OPINION

Castlegar News
PAGE A4, SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1991

(MEMBER OF THE B.C. PRESS COUNCIL
ESTABLISHED AUGUST 7, 1947 TWICE WEEKLY MAY 4, 1980
THE MID-WEEK, 12,

JST 27, 1980

LV. CAMPBELL — PUBLISHER, AUGUST 7, 1947-FEBRUARY 15, 1973

PUBLISHER — Burt Campbell
EDITOR — Simon Birch
PLANT FOREMAN — Peter Harvey
ADVERTISING MANAGER — Wayne Stolz
OFFICE MANAGER — Warren Chernoff
CIRCULATION MANAGER — Heather Hadley

“dl

EDITORIAL

Hospital board
should open up

The Castlegar Hospital board should open its meetings to the
public and the media.

It’s a fundamental principle of a democracy that the public’s
business should be conducted before the public. < "

And hospital boards are conducting the public’s business.

Let’s make one thing clear — we don’t suspect the Castlegar
Hospital board of incompetence or inefficiency and certainly not
dishonesty.

We're simply arguing a principle.

The Castlegar Hospital board’s reasons for excluding the public
and the media, as relayed to the Castlegar News this week by board
chairman Bill Horvath, are simply wrong.

The suggestion that the media could distort and sensationalize
news of the board’s business annoys us the most.

Here at the Castlegar News we're not in the business of distorting
and sensationalizing. We’re here to report accurately and fairly events
and issues the public should know about.

When we make mistakes we correct them, if we're told about
them. If you disagree with something we’ve done you can call us and
give us heck or you can write a letter to the editor which will be
publi: If you're i not ii you can take your case
to the’B.C. Press Council, of which the CasNews is a member, and
the council will listen to your complaint.

The excuse that the board room at the hospital is too small and
the public and media would have nowhere to go if the board had to
go into a closed session is just plain silly.

If necessary, the public and the media could step outside or into
the hospital’s waiting room. But a simple solution for the board is to
schedule its closed meeting agenda before or after an open meeting as
do city council, the regional district board and the school board.

Speaking of the school board, its meeting room isn’t exactly ex-
pansive. And anyone who’s been to a school board meeting knows
that, other than the tiny entrance outside the board room, there’s
literally nowhere for the public and the media to go when the board is
in closed session. Yet the trustees, the public and the media seem to
manage in the close quarters.

Finally, we’ll admit that hospital administrator Ken Talarico has

always made himself available to the media and«Mr..Horvath prom- a»
ptly returned our call this week, so there’s no.question they’se, willing .

to give out any information they feel the public should know about.
However, if the hospital board meetings remain closed, issues
such as the cost overruns on the hospital expansion are always going
to be the subject of anonymous phone calls to the media or rumors.
That’s really no way to do business. Let’s get the facts straight
from the board meetings.

VIEWPOINT

a

A,

\ i heal), SER
te) Ml idlldns,

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Judgment good

Canadian Cancer Society mounts its annual
isi e the effort of
these of who go door to door

I wish to d you on your of
the Bob Mann sexual assault trial.

Your newspaper's article regarding the matter
was the only one I read which displayed the good
judgment not to disclose the explicit details of the
alleged victim’s testimony.

Having been an observer at the trial, I can
assure you that your reporter's representation of
the proceedings was tasteful and fair.

1 also wish to congratulate you on the dignity
you continue to display in ‘standing up to the
competition.” I appreciate your integrity in
avoiding resorting to the tabloid-like reporting
style which is all too often displayed by your

i and i local

counterpart.
Keep up the excellent work!
Name withheld by request

Effort appreciated

This is National Volunteer Week, an
opportunity for those of us in the Canadian
Cancer Society Kootenay District Office, who aré
fortuntite ¢0-work with volunteers on a regular
basis, to officially say thank you.

The Canadian Cancer Society in the
Kootenays is grateful for the many hours our
volunteers give throughout the year. Their
programs enhance the quality of life for cancer
patients and their families.

It is particularly appropriate that National
Volunteer Week occurs in April when the

each year at this time. Their many hours of work
do not go unnoticed.

To become a volunteer in this very rewarding
service in your community, please call the

Starting April 29, staff will be on hand at the
station to receive collections and fill out the
necessary forms for safeguarding your valuables
so we would appreciate early delivery to allow
time to set up displays.

As well, we now have space and the required
security systems to begin building our museum.
For those who have kindly offered .

Kootenay district office in C We will
gladly have a volunteer in your community
contact you. There is an important job waiting for

Ready to roll

for the grand of the
newly restored and renovated Castlegar Rail
Station downtown are now in full swing and the
May. 4 Collector’s Faire is receiving enthusiastic
response.

But there is still room for more collections
from adults, teenagers and children. We have
extended the dates for registering until April 22.
Call the station between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Queries, suggestions and volunteers are
appreciated.

Results of the heritage theme poster contest
for those age 12 and under will be on display and
the Oldtime Fiddlers and Accordian Band will
provide lively entertainment.

items in the past or anyone wishing to donate,
now is the time.

Castlegar and District Heritage Society

Please address all letters to the editor
to: Letters to the Editor, Cast
P.O. Box 3007, Castlegar, B.C.
or deliver them to our office at 197
Columbia Ave. in Castlegar.
Letters should be typewritten, double-
than 300

and not im 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 without the writer's name.
Nevertheless, the name, address and
telephone number of the writer MUST be
disclosed to the editor.

The Castlegar News reserves the right
to edit letters for brevity, clarity, legality,
grammar and taste.

PM must try to play matchmaker

Apri 20,1991 CastlegarNews as

FORUM
ON THE
FUTURE

#@ YEARS AGO
From the April 19, 1951
Castle News

The Castlegar Village Commission
met at the town hall Monday, with
Cc J. Dunlop di
and a full board present. Mr. Lun-
dgren, representing the Chamber of
Commerce, spoke on Arbor Day and
announced that the. scouts and
school children had volunteered to
assist and asked that the Village sup-
ply a pick-up truck.

Mr. C. Loeblich- attended the
meeting and requested the clean-up
of the street in front of the Tran-
sportation property on Maple Street
and requested the Village Public
Works Department level the lot.

O22: €

The Castlegar Public Library holds
its formal opening tomorrow at a tea
and bake sale in the Coronation Hall
from 3-5 p.m. with Commissioner J.
Dunlop, chairman of the Castlegar
Board of Commissioners, officiating.
Official opening time will be at 4
p.m. Inspection of the new quarters
and renewal of membership will be
Possible at this opening.

25 YEARS AGO
From the April 21, 1966
News

A new general rate of 14 mills,

netting $65,000, was struck by
Castlegar council on Tuesday night.

ipBtes
PL IE 7

Small

This is a one mill decrease on last
year’s rate.

Presenting the 1966 budget, Mayor
R.C. Maddocks said the aim was to
keep the mill rate as low as was con-
sistant with good government and
demonstrating confidence in the
growth of the town.

ee 6

Over 3,000 signatures in less than
two weeks have been placed on a
petition calling on the provincial
government to undertake proper sur-
veys of the Arrow Lakes fishery
prior to the filling of the Arrow dam

at Castlegar airport are consistant
with the area’s population growth,
but the facility is losing more money
each year, says the 1975 report of the
Castlegar Airport Committee.

Since 1970, passenger boardings
for Pacific Western Airlines have
doubled, increasing roughly 18 per
cent every year, from 14,047 six
years ago to 35,835 last year.

romaie” water’

Local pilots got their first oppor-

tunity to be briefed on the new-con- -

trol tower at the Castlegar Airport
when COPA Flight 22 held its mon-
thly meeting Tuesday night at Selkirk

BRAND NEW!
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WE ACCEPT WESTAR, CELGAR

Vote dismays
union leaders

By GORD McINTOSH

VANCOUVER —On the tranquil
shores of Burrard Inlet there_is much
anxiety about the civil servants
toiling away_back east.

Leaders of the largest federal civil
service union travelled here Sunday
hoping to marshall their forces
behind a possible general strike this
summer in protest of the Feb. 26
budget.

But those hopes quickly faded
Monday morning as the results of a
strike vote by the Public Service
Alliance of Canada were read to 420
delegates to the union’s triennial
convention.

Alliance president Daryl Bean
called the results — 62 per cent in
favor of possible strike action — i

ve. But outside the convention
hall, local presidents and shop
stewards were clearly dismayed.

While civil servants in British
Columbia and fhe two northern
territories supported strike action by
more than 80 per cent, support was
tepid elsewhere and downright cold
im Ottawa, the seat of the gover-
nment.

It puts the 25-year-old union in a
difficult situation. Even with strong
support, a general strike would be
difficult to pull off.

The alliance has conducted seven
strikes by individual components
against the federal government since
1967, but never on a massive scale.

Just days before the federal
budget, the alliance began bargaining
with Treasury Board on behalf of
155,000 civil servants performing
jobs ranging from airport safety to
tax returns to mailing unemployment
cheques.

Then the it

lost, the government said. It also
said it would legislate the alliance
baek fo work and override any ar-
bitration awards.

The tough medicine has prompted
the alliance to claim the government
is attempting to bust collective
bargaining in the civil service. Some
experts agree.

Some 40,000 people are designated
as essential, meaning about 110,000
employees — about half the civil ser-
vice — will be able to strike by mid-
summer.

Gene Swimmer,
public administration at

a professor in
Carleton,

University in Ottawa, says if the’,

government was @ private-sector em-
ployer it would risk prosecution for
badgfaith bargaining.

This is because monetary offers on
the table when the budget axe came
down were subsequently withdrawn.

“In the private sector, that’s a

By ROBERT RUSSO

OTTAWA (CP) — In 1984 Brian
Mulroney married disaffected
western Tories to frustrated Quebec
nationalists and from that union
sprang two consecutive majority
mandates.

It was always a marriage of con-
venience. And recent moves by the
Reform party and Bloc Quebecois
may mean the relationship is over.

Mulroney has now been put in the

position of misgui
matchmaker: he’s getting it
both sides.

“*He’s in a corner now,"’ David
Bercuson, a political science
professoP at the University of
Calgary, said of Mulroney.

“There’s almost no way he can
keep both sides happy.””

The Reform party’s smooth, slick
convention last weekend — which
included a preliminary decision to
expand beyond its western birthplace
— signalled its elevation from protest
party to serious political player on
the national scene.

from

Its populist message promising an
end to big government, big deficits
and big concessions to Quebec has
caught fire in Western Canada. That
grassroots fire could well spread
beyond the Prairies and burn the
Conservatives.

“These guys are obviously going
to draw support away from the
federal Tories,’’ said Bercuson. ‘It’s
not just voters, but organizers and
financial support is also drifting
away from the Conservatives.

“*There’s obviously some political
muscle and sinew there."”

The government has tried to curt

ts to win back the West, said Ber-
cuson.

“He has to say to Quebec and his
Quebec caucus: ‘I’m prepared to
work hard for you, no harder
than I would for any other provin-
ce’,”’ said Bercuson. ‘‘And if his
Quebec caucus quits on him, he'll
know where he stands."”

Where Mulroney stands is knee-
deep in trouble, according to Lucien
Bouchard, leader of the Bloc
Quebecois.

The Bloc is in an excellent position
to deliver that trouble after receiving
a promise from the Parti Quebecois
of i help during the

Reform’s rise by pting its
strategy. The National Energy Board
is being moved from Ottawa to
Calgary. Any financial boon from
the goods and services tax will go to
reducing the deficit. CBC-bashing
being a_popular sport, John Crispo,
a conservative political pundit, is ap-
pointed to the public broadcaster's
board.

There is one more, very important
thing Mulroney should do if he wan-

next federal election.

means the Tories are in a political
squeeze.

**It means some kind of a terrible
sandwich in which the government is
(trapped),"" Bouchard said Monday
outside the House of Commons.

= “It might signify the end of the
Conservative party."*

Instead of fighting one big battle
in Quebec for the future of Canada,
Mulroney will now have to fight a
two-front war.

A Conservative-sponsored alliance
between supporters of the Bloc and
the Reform party, as some have
suggested, is unlikely.

While both regional parties are

« “hp
That kind Of ‘assisthncé helped thes opposed to official bilingualism and

g@@aiticulturalism, there is a fun-
@imental difference between the

}/\awo; the Bloc Quebecois wants a

of the province’s 75 seats, Bouchard
said his party’s rise alongside the
ascendancy of the Reform party

““¥Overeign Quebec and the Reform
party wants a strong Canada with an
effective central government.

Robert Russo writes for The

of ini in bad
faith.’"

But the alliance must run the risk
of a strike just the same, says
Swimmer.

“I would not want to be in the
shoes of the alliance,’’ he says. “‘If
they don’t do something, then the
government is not only going to get
away with this but there. is never
going to be any kind of legislative
record of them being coercive.””

But more than 100,000 civil ser-
vants being legislated back to work
might be a blessing in disguise to the
union, he says. The state of collec-
tive bargaining in the civil service
would get public attention and would
have to be debated in the Commons.

Pradeep Kumar, associate director
at the industrial relations centre at

intends to cap civil service wages at
three per cent for the next three
years and fire civil servants on top of
that.

For every one per cent in increases
in the civil service, 2,000 jobs will be

Queen’s Uni y in Kingston,
Ont., says thin support for an allian-
ce strike would be disastrous for’ the
union.

Gord Melintosh writes for
Canadian Press.

The

Recession hits provinces hard

By SCOTT

A 57-year-old employee of the

Manitoba Health Department
cleaned out his desk this week and

years was gone Tuesday as M

became the fifth province to bring
down a budget this year that must
cope with recession-ravaged
revenues.

Old theories about stimulating an
economy and creating employment
during lean times have been aban-
doned as governments cut deep to
hold back mounting debt loads.

and is growing annually. That
doesn’t include the debts of Crown
corporations which, in theory
anyway, are supposed to be seif-

Finance Minister Dick Johnston
i gloomy economic forecasts,
which led critics to predict another
deficit to rival or exceed last year’s

$1.2 billion.
's deficit is expected to

top $324 million this year, even with
the cuts. It would have been a lot
closer to $450 million if Manness
hadn’t broken the piggybank and
delved deep into lottery revenues and
all but emptied a special reserve
fund.

In Newfoundland, where 2,100
jobs were lost, the deficit is expected
to hit almost $60 million.

In New Bruswick, where a com-
paratively modest 225 jobs were cut,
the deficit is expected to be $310
million. —

Scott Edwards writes for The
(Canadian Press.

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College with 36 members and guests
present.

Guest speakers were chief con-
troller at the Castlegar Airport con-
trol tower, Pete Minchuk, and a con-
troller from Penticton who is con-
ducting training at the local tower,
Ron Ulmi. They were introduced by
wing captain Bob Dale-Johnson.

5 YEARS AGO
From the April 20, 1986
News

Dixie Dee Powers, a self-
proclaimed Castlegar psychic who
says God revealed to her a plan to
eliminate poverty from the world, is
under investigation by the RCMP.

“A large number of complaints
received at various detachments in
the East and West has

company’s Celgar Pulp Operations
violated its pollution control permit
on 28 days in May 1985 by emitting
excess amounts of bivalent sulphur
compounds from the mill’s recovery
boiler.

In dismissing all 28 counts against
Westar, Judge S.W. Enderton said
he was not satisfied the Crown had
proved beyond a reasonable doubt
Celgar’s recovery boiler was the only
source of the bivalent sulphur com-
pound hydrogen sulphide in the
Castlegar area at the time the alleged
violations occurred.

. oe

The Castlegar airport tower should
be closed as a cost-cutting measure, a
report on federal government’ spen-
ding

resulted in an RCMP investigation of
the financial affairs of Powers Inc.,
and its principals,’ said Staff Sgt.
Alan Tomlins of the Nelson RCMP,
reading from a prepared news
release.

“‘As part of the investigation, a
series of search warrants was
executed on a number of residences
in the Castlegar area on April 14.

“*No charges have been laid and
‘the investigation is continuing,”’ the

says.
ee ore

‘Westar Timber Ltd. was found not

guilty Thursday of charges that the

* Dinner (Meals Only)

The Task Force on Program
Review suggests four of Canada’s 60
airport towers be closed, including
those in Castlegar, Brandon, Man.,
and Sydney, N.S.

The year-long task force, headed
by deputy prime: minister Erik
Nielsen, brought down its report last
month.

Kootenay West MP Bob Brisco
confirmed that the report recom-
mends Castlegar’s tower to shut
down, but said: .‘tl.don’t.subsoribe to:
it on the basis of Castlegar being ane:
of the most difficult approaches in
Canada.”

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