are the calls of those mentioned in the article: Henry Traue (VE77BL), Peter Zibin (VE7PPZ), Dave Dudley (VE7ETZ), Tom Metcalf ( VE7GCR). Thank you for the time and space. Tom Metcalf VE7GCR Robson ‘Thanks for the support On behalf of the Variety Club of British Columbia, I would like to express our heart- felt thanks to the Castlegar News and the people of Castlegar for your incredible support of our 1992 Variety Club Telethon. It’s often been said that in difficult economic times people have a deeper appreciation for the needs of others. The*truth of those words certainly came to light in this very challenging,year. With your generous help we were able to raise an incredible $3.9 million to benefit British Columbia’s special children. Thank you again for helping to make this year’s Variety Club Telethon such a great success. We are truly honored that The News and the people of your community have found the good work of Variety Club worthy of continued support. Peter Legge Chairman 1992 Variety Club Telethon Mining industry delivers grim message A week ago, a delegation of mining industry representatives met with Premier Harcourt, Mines Minister Anne Edwards and Environment Minister John bases, is dying on the vine. A com- bination of factors have pushed the industry into the red, and un- less investors can be convinced that there is a future for mining in this province, it’s curtains. Capital isn’t patriotic. It goes where it can get the best return, and British Columbia hasn't ex- actly been a nirvana for mining in- vestment. According to the mining associ- ation, the rate of return on share- holders investment has been in the black for only four of the last 10 years, and even then it aver- aged only 1.8 per cent. If that trend threatens to continue, min- ing capital will leave British Co- Report from Victoria Hubert BEYER lumbia, and we'll all be the poorer. Without mining, close to 15,000 people directly employed by the industry will be out of a job. Those 15,000 jobless will not only further test the unemployment and wel- fare system, which is already stretched to the limit, but the $439 million they take home in wages will be taken out of the economy. A mining industry collapse would also affect a further 14,5000 people who are indirectly employed by the industry. The rip- ple effect would play havoc with British Columbia’s economy. : Gone, too, will be the $110 mil- lion the industry pays in taxes to the provincial government each year, as well as the $39 million it pays into municipal coffers. Now don’t get me wrong. Wa- terland and his delegation weren't in Victoria to ask Harcourt to save their bacon single-handedly. The industry has always faced prob- lems that were neither of the gov- ama making nor theirs to But when all that’s said and done, governments can still make a difference. Let me give you an example. Until about the mid-80s, it took an average of 12 months and be- tween $100,000 to $200,000 to pi- lot a new mining development through the government approval process. - Now it takes more than two years and a cost of anywhere from $1 million to $5 million to get a project safely through the govern- ment mine field. That’s not con- ducive to investment. This increase in time and cost has resulted from environmental concerns. Whenever a new mining project is proposed, environmental organizations seem to be interest- ed in one thing only — to shoot it down. Nobody will argue with the ne- cessity for environmental safe- guards, but it is doubtful that two years and several million dollars worth of red tape produce a better mine than one year and $200,000. The irony of a major industry pinning its hopes for a better busi- ness and investment climate on an NDP government isn’t lost on Waterland, nor should it be. Not only was he a cabinet minister during the Bill Bennett govern- ment, but he was the mines min- ister. The Harcourt government is wrestling with a pretty ugly fiscal reality. The Vander Zalm administra- tion has allowed the deficit to rise to more than $2 billion and then tried to lie to us about it. Harcourt has promised to be a good fiscal manager which defi- nitely will translate into higher taxes and some reduction in ser- vices. But if he ignores the plight of the mining industry, he will face an even uglier financial picture a couple of years from now. Without a healthy economic base, he just won't have anyone to collect taxes from. Harrison Even in those cases, the name, address and phone number of the writer MUST be disclosed to the editor. The News reserves the right to edit letters for brevity, clarity, legality, grammar and taste. d from page 6 Me, on the other hand, I don’t have a party line. Heck, the pub- lisher’s on vacation, busily bask- ing in the topic sun, so I can say whatever I want. As a community, we have been kicked in the proverbial groin. It hurts, too. After all, how much more can a community lobby for a bridge than what Castlegar and area has done? Face it, when it comes to deal- ing with Castlegar, New Democ- rats are looking more and more ri Socreds everyday...no offence, Some three weeks ago, I inad- vertently touched off a war be- tween the Castlegar News and some local politicians and busi- ness folks because I had the au- dacity to predict Charbonneau’s bridge message. It wasn’t a difficult thing to pre- dict, actually. After subtracting the patronizing rhetoric from Charbonneau comments, it be- came increasingly obvious that he had no intention of fast-tracking the bridge for 1993. Art Charbonneau has essential- ly told Castlegar and area that it doesn’t warrant the $23.5 million investment. And, in doing so, he has treated us as second class citizens. Charbonneau may think a two- day tour of — to use his own words — “the hinterland,” may help heel wounds and shore up ties, but it doesn’t. The sad truth is, fly in-and-out politicians like Charbonneau see Castlegar as a dot on the provin- Sia map. Nothing more, nothing less. Welcome to the hinterland.