OPINION Castlégar News PAGE A4, SATURDAY, JULY 21, 1990 MEMBER OF THE 8.0. PRESS COUNCIL ESTABLISHED AUGUST 7, 1947 TWICE WEE , 4 INCORPORATING THE MID-WEEK MIRROR PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 12, 1978 AUGUST 27, 1000 LV. CAMPBELL — PUBLISHER, AUGUST 7, 1947.FEBRUARY 15, 1973 LISHER — Burt Campbell DITOR — Simon Birch PLANT FOREMAN — Peter H ry MANAGER — Wayne Stolz OFFICE MANAGER — Linda Kositsin CIRCULATION MANAGER — Heather Hadiey EDITORIAL Sigh of relief That rush of air you heard Thursday was the collective sigh of relief from local and regional business people after Cominco Ltd. and the United Steelworkers of America signed a memorandum of agreement Wednesday night on a new contract. Although the results of the ificati vote were i as we went to press Friday afternoon, the Steelworkers’ joint bargaining council had recommended acceptance of the new 27-month contract which provides a generous wage increase of over 18 per cent. And in- dications were strong that union members*were satisfied with the bargaining results. We don’t expect Cominco employees — some 400 of whom live in Castlegar — to go on a.wild spending spree, but having a new contract in their hip pockets should loosen the clamps that have been on their wallets (and purses) for the lasf several months. That’s good news for businesses who have been feeling the effects of the lack of spending, first from speculation there might be a strike and then from the strike itself. As Castlegar Chamber of Commerce president Jim Craig noted in a story in last Saturday’s CasNews, Castlegar residents drawing paycheques from Cominco likely earn some $1 million a month and spend most of that money in this city. That’s a huge chunk of money for a city the size of Castlegar to see disappear during a lengthy strike and it’s not hard to imagine some businesses closing in such a situation. Hence this week’s sigh of relief. But, as Neil Kalawsky, owner of Kalawsky Pontiac Buick GMC Ltd. in Castlegar, told CasNews reporter Claudette Sandecki last week, the Cominco strike was just one, of two black clouds of uncertainty hanging over the area’s businesses, the other being the delay in ap- proval of the Celgar pulp mill expansion. That approval, however, which we are optimistic will come, is still some weeks away. Nevertheless, there was partial clearing in the local economic weather this week: VIEWPOINT Gov't honesty best policy By TERRY O’SHAUGHNESSY Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses Of the thousands of policies that government as a whole must come to grips with, the most important, and yet at times the most difficult one it has dealing with is the policy of honesty. This isn’t to suggest that the vast majority of people employed by shading. The federal government has continually boasted of the positive ef- fects the GST will have on all Canadians and not dealt in any way with the major flaws inherent in the tax. But to tell Canadians that the tax is simple (when it is just the opposite), or that there will be consumer benefits once it is in place (which won’t be the case at all), or that we will be one of se, a Z. eA “e Ps ny AM A “DIRECTION OF THE rapped ae CHANNEL 7... PANEL EXPLAIN WHY THE. DOLLAR DIDNT Dd WHAT THEY PREDICTED (T WOULD... CHANNEL |THE FINANCE (MINISTER PREDICTING TOTAL DISASTER FOR THE DOLLAR TAKES CREDIT FOR THE STRONG DOLLAR ‘¥ CHANNEL (3..THE PRIME MINISTER F CHANNEL 2! NWS. . AN INVESTIGATION INTO WHY NONE OF THESE CLOWNS . HAVE GOT ANYTHING RIGHT IN 10 YEARS. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR — Project worries consumer group The Electric Consumers Association is very coiféerned about the proposed installation of a large coal burning electrical generator at Princeton. The coal is to be obtained from the East Kootenay area and hauled over the CPR main line to Spences Bridge and thence by rail to Princeton. Little is known about Railex, the company making the proposal. When questioned, the company representatives refused to disclose the that lead to the formation of ozone which is harmful to plants and to people. Complete removal of these gases from the emissions is virtually impossible and partial removal adds greatly to the cost of electricity. There is no practical way known to us of removing carbon dioxide from the emissions. The smaller turbine proposed earlier for Oliver was ownership. It is an American company with an answering service in Portland. The disposition of the electricity to be generated is not clear but the®tinceton i P ‘ion Group esti that at least 60 per cent will be exported probably via West Kootenay Power lines to the Cominco transmission line and thence to the United States. The distance from the East Kootenay to the export point is roughly the same as from Princeton. It would seem to be an expensive way to generate electricity. When and if it is needed, would it not be more economical to generate it where the coal is located and save the pollution from the diesels hauling the coal and the losses of coal dust in transit? The ECA fully supports the Princeton i Pi ion Group in its ign to prevent the installation. This support is not without a degree of self-interest because weather systems come from the west. Princeton is at the western extremity of the West Kootenay Power service area. Hence if the generator is installed as planned, emissions will blow over and into areas where other ECA members live. The mayor of Princeton has said that there would be no pollution or else the project would not be allowed to proceed. We assume the term pollution refers to carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides and sulphur emissions. Much of the sulphur in the emissions can likely be removed but nitrous oxides are more difficult to capture. It is nitrous oxides by the to produce 88 tons of carbon dioxide per hour and this would amount to 2,112 tons per 24 hours of operation. Even if this amount could be removed, it would involve a huge disposal problem and a large cost in disposing of it. Clearly there will be pollution and it will contribute to the global warming which is predicted to adversely affect climate on this planet. One of the concerns we have if the application does not meet with the approval of the Princeton mayor and council is whether or not there will be any pos: 'y of derailing the proposal. Even if there is a hearing once council has approved the necessary permits and the ‘‘studies”’ are undertaken, there is no assurance that the studies will be unbiased. Experts may be called to testify on behalf of the applicant and some of these experts appears that the BCUC Act was written with the applicants’ interests in mind and with less importance attached to consumers’ interests. The BCUC decision to charge consumers for the West Kootenay Power application to build a turbine in Oliver, despite the many deficiencies of the application, is strong evidence of this lack of concern for the consumer. The present minister of energy has said there will be a hearing but ministers change portfolios and ministers sometimes change their decisions. It is suggested that all interested citizens, especially those in south central B.C. should make their views known to the ministers of energy and environment at the earliest possible moment. Jim E. Miltimore Director Electric Consumers Association ‘Ceigar Pulp Company pansion & eee Csimons) DIAGRAMATIC PROCESS FLOW et] April 16, 1990 Proposed new mill. The drawing is Hi A drawing by the consulting firm H. A. Simons Ltd. shows in diagram form the pulp-making process in Celgar Pulp Co.'s contained in Volume | of the company’s five-volume, six-inch-thick revised and review now available at the public at the Castlegar Libra: the West Kootenay, as well as at municipal offices in Salmo, Slocan, Revelstoke, New Denver a and other libraries in Silverton. REMEMBER WHEN Please address all letters to the editor to: Letters to the Editor, Castlegar 5 P.O. Box 3007, Castlegar, B.C. VIN 3H4, or deliver them to our office at 197 Cc Ave. in C may act as for the i The B.C. Utilities Commission appeared to accept the testimony. of experts acting as advocates for the applicant. Once several millions of dollars have been spent, the project develops momentum and there is an implied obligation to go ahead with the installation. This may well be an important consideration even if the council did not provide any assurance to the applicant. The B.C. Utilities Commission Act appears to provide for approval by the minister of energy without a hearing. It also allows the minister to ask the BCUC to investigate the application and to make a recommendation to the minister. Or the BCUC may be directed to make a decision. It 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 without the writer's name. Nevertheless, the name, address and telephone number of the writer MUST be disclosed to the editor. The Castlegar News resetves the right to edit letters for brevity, clarity, legality, grammar and taste. government, be they elected officials, bureaucrats or others, are not honest. But public pressures and political stakes too often motivate too many of them to shade the truth. Let’s take the recent Meech Lake Accord and the federal government’s Proposed goods and services tax as two examples of the truth shading. It wasn’t so much what the political leaders of the federal and provincial governments said about their meetings on the Meech Lake Accord which caused so much confusion and distrust in the country, it is what they didn’t say. As.a result, much of the true hap- penings never emerged and the public became increasingly more skeptical and cynical of the process and the major political players. The GST on the other hand has been a more blatant example of truth 48 countries around the world with a similar tax (which is absolutely false) is not the stuff of which credibility is made. Governments get caught up in this type of truth shading because of many reasons. But it has always been dif- ficult for a government to deliver bad news, and often the whole truth is not good news. Governments are as afraid of bad news as a mouse fears a cat. They ex- Pect to be eaten alive in the opinion polls and then digested at the ballot box. We suggest, however, that gover- nments overall would be far wiser to level more often with the public. They might be pleasantly surprised to see that people are, by and large, very fair-minded and appreciate the honest approach. Who knows, it might start a whole new trend. German money buys approval By JIM SHEPPARD MOSCOW — West German money helped buy Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachév’s approval for a reunited Germany to become a member of NATO despite claims to the contrary, experts in Soviet and German affairs say. They say the price-tag was about the equivalent of $5 billion Cdn in immediate West German aid to the Soviet Union with the promise more might be on the way soon from Bonn and other western capitals. Gorbachev and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl reached agreement Monday during talks in the Soviet city of Stavropol that a reunited Germany, expected later this year, could join NATO. That’s a long-standing demand of Kohl’s and had been one of the most serious impediments to the final Political reunification of the two Germanys, now expected late this year. The two leaders also agreed to limit the armed forces of a united Germany to 370,000 men. West and East Ger- many now have about 600,000 troops, with 480,000 of them in West Ger- many. The two leaders decided the 380,000 Soviet troops in East Ger- many would be pulled out over the next three to four years under the terms of a treaty to be worked out between Moscow and a reunited Germany. At the same time, Kohl outlined to Gorbachev the terms of a five-billion- mark (about $3.6 billion) line of credit granted to the Soviet Union by West German banks with the backing of Bonn. That's over and above receritly promised direct West German gover- nment aid for Soviet troop with- drawals (about the equivalent of $900 million) from East Germany and several other economic-assistance packages negotiated with Moscow because of the economic and social merger of the two Germanys. Gorbachev and Kohl were also reported to have discussed the West German's efforts at) last week's Houston summit to get \Canada, the United States, Britain and Japan to go along with a West German-French- Italian plan for a western aid package — worth about $17.5-billion — for the crisis-stricken Soviet economy. The other countries balked ‘at least temporarily, pending a thorough in- ternational study of the Soviet economy. Gorbachev and Kohl both denied there was a direct link between the two matters. Kohl maintained, as he has for months, that rather than a bribe, the West German aid is strongly in the West's interests. Jim Sheppard is a writer with The Canadian Press. By the B.C. Federation of Labour By September of this year, if not sooner, Canada will be in- volved in negotiating a trade deal with the U.S. and Mexico. This will be an even bigger sellout than the Canada-U.S trade deal and will go a long way towards lowering Canada to the standards of a Third World coun- try. Both Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Trade Minister John Crosbie are being coy about their involvement in these trilateral negotiations. They say they are ‘‘interested,’’ that such a deal would be ‘‘sei le,"’ and they are only ‘‘considering”’ joining the Mexico-U.S. trade talks that are already under way. No decision, they say, will be made until the fall. In fact, the scene is already set Since the Canada-U.S. Trade Agreement was signed in January 1989, Canadian production Began shifting to the Maqueladora — a “free trade"’ zone in the north of Mexico. In October 1989, the Canadian Embassy and the Royal Bank of ‘Canada sponsored a conference in EI Paso, Tex., called Region Nor- th America. » In January of this year, Canada and Mexico began. trade negotiations. In March, a mission of Canadian business leaders went to Mexico City and Mulraney signed a Mexico-Canada trade framework agreement. In June, Mexico and the U.S. began negotiations for a trade agreement. Canadian business leaders are now saying Canada must enter into these agreements. Still, the Tories deny that they are involved and insist they won't make a decision until September. Why are they so evasive? John Crosbie is very frank. The government needs time to prepare the Canadian public, he told a parliamentary committee, because it wants to avoid the hystreia that resulted from the last trade talks. Crosbie has every reason to fear a violent public reaction to this deal. If Canada and Mexico had duty-free access to the U.S., the results would be disastrous for our country. Experts predict the following sectors at least would be affected: machinery, transpor- tation, chemicals, petro- chemicals, steel, non-ferrous metal, paper-making, agriculture, natural gas, electronics, auto parts and textiles. Mexican components in U.S.- Possible Canada-Mexico trade deal BRIAN MULRONEY .-. being coy? slammed made goods would place Canadian manufacturers at’ a disadvantage. Mexico would offer secure investment for U.S. technology and capital in return, for low wages (average wage in the Maqueladora is 60 cents . per hour), no regulations, no health and safety requirements, no labor standards and no pollution con: trol. Even more pressure would be exerted on Canada t3 push down both our wages and our social programs The public is not going to be fooled. We have already lost 125,000 jobs to ‘‘free trade."” We are losing control of our resour- ces. We have seen the decimation of our social programs and been forced to a lower standard of living — all in 18 months under the FTA. A Mexico-U.S.-Canada deal will be infinitely worse. This time we have other allies in our fightback. The AFL-CIO is beginning to organize a nation- wide coalition in the U.S. In Canada, the Common Frontiers Project has been initiated, suppor- ted by Oxfam, many church groups, the United Steelworkers of America and Canadian Auto Workers, among others. The Pro- Canada Network is developing strategies on this issue. The B.C. Federation of Labour is also launching a campaign, in- cluding a public meeting and con- ference Sept. 27. ~~ ‘This article appeared in the July-August 1990 edition of The Provincial, published by the B.C. Government Employees Union. 40 YEARS AGO From the July 20, 1950 Castle News Ditching and pipe-laying operations were begun this Tuesday across the C.P.R. tracks along the base of the mountain. Mr. Wells, of Wade and Wells, the contractors, States that arrangements with Com- issi have been to put a second shift on to speed up the operation. * The contract has been let for the blacktopping of the Trail-Castlegar } Highway, with the exception of the Genelle section, which still has to be surveyed. Some of the Castlegar streets will be blacktopped at the same time. * . Mr. Marke Shealds will be librarian for the next week — tomorrow and Tuesday. are remi that jackets, when the motor quit on them. The current carried them downstream and the boat hit the pillar at the railway bridge ahd capsized. . 8 6 R.W. (Wilf) Sweeney has been ap- pointed plant engineer and has assumed the responsibility for the supervision of the engineering, main- tenance and security departments at Celgar pulp division. 15 YEARS AGO From the July 24, 1975 Castlegar News The second annual Canadian Frog Jumping Championship and a demonstration of hang gliding from the top of Sentinel Mountain will be two of the more popular features at this weekend’s Castlegar Sunflower Fest, successor to the former KC Days. The frog jumping contest is again the library is open only in the evenings from 7 to 8:30 until school reopens. 25 YEARS AGO From the July 22, 1965 Castlegar News Two Castlegar residents, Mrs. H.F. McGill and Gunner Sturris, owe their lives to two heroic teenagers and a young man, who braved the raging Columbia River early Saturday evening to rescue the couple. George and Leonard Lewis, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Lewis, and Roger Kreutzer, launched the Lewis’ motor boat at the gravel pit and went after the drowning pair. Mrs. McGill and Mr. Sturris were in Mrs. McGill’s boat, without life being by the Selkirk Lions Club under the guiding hand of club member Jim Chapman who last year obtained nation-wide publicity for who took the dirty problem to Castlegar city council. Bill McKee on Tuesday night presented council with a” petition signed by 16 residents of the Grosvenor subdivision who say their lives are being made miserable by dust stirred up by the movement of large trailer trucks on |the properties of Public Freightways, C.P. Express and Transport and Labatt’s. 8 6 Miss Rotary Sheryl Lee was crowned Miss Castlegar 1985 at the annual Queen pageant Friday night at Stanley Humphries Secondary School. a. je Six new fires were reported over the 24-hours previous to Saturday after- noon while the fire hazard on Friday moved from high to extreme in the Arrow Lakes Forest District. en 8 ve A total of $96,000 in provincial funds has been approved for capital renovations to Selkirk College. For Your Convenience We're OPEN MONDAY WIN TICKETS ribers names ore listed below. if your name appears, you're the for draws for the next five Fridays! ot Sich up your FREE rickets, deep into the Castlege: « News office Tuesday until 5 p.m., or phone 365-7266 by 5 p.m. Wednesday to claim. Find your nome below and good luck ! Castlegar with the contest. eee B.C. Hydro earried out a test filling of the Kootenay Canal yesterday. The three-mile-long canal diverts water from the Kootenay River to the new Kootenay Canal powerhouse. 5 YEARS AGO From the July 21, 1985 Castlegar News The neighborhood around the 1300-block Forest Rd. and the 1300- block Grosvenor Place in Castlegar “has a dust problem you wouldn't believe,’’ said a resident of the area TOURIST ALERT Tourist Alert issued by the RCMP. The following people, believed travelling in British Columbia, are asked to call the person named for an urgent personal message: John and Lottie Cairns, Langley, call Kevin Cairns. Peter and Val Whitehead, Prince George, call home or Prince George Hospital. Don and Rose White, Flint, Mich., call Karen White. Emerson and Phyllis Bergen, Her- bert, Sask., call home. Murial Rutledge, Fort St. John, call home. John Schifano, Charles Schifano. Garry or Darrin Ellerman, Surrey, call Heather Ellerman. Thomas and Lillian Bidulka, Sask., call Jean Louis Castelani and L. Hughes, Monterey, Calif., call Terry or Ric ARROW LAKE | ELEVATION 1438.32 July 21 Forecast of Elevation 1441.92 July 27 Edmonton, call Jesse Dodson, Kentucky, call brother, Charles Randall. CASTLEGAR ucon \UTOMOTIVE REA Tires Utd. 1507 Co! Ave 365-2955 365-3311 AL Time 2141 Columba Ave. wo lath Ave DEPARTMENT STORES WEST'S DEPT. STORE 365-7782 1207-3ed $1 DRUG STORES PHARMASAVE 1126-34 St Wanjoll, 413:10t Ave 365-7813 INTING Agr Columba Ave 365-7266 m 365-6385 62) Columbo Ave BARTLE & GIBSON 2217 60h Ave 365-7702 NELSON WANETA PLAZA [A PLA 18100 Rock tslond Hwy L. MacDonald, E call Guenther Flemke. Kamal Malaker, Margaret Steingard Winnipeg, call “teen Phone 365-5210 w=, HOUSE INSURANCE “Never Have a Home Without It! i’ CASTLEGAR SAVINGS INSURANCE AGENCIES For All Your insurance Needs! SLOCAN PARK Hwy, 6, 226-7212 Insurance 226-7216 CASTLEGAR (601-18th $4., 365-7232 Insurance 365-3368 eal °F state WITH BARRY BROWN PROTECT YOUR HOME Sixty six percent of all burglaries someone is home and to prevent ore home burglaries, and most occur burglars, trom pulling o van close to when the homeowners are on the house vacation. * No second cor? Ask a neighbour to A computerized security system park his or her cor in your driveway backed by a central station isasound — Traffic in and out makes your house investment and can offer adequate look occupied protecion A statt is always at hand = * Make arrangements to hove the to watch your home around the clock grass cut during your vacation for such emergencies as break-ins. * Unless you have someone collect floods ond power loss mail, newspapers and other things Seeing that most homeowners do deli fo your door, stop all not have a security system, here are delive: some tips. for protecting property, * Ask @ neighbour to use your trash especially during the summer ck-up day vacation months. * Leave drapes and blinds partially * Dont broadcast your vacation ope plons. If youre travelling by car, * Store valuables ino satety deposit dont load 11 in the evening betore — bo8F with someone you trust ond leave it in the driveway over. * Inform only those you trust and night focal police of vacation plans * Get inexpensive timers thot The basic rule of thumb 1s simple automatically turn lights on and off in Don't advertise an empty house! several rooms of the house. A dark house or outside and inside lamps lett burning for days tells burglars No one 1s home * Use timers tor radio, too. Tune to an all-talk station. A burglar may think someone is home, even it no one answers the door beil * Hove o second cor? Park it halfway up the diweway to make it look like Wf there 1s anything | con do to help you in the field of real estate. please call or drop in at NRSM INAL REAL ESTATE SERVICE Agencies Lid. 1. Phone 365-2111 or 365-2757 CENTRAL FOODS SPECIALS Sunday, July 22-Wed., July 25 PORT, LITT sists irarvenn siren” sD CHICKEN BREASTS.........2. .. 92.78 CHICKEN THIGHS .........» ......91.98 DRUMSTICKS ..eonccnem so nmu® A 78 CHICKEN WINGS .......02.. 0091.68 COOKED HAM ecco cence mel CHEDDAR CHEESE ..........._......52.98 POPPING CORN s=<——- _...°3.85 ORANGE JUICE 2 cn 91.18 SCOTT TOWELS __......51.98 SOURDOUGH BREAD ........._...51.29 DINNER BUNS RAISIN BREAD FRENCH BREAD | ss — FRESH PRODUCE— si FRESH PRODUCE — : ASST. FANCY LARGE PLUM APPLES | TOMATOES CALIFORNIA GROWN. 1.2. GROWN. $1.52 Kg. 69° : 69° : it to hiemat qe Prices limited to stockon hond PRICES. 1 EFFECTIVE Swor Easy Foons | CE iN.. MON. = a OPEN SUNDAYS, c 10 a.m.-6 p.m, for 1 cent? At Lyons Shoe Store in Nelson... Yes, Lyons Shoe Store is having it's annual 1¢ shoe sale. Buy one pair of shoes of your choice at regular cost, get the scond pair of equal value or less for only 1 CENT! SHOP EARLY FOR BEST SELECTION SALE STARTS TUESDAY, JULY 24. ORE HOURS Lyon Shoe Store Ltd. (73) f 553 Baker Street Nelson Phone 352-3 LS