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AdrianRAESIDE

Dave McCullough

Who really
suffers?

ritish Columbia’s school
Been has long been
strapped for money — this

year more than ever.

News that school boards across the
province are being forced to slash jobs
as though they were slashing prices
in Crazy Dick’s Stereo Emporium
should have alarm bells ringing. It
started with Victoria, when some 240
unsuspecting teachers got the lessons
of their lives when umpteen collective
years of education and dedication
were all-but-erased by pink slips.

The shockwaves from that
mammoth step backwards were felt
around the province as school boards
braced us for the worst.

In Castlegar, we appear to have got
off easy — thanks, in no small part,
to the frugal yet forthright thinking
of the present board. It appears that
School District No. 9 will escape this
province-wide raping of our education
system with only a few bruises — two
jobs will be lost. Trail, on the other
hand, can expect to cut in upwards of
30 teaching positions. Wonderful.

The government has stopped short
of blaming this problem on the
boards themselves. What a cop out.

If the government. was as
committed to education as it claims,
it would insist that our children are

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I’ll tell you what this
column isn’t about.

It isn’t about the
depletion of the ozone layer,
though that concerns me
greatly because it affects
almost every aspect of the
food chain and could change
life as we know it.

(And the government’s
response? It is setting up a
monitoring system to let us
know what sunscreen we
should be wearing. Thank

Ron NORMAN

{.-"

Comments é
from the | owners were squabbling,

Crossroads

weightiest issue of the last
few weeks. ;

The issue everyone is
talking about.

The issue that was the
top story for CBC’s The
National several nights
running: the NHL strike.

Now, before you say, “So

| what?” like I did when I
| first heard the players and

| hear me out. There are
| some critical concerns
__. here, concerns that could

goodness politicians aren’t
in charge of the fire
department. I can just see it
when they arrive at a burning house.

“The fire? Yes, sir, we're working on that

affect us as a nation.
I see a direct parallel
between the NHL crisis and our
constitutional crisis — besides the fact that

given the very best. Cutting teachers
is the very worst.

If the children are, indeed, our
future, why would any government
limit their possibilities by
eliminating the very people that
teach them the skills?

We've drawn up a plan. We figure to have
half the flames out within two years and
the fire completely eliminated by 1998. And
we’ve got a monitoring system to let you
know when the heat from the flames is
severe. In the meantime, remember to wear
your protective clothing.”)

Instead, I thought I’d tackle the

in both cases many people say, “So what?”
The similarities run far deeper.

For instance, both sets of talks are about
rewriting old rules.

In the NHL case, the players want free
agency (I can’t really blame them, after all
they are the ones with the talent. Who

please see NORMAN page 7

Circulation Manager

Streef TALK

Burt Camp
Publisher Emeritus

L.V. Campbell
Aug. 7, 1947-
Feb. 15, 1973

e

Lisa Papp
Castlegar _

“] don’t like them.”

Anita Jones
Castlegar

“It doesn’t really
affect me.”

Question: How do you feel about the increase in fines for traffic violations?

a * f
Seamem Dewis
Robson

“It’s probably a
good thing. I might
slow down now.”

Shawn Metheral

“] think it’s bad.”

iThe News

Other VIEWS

Please address
all letters to:
Letters to the
Editor
Castlegar News
P.O. Box 3007
Castlegar, B.C.
V1N 3H4

Letters tcoWHE

EDITOR

Support Zuckerberg Island

The Castlegar News’ April Fool’s Day
headline announcing the ‘sale of Zuckerberg
Island’ certainly aroused public interest!

Those of us who are involved with the
Castlegar and District Heritage Society
who, along with the City of Castlegar,
administer the island and the CP Rail
Station Museum, were besieged with

“queries and telephone calls from outraged
and concerned citizens.

It is gratifying to discover, once again,
that the worth of Zuckerberg Island
Heritage Park is recognized and
appreciated by so many.

We would, therefore, like to take this
opportunity to let everyone know that this
year we hope to have the Zuckerberg Island
Chapel House and the CP Rail Station
Museum open for the season on Easter
weekend (April 17th) if funding from the
Community Tourism Employment Program
comes through in time for us to hire and
train staff. :

our Friends of the Island support group and
remind everyone that memberships. in the
Castlegar and District Heritage Society are
still only $5 single and $10 family for a
whole year of unlimited free entry to the
Chapel House and Museum.

Purchasing a membership not only
brings in much needed funds to our non-
profit organization but also gives you the
privilege of contributing your skills,
experience and ideas in the ongoing
discovery and preservation of our local

story.
Call 365-6440 anytime!
John Coyle
President,
Castlegar and District
Heritage Society

Preserve Canada Post

I want to express my concern about the
secret way that Canada Post is determined

Meanwhile, we welcome volunteers for ‘

continues to voice a warning of the
impending disaster.

Last evening, I watched a tape sponsored
by Rural Dignity and I wished that it could
be shown on TV so that the whole
population could be aroused.

This tape is available in Castlegar for
free. I would urge everyone to see it.

Please, Lord, please deliver us from the
scourge of the Plague; the useless debate of
the constitution so that we cannot watch
the crisis that threatens our postal services.

Pat Romaine
Castlegar

Report worth repeating

We expect you may have been able by
now to wade through the recently released
B.C. Forest Resources Commission report
entitled “British Columbia Community
Employment Dependencies.”

If you haven’t had the major amount of
time that endeavor would require, perhaps
you’ve read the BCFRC’s companion news
release headed “Forest Industry Dominant
Employer in over 200 Communities.”

We believe the hard truths contained in
the report are essential economic
components of a complex equation,
balanced by social and environmental
operatives.

From material garnered about forestry’s
role in the provincial economy, BCFRC
chairman Sandy Peel concluded, “Because
of the overwhelming employment
dependency on the forest industry in so
many of these communities, great care
must be taken when considering actions
that may result in a significant reduction in
forest industry activity.”

Peel cautioned, “Failure to do so could
result in major social dislocation and
community upheaval outside of the Lower
Mainland.”

: 5 Don Fraser
Communications Manager,
x Interior Lumber

The United Nations’ Human Rights
Committee has also found Quebec’s
language legislation reprehensible.

The UN even placed Canada under
indictment for violating UN human rights
resolutions.

Canada was given until December 15,
1991 to respond to the committee’s charges.
To date, the Canadian government has yet
to do so.

The Quebec government legally
circumvented the Supreme Court of
Canada’s ruling by invoking the
notwithstanding clause of Canada’s 1982
Constitutional Amendment.

After doing so, Premier Bourassa made
an announcement. — ;

In effect, he said that if Quebec had
previously been recognized in Canada’s
constitution as a “distinct. society” then the
Supreme Court would not have rendered
such a ruling because distinct society status
would have given his government a free
hand to preserve and promote the French
language and culture in any way it saw fit

The Quebec government can only hide
behind the notwithstanding clause for
about two more years —, the clause has
effect for only five years after being
invoked.

Unless Quebec attains distinct society
status before 1994 it will have to invoke the
clause again or face more court challenges .

Quebec’s language legislation has created
three classes of citizens in our country:

¢ 3rd class — all Quebecers who are
denied. freedom of expression in their
language of choice, particularly so in
English, Canada’s major official language.

e 2nd class — French-speaking
Quebecers who are denied freedom to learn
and freely use Canada’s major official
language, English.

* 1st class — Canadians outside of
Quebec who are free to use any language
they wish.

Granting Quebec distinct society status
would be tantamount to condoning and

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
9 a.m. and 5
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, |

Lee Brocke
Cranbrook Castlegar

“Terrible. The
government keeps

raising everything.”

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.

to trash our postal system.

This vital and essential service is being
destroyed almost hourly — and with this
destruction goes our long tradition and the
dedication of thousands of loyal and
dedicated postal workers.

The silent majority of Canadians are just
that — silent — while the arrogant few
continue to ignore the concerns of the many.
Only the dedication of Rural Dignity

Manufacturers’ Association

Canadians must unite

The Quebec Superior Court, the Quebec
Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of
Canada have all ruled that the Quebec
government, in implementing Bill 178 (the
nothing-but-French sign law), has violated
human rights guaranteed under provincial
and federal charters:

authorizing current and, probably, future
human rights violations.

If you believe, as I do, that such an
eventuality would be totally unacceptable,
then I urge you to denounce, in the
strongest way possible, those eager to grant
Quebec distinct society status and thus
make a mockery of the Canadian people’s
constitution.

Donald F. Deeprose
Penticton

Norman

continued from page 6 :
would pay to see Arthur Griffiths
shoot the puck?)

In the constitutional case, Que-
bec wants free agency — or in con-
stitutional terms, the right to
have more say about its affairs.

And that raises still further
similarities.

In the NHL case, players aver-

lars a year.

You’d think they would be hap-
py with that.

But the players say things
aren't quite as rosy as they appear
because the average career for a
player in the NHL is just five
years.

Like me, you who are hearing

this for the first time are probably
fighting back the tears. The poor
players. Five years at a cool
$250,000 a year. Let’s see, that
adds up to $1.25 million.

Now let’s figure out what your
average‘working Joe makes. Let’s
say $40,000 a year. It would take
him more than 31 years to earn
the same amount. (And the play-

|-age close to-a quarter million dol-— ers only “work” seven months of fear the

the year).

Now let’s take Quebec.

Like the NHL players it, too,
gets a large chunk of change — in
this case from the federal govern-
ment. Some might even argue it is
a disproportionate share.

No wonder Newfoundland’s
Clyde Wells is finding it tough to

support Quebec’s position. He’s
like the working Joes who find it
difficult to sympathize with the
NHL players.

It doesn’t surprise me that the
NHL crisis has so many parallels
with our constitutional crisis.
Hockey is, after all, part of our na-
tional psyche.

I hesitate to suggest it, but I

owing of what is to come with the
Quebec talks.

Both sides in the NHL issue
have reached an impasse. The
season is a washout. It looks like
next year’s season could be in
jeopardy.

(The owners are suggesting
they may try to proceed with the

may be a foreshad-

schedule using “scab” players,
from the minor leagues presum-
ably.

That should go over well with
the fan who shells out more than
$100 for his family of four to at-
tend a game. And I wonder how
the TV sponsors will take to pay-
ing millions for the rights to no-
names?)

We'll have to wait until May 31
to see if the constitutional crisis
follows the same way.

Mind you, there is one differ-
ence between the NHL strike and
the constitutional crisis: We won’t
be watching hockey on TV in June

-this year.

We won't be so lucky with the
constitutional crisis.