Saturday, March 7, 1992 Dave McCullough OurViEWS AdrianRAESIDE Chamber takes stand he Castlegar and District Pi chamter of Commerce has come out of hiding. An apolitical body for more years than most care to remember, the chamber has awoken. Monday, chamber president Steve Pelton fired a sizzling letter Art Charbonneau’s way. The stinging two-page letter accuses the Transport Minister of kicking Castlegar when it’s down: - It also states that Charbonneau is in breach of trust by not committing the province to the completion of the Castlegar-Robson span as agreed to by the previous government, Celgar Pulp Co. and the federal government. The chamber must be congratulated for digging in its heels with Art Charbonneau. By pulling no punches, the chamber has proven that it can and will put itself on the line. In turn, the chamber has effectively silenced those critics who see it as a weak-kneed body, acting on the whims of city hall. The chamber is taking over the leading role in what is certain to be a long, heated debate. We can’t let the chamber go it alone. We must throw. our unconditional support behind the chamber as it defends Castlegar’s obvious need for another crossing. The chamber’s petition — which was signed by 3,975 people — and letter are just two steps in this long process. As a community, we must walk with the chamber to ensure Charbonneau rights this wrong. CONDDA TIGHTENS iTS BeIT... a Budget battle... what battle? This week’s city budget a bust than a battle. meeting had all the makings of a real heavyweight bout. In the weeks leading up to the big fight, CURB and council sparred in the news columns over whether the meeting was in fact an open meeting. Then just prior. to the big event CURB was given frontpage coverage. “Budget battle lines set” screamed the headline. “We’re ready for them,” Comments from the Crossroads The only fiery moment in the two-hour session came when CURB president Mike O’Connor suggested council refer questions it couldn’t answer to city staff. And it was more O’Connor’s blustery manner of speaking that was fiery than what he. actually had to say. What he had to say was quite reasonable. yelled CURB, like a taunting boxer at the weigh- in. The citizens group had “mapped out their plan of attack”, but the “strategy is being kept under wraps”. Geesh! You would have thought it was the Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield fight. The only thing missing was promoter Don King. But if you were one of the 100 or so people who showed up looking for fireworks, the budget meeting was more of Council had brought four of its senior staff as resource people, yet hadn’t called on them for their expertise when it was obvious they were needed. That was it. That was the big “battle”. For all CURB’s talk of how taxpayers are so upset with council and the operations of our city, the turnout at the Community Complex was pretty slim considering the promotion the meeting received. please see NORMAN page 7 Circulation Manager Burt Campbell Publisher Emeritus L.V. Campbell Aug. 7, 1947- Feb. 15, 1973 Street TALK David Parkin Mi Castlegar Robson “Yes.” Fred Marsh “Yes, but he’s not . getting government . co-operation.” Question: Are you satisfied with the job MLA Ed Conroy is doing for his constituency? Walter Stuchnow ~ Castlegar Jim Penman Castlegar Sandy Keraiff Castlegar “Yes.” “Yes. So far he’s done well.” “Yes.” | h = ~- = SS = CS @ Saturday, March 7, 1992 AThe News Please address all letters to: Letters to the Editor Castlegar News P.O. Box 3007 Castlegar, B.C. V1iN 3H4 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 and a 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 anonymously. 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. Letters toWME EDITOR A breach of trust Dear Mr. Charbonneau: The Board of Directors of the Castlegar & District Chamber of Commerce is very displeased with the meeting we attended at the Castlegar City Council Chambers on February 25, 1992. We appreciate the need for fiscal responsibility and for straight talk from our elected officials, but we did not appreciate being told in your opening remarks that we were not going to get the Robson-Castlegar Bridge. Regardless of your wording, that was the message received. Your mind was obviously made up before you arrived. The groups present were insulted that you announced your decision before they had a chance to make their - presentations. You then heard the presentations but you did not listen. You simply repeated yourself in your closing remarks. What we have Mr. Minister is a breach of trust. The Province of B.C. committed to the bridge and to highway upgrades as a pre-condition to the construction of the pulp mill. This was a legal and _ binding commitment made to the Government of Canada, who were part of the review process, to the citizens of this region, and to Celgar Pulp Company. You may mistakenly believe that this was a political promise that will die a natural death. It wasn’t and it won’t. Celgar is fulfilling its commitments and then some. We expect no less of our government. : * Steve Pelton President Castelgar and District Chamber of Commerce Distant support An Open Letter to Transport Minister Art Charbonneau: I write to reaffirm my distant support for the connection of the ferry service from Castlegar to Robson, in the West Kootenays. Art, it is simply too basic to be avoided. This service, begun so long ago, as part and parcel of the highway through these two communities, and the then population centers that grew around the presence, — and, assumed, on-going presence of the ferry service — make for the soundest reason for re-establishing the ferry service. Now, you might well ask, why does a Vancouver resident wish to support this measure, at the announced cost of $1 million, from such a distance, when, here, in Vancouver we have our own financial crunches and anticipated cuts to services (fearfully waiting upon Glen Clark’s budget). Well, for one, I have friends in these communities that go back over 20 years, from the time that I was-a student minister in the summer months of 1968. Your cabinet colleague, Environment Minister John Cashore will remember this community as well, when he served in nearby Trail. I used that ferry service then, and ever since, as I make at least annual visits back to this community and, just late last year, used the services of Bear Grass Press to help publish and distribute a book called The Book of Rita’s Living (1991). Bear Grass works out of East. Robson, now cut off from Castlegar, by another 15 or 20 minutes of fast driving (and what about those without access to cars?) Reconsider. Barry K. Morris Vancouver ‘ The not-so-great outdoors I enjoy camping very much. To get away from the hubbub and hassle of everyday life for a few days. I could hardly wait to be 65 and only pay $1 camping fee. By the time I made it the fee had gone up-to 50 per cent — so what I thought that’s still a pretty good deal. After enjoying this priviledge for only two years I read with dismay John Cashore’s announcement in The News. An increase from $8 (plus GST) to $12 for Syringa is hardly very “reasonable” and for seniors an increase from $4 to $12 has nothing “reasonable” about it. Maybe there’s a bright side — after paying for the lisence for my van I could hardly afford to camp anyway. G. Burroughs Robson PS. Just think with the 0.75 increase per month in the Old Age pension, in a year I could almost camp a whole night. The seven-cent solution An open letter to Hans Brown, NDP Provincial Secretary: No Mr. Brown, it isn’t an exiting time to be a New Democrat, as you suggest in your letter requesting financial support for the New Democratic Party. i Not if you’re living in Robson. We are still reeling from the Honorable Art Charbonneau’s recent visit, at which time he informed us that we were getting neither a ferry nor a bridge for the foreseeable future. Before you, too, begin a lecture on financial restraint (weren’t those. dirty words when you were in opposition?), let.me give you a few facts. The Robson ferry ‘costs seven cents per capita to operate; seven cents for each British Columbian per year. The ferry’s closure will reduce the deficit by only one per cent of one per cent (1/10,000th). So in response to your solicitation, Iam pleased to enclose a cheque in the amount of $10000. This figure approximates the direct charge in fuel costs alone to Robson citizens for each day the Robson Ferry crossing remains closed. You will notice that I have omitted a signature, not inadvertently. “You may use this letter as my commitment to endorse the cheque on the day that Premier Mike Harcourt fulfils. his promise to restore the Robson Ferry to operation between Robson and Castlegar. I trust you will convey to the premier the worthlessness of a staledated cheque. George Stein . Robson Norman peeves continued from page 6 Qne hundred people. That’s not even three per cent of the 4,300 el- igible voters. - And by no means were all of them CURB supporters. I wonder how many people will turn out in future when the bud- get meetings aren’t given such a tremendous build-up? My guess would be 20. : Maybe less. Both CURB and council had their moments of confusion. Ald. Jim Chapman hurriedly referred a question about salary figures in his the Protective Services budget to someone else. Surely, as the al- derman responsible for that com- mittee he should know that infor- mation. Meanwhile, CURB’s Walter Flux seemed the only one unable to comprehend the revitalization loan program. CURB’s brief called for council to change its capital spending pri- orities. This is a long way from CURB’s position last fall when it openly charged council with fiscal mismanagement. CURB’s position is that the city should be making a secondary ac- cess route the top priority, along with paving and sewer and water improvements. Until those items have been completed, it suggested the city should hold off on spending any money on renovations to city hall and moving the city works yard. Funny thing is CURB’s position is not all that far removed from council’s. Council is making sewer and water improvements this year — more than $300,000 worth. And the city has budgeted for another $300,000 in capital projects in 1993. That’s a lot of cash. Seems a pretty high priority to me. Then there’s the paving. Well, we all know about the paving ref- erendum last fall.“So that too is a priority. That leaves the secondary ac- cess. Council indicated that while the access isn’t included in its cap- ital plan this year, it is proceeding with plans for a secondary access along Woodland Drive. And this will be included in the 1993 capi- tal budget. The most positive thing to come out of the budget meeting is coun- cil’s commitment to more open di- alogue with voters. If CURB has done anything, it has made council aware of the fact our elected representatives have to do a better job of explaining themselves. Council seems to have got the message: it is setting up a “com- munity-based steering committee to hold public hearings to give council advice on strategic finan- cial planning.” In other words, council is going to ask the people how they think the city should spend its money. It’s a positive step. Govern- ments at all levels have to start being more accessible to voters other than at the ballot box — even if only three per cent of the people turn out. Monday night’s budget meeting was a first for the city since I’ve been here (though the school board has been having them for years). There needs to be more like = ree BER LEAE SOK aE