OPINION

WEDNESDAY, A

WZ
The Castlegar Sun
C: jz
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PUBLISHER MARILYN STRONG
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editorial comment

Frowning on favoritism?

ecently the City of Castlegar has been under pres:
sure t0 make allowances and concessions, up to a
rtain percentage, for local contractors who ten

der local projects, such as the second phase of downtown
revitalization; a project which carries a hefty price tag of
almost $1 million

The second phase of Castlegar's revitalization project will
take place this summer and has the potential to turn Castle
gar into one huge dustbowl: streets and sidewalks will be
turned over as power lines are buned and new light fixtures
are placed, the changes promise to be dramatic ones. It
Means a busy summer for the firm that 1
tract

Should the city make concessions for local contractors
who bid higher than out-of-town contractors? Even if the
tender is only five percent higher? There are valid argu
ments to do so: local money would remain local; and the
City would be helping out local businesses and firms—giv
ing them an economic shot in the arm so-to-speak

But in the interest of free enterprise, the city should stay
away from playing favorites (which has been interpreted in
the past as playing politics)

One argument in favor of preference that has been posed
to city officials is that, if Kelowna does it for their local con.
tractors, why can't the City of Castlegar do the samé. First of
all—we're not Kelowna. Second, Kelowna does NOT mak
a preference to local contractors who are ABOVE other ter
ders. According to Ron Reiter, supervisor of purchasing for
the City of Kelowna, the city made an unofficial’ poli
discontinue the practice a few years ag
policy ‘officially’ last year. because of impending problen:
However, not unlike Castlegar, Reiter said where two or
more tenders are substantially the same and it is difficult t
determine the lowest evaluated bid. awards shall be mad.
first to firms that manufacture locally

Placing a notice on advertisements for tender that
Percent or higher leeway will be granted to local bidders sen
ously handicaps other contractors who might be interested u
Placing a bid (which costs an amount of money in itself
Say, for example, a contract is worth $1 million, an out-of
town contractor would have to ensure its bid 1s at least one-
hundred-thousand dollars less than local contractors— since
$50,000 would only ensure that they are now on a level play
ing field. If this amount cuts into profit margins, then some
contractors may not even bother to submit a proposal
Another reason why Castlegar should not Suipulate favontism
is that it fosters other communities to do the same. According
to Ron Reiter, if the tables were tumed and Kelowna made
the preference, it would be much more difficult, for Castlegar
contractors who are relatively dependent on work outside of
Our community, to compete. That turns the tables doesn't it?
If residents think more money is spent in the community by a
local contractor compared to an outside contractor. they
might want to reconsider. After all, it's the employees from
Out-of-town contractors who are more likely to sleep m our
hotels, eat in our restaurants-and drink in our bars. It's not as
if by hiring outside, all money stays outside

But the biggest reason why Castlegar should do as it says
it will and choose the most qualified contractor at the lowest
bid—is public trust. Through the Strategic Financial Plan
ming process, Castlegar residents have stated they desire a
frugal city council, which makes wise decisions in the TAX
PAYERS!’ best interest. Like all government
does not have its own money to play with—its taxpayers
money. And if the city can save a couple hundred-thousand
dollars here and there, they should take- the opportunity to
do so. True, businesses pay taxes too. But when it comes
down to the bottom line, the City of Castlegar is in the busi
ness of running a community and serving the general popu
lace, not keeping local businesses employed

awarded the con

No matter who's involved

and then made th

city council

—————

L

LOOK AT THIS STORY, AGNES. IT’ ABOUT (TIME.

The validity of the kill

John

kay Karen. I've had
jjust about enough of
your sarcastic com-

ments about going down to the
local food store to graze
amongst the vegetables.

No, I don’t live on just salad.
If people were to have an open
Mind concerning their eating
habits, other than just meat and
potatoes, their lives would hold
more variety—and we all know
variety is the spice of life.

Before starting into this issue,
I want to make something clear
I do not eat meat. I feel that
humans can survive without
slaughtering other animals for
the sheer pleasure of ingesting
their butchered flesh. This is my
personal view

But this editorial is not
intended to be a preach session
for vegetarianism; the issue
here is one of going out into the
woods to kill animals (which are
usually referred to as wildlife )

Not long ago. Karen and |
had a discussion centered

around the validity of hunting in?

Our present day and age
whether it be for sustenance
sport (if you can call it that) or
for a trophy above the fireplace
in the family rfom

I think one of the biggest
problems I have with hunting, is
that it is often referred to a
“sport”. Maybe it's because I'm
the. guy who reports on ‘sports
everyday for The Sun. Some-
how, F just can't imagine running
wildlife kills alongside the RBIs
in my stats-box

Now-a-days hunters are so
over-equipped when they head
out into the forest to track their
game (dinner): high-powered
rifles, four-wheel drive trucks
and four wheel ATC’s when the
going gets tough. Talk about
your hardware!

I think if hunting was truly a
“sport” then the ‘sportsman’ or
sportswoman’ for that matter
would use nothing but his or
her own two hands and know!l-
edge about the habitat of these

heek

critters. Let's just sav it would
put things on a level playing
field—evening the odds—a real
challenge

Or, the critters of the forest
could be Supphed with the same
high powered weaponry to
defend themselves But unless
the evolution of genetics g
through some radical changes
don't think thav'll es

So the mighty hu
with his or her (nott
ist) kill. And what a baule it
was, right? As you aimed

rhappen

through your scope, lined up
the sights and slowly pulled
the trigger. Perhaps you even
got out of your vehicle to bag
this "game". If you really want
to impress me with your hunting
abilities, make the stakes higher
go after another meat-eater such
as yourself; bears, cougars, etc
and use hardware that is similar
to your opponents. If you are
not successful in your attempt
your opposition will be. Now
that would be a ‘sport’ in the true
sense of the word

Meanwhile, I'll be at the salad
bar, hunting for another ripe
tomato.

heek

don’t even know if this is
going to be a fair fight
John, especially consider

ing your non-meat dietary pref
erence, Otherwise known as
vegetarianism

I’ve heard you speak dis
paragingly of hunung, and I tak
xception to that. If you arc
peaking of hunting as a sport
we can both agree upon that. |
thank both can see that to
hunt gime only so a trophy will
nd up mounted on a wall is a
disgrace, but hunting for food is
ykay in my books

Mankind has always hunted
for their food, they didn’t only
grub in their little patches for
vegetables. Nor did they walk
down to the local grocery store
to purchase their meat. I realize
that there wasn't local grocery
stores around the corners back
then either, but come on—who
says we have to acquire all our
food (at an inflated cost) from
stores

I firmly believe in limits, and
limited entry draws, as we can't
all go out and kill as much game
as we want, whenever we want
But I firmly believe we all

deserve the right to go out and
acquire our food in the manner
which we wish. If hunting game
to fill a freezer is the way in
which some people wish to
stretch their food budget, then I
say they should be allowed to do
so

Right now deer populations
are strong, and part of the natu:
ral culling process has always
been death by predators. In this
case the hunter is the predator.
We are all part of the food chain,
although humans are admittedly
at the top of that chain.

Personally, I feel it is more
honest to stalk your prey as
opposed to buying it. When you
buy you meat from a store you
can be assured that the meat you
are buying was raised specifical-
ly for human consumption. The
conditions in which they were
raised are tar less humane than
the wild game which is used for
food. Domestic meat is raised in
crowded conditions, and their
whole purpose in life is
fattened for At least
wild game has a fighting chance

to get
laughter

ta hve outside in the fresh air
run freely
at will. Most store bought meat

and graze and forage
never had a chance to do any of
the things their wild cousins had
4 chance to do. So you tell me
Which 1s more humane?

If a person 1s going to eat
meat, there are other factors to
consider. Most wild game pro:
vides lean meat, and the meat is
not filled with antibiotics,
growth hormones and red dye
Can the same be said for store-
bought meat? To be painfully
honest, I would rather look at a
deer in the woods, and know he
will be my supper, than to look
at a domestic animal (fattened
on chemicals) and consider him
for my supper.

So John, more power to you
if you want to graze the produce
section at the local grocery, but
I'd rather get my food as
mankind has done for thousands
of years

if you have any

org I about this Week 's Cheek to Cheek, feel free to
send us your comments in a fetter to the editor eo The Castlegar Sun.
if you have a subject that you would like to see debated in the Cheek to Cheek
column, Karen and John would love to hear your suggestions.

Call the newsroom at 365-5579 or fax us your comments and requests at 365-7762

Wednesday, April 21, 1993

The Castlegar Sun

Letters to the Editor

NDP showing true political stripes

agreements on lands else where
ing tables. Those land:

sent parklands may be exchanged, will be
ostensibly, areas that have no interest to log.
ging or mining. This means, most often, rocks.

Dear Editor

Well it’s finally happened, The NDP has
now institutionalized schizophrenia as public
policy. And, in little over a year, our B.C. gov
ernment, for whose election | and my friends
and acquaintances worked for months, has
begun to drive the electorate out of its mind
Do you think I exaggerate? Consider this: The safe
provincial government, making protestation of
unbiased concem for the public interest, buys
50 million worth of shares in the largest log-
ging company in B.C. and becomes thereby a
major shareholder. This, at the very time it
decides to award almost 80 per cent of the
old-growth timber to the very company in the
contentious Clayoquot Sound area. Then, they
ssue as a great con-
cession to preservation when it was, in fact, a

hailed their juggle of this

logging plan in disguise

Could this be a conflict-of-interest? Not to
worry. Finance Minister Glen Clark tells us in
the Vancouver Sun, “one arm of the Ministry
(which) made the investigation has no contact
with the other arm that regulates industry.”

Does that have you rubbing your eyes? Is this
a statement from the conflict-ridden cabinet
Ministers of the Socred party that finally got
booted out of office or has the NDP:sgown us

its true political stripes?

And to share yet another example of
dementia, the NDP, claiming it initiated
CORE to end confrontatory problems between
resource use and environmental claims, and
properly allocate what remains of our dwin-
dling resources, has now put all the existing
parks on the CORE negotiating table

those made 50 yea

ago. This is done under
the premise that all established parks may
have their boundaries altered or their land
traded off in exchange for concessions or

negot

ice and scrub forests.

equities.

want confrontation.”

even

Imagine! The parks you thought were
the ones that may hay required expén
sive studies, public hearings and weighing of
the ones that total 6.5 per cent of the
provincial landbase, and hold the miniscule
amount of 2,6 per cent of B.¢
to be reconsidered. The confrontation the NDP
claims it will settle through CORE is just about
to mushroom because of this appalling basic
premise tacked onto its mandate

The CORE process is already a liitle crazy
trying to ignore the fact that the B.C. govern:
ment is using the old Socred ploy of continu:
ing to log the very areas that are being studied
for preservation. This is being done under the
direction of the premier who is the same man
who said: “You don't push roads through (for
logging) in the middle of a process unless you

Now CORE is urging yet another mind
numbing split-self prospect. Everyone is to
work week days, weekends for the next year nor
studying the whole issue of resources use and
preservation concems. But if consensus is not
reached (and that's quite likely when it comes
to opening up or remaking established parks),
then no matter what CORE recommends, the
decision and empowerment are left to the B.C.
government and the Cabinet Ministers. You
remember them? The guys who are not sup-
posed to remember or consider that $50 mil- -
lion in taxpayer dollars have just been
invested in the logging company pressing to
clearcut many of the remaining old growth

ed to by
for which pre

forests and many of the watersheds which
CORE has studied
In the face

t this derangement, Stephen

the

Owen is being forced to compromise his essen
tial principles

very basis that made him

trustworthy, because his desire to make the

forests, are now

Reform Party refusing to use FTA as
excuse for economic state of affairs

Dear Editor:

Free Trade seems to be a rather
convenient scapegoat for many of
our economic woes. If the
Reform Party was looking for the
easy road, we would probably
oppose the FTA agreement as
well. We do not believe in oppos
ing a government policy just
because it is not ours.

Free Trade is in the best inter
ests of Canadians. This is not to
say that it is without problems
There are plenty of those, but it is
far better to address these prob
lems than scrap the entire deal
and attempt to start over with
sectorial agreements such as the
NDP proposes

FTA opponents such as the
NDP and the Council of Canadi
ans blame the FTA as the sole
reason for Canada's industrial
downturn. That is absolutely
ridiculous. As is often the case
when someone is trying to push
their point, they are totally ignor-

ing the facts. These facts include
such details as a prolonged global
recession, an 18 per cent appreci-
ation in the Canadian dollar, pro-
ductivity growth that lagged 10.8
per cent behind the U.S.A. and an
11.2 per cent increase in Canadi-
an manufacturing wages relative
lo American wages. A recent
University of Toronto study con
cluded that both inflation and
unemployment would have been
higher without the FTA and that
business investment and the
whole country’s Gross National
Product would have been lower
Another fact that the opposi-
tion forces conveniently overlook
while suggesting that we have
lost all our jobs to the U.S.A., is
that the U.S.A. has lost propor
tionately more jobs than Canada.
To blame Free Trade for the loss.
es on both sides is absurd.
reas which are causing
g-term problems with Free
Trade include Canadian problems

involving the removal of inter-
provincial trade barriers, lower-
ing taxes to ensure a “level
playing field” with the U.S.A
and emphasizing retraining and
technological development... We
also need to ensure that the
exclusive control of Canadian
water remains with Canada. The
Reform Party would mot proceed
with the North American Free
Trade Agreement until these
changes have been initiated

Jim Gouk
Reform Party Candidate
Kootenay West-Revelstoke

CORE proces
show it to be steeped in fraud and bad faith

If this doesn't resemble schizophrenia on a
giant scale
schizophrenia, the afflicted party has to exhib-
it, among other thing
outlook together with perceptional distur
bances and marked change in personality.
How remarkably apt this is to the NDP since it
took office. Wagn't it Mr. Harcourt and his
party who railed against conflict-of-interest
among Socred ministers? And now Mr. Har
court, another: man entirely, together with his
cabinet, have done away with this issued of
personal malfeasance, the entire government
is now involved in a conflict-of-interest
Meanwhile, Mr Clark tells us Cabinet just
won't think about it and Mr. Harcourt looks
the other way
fests in his belief that the left hand of govern-
ment, of which he is the head, doesn’t know,
it affected by, or need to know what the
right hand is doing

Had enough? Don’t panic
do is maintain our belief in CORE
Owen, and the NDP by keeping it separate
from our Outrage, distrust and resistance
When everyone is schizophrenic,
become the new normality

More letters
page 8A

i/

AMS

SZ
The Castlégar Sun

Excellence

in Service
Award

This award will be presented every week
to someone in Castlegar who shows

what does

eclipsed the factors which

To constitute

a full-blown delusional

Harcourt’s chief delusion mani-

All we have.to
ephen

it will

Richard Caniell
New Denver, B.C.

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Letters Policy

Letters to the Editor are welcome on any topic of local or general
interest, Letters should be double-spaced, typewritten, or legibly hand
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Send. letters to: The Castlegar Sun, 465 Columbia Ave., € ‘asdegar,
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Wednesday April 28, 1993
12 noon Sandman Inn Cost: $10.00
LUNCHEON TOPIC
“Business Security”
Speaker: Constable Mark Willlams RCMP
y CALL 365-6313
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sponso:
CASTLEGAR & DISTRICT Chamber of Commerce Leto E+ j

SCHOOL DISTRICT #9 (CASTLEGAR)

The Board of School Trustees of School District #9 (Castlegar) have
created a Task Force on Violence to study the extent, impact and
nature of violence among young people and will view the issue from
the perspective of both the school and the community

We invite you to share your views with us regarding the extent of
violence in schools and in the c 'y as well as any

you may have with regard to processes for i rvention or
prevention.

Our closing date for receiving submissions is April 28th. If you wish
to speak to the topic, please indicate so in your submission. We will
contact you with regard to time, date and location.

The Task Force will convene a public meeting at 7:00 p.m. on May
11th in the Activity Room of S.H.S(S. to hear these presentations.
The public is invited to attend

Board of School Trustees
School District #9 (Castlegar)

SD.

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extraordinary service to his/her
customers or clients.

Putting the reins on runaway press?

ecently The Castlegar
Sun ran an excellent edi
torial on the value of a

free press. While I agree with every
word, I confess to a concern about
the role of the West's national and
international media

I only read a small local paper
now.” an English friend writes
because the national media:
always so wrong about things I

The Eabtiggar Sun available defense was to turn off
A the T.V. set, cancel subscriptions to
newspapers and periodicals...” includes a
In England the government con nary” which gives definitions such
templates putting reins on a run as— Propaganda: Their lies. Public
away press, and an acquaintance Information. Our lies
from an ex-Communist country Thi that the West
tells me her “greatest disappoint- media 1s in deep crisis. The thought
ment” inthe West was with it of g
media. “They lie like Pravda,” she they ar

blocking out those that don’t fit an
agenda or program.” His book

Doublespeak Dictio The recipient will receive an award

plaque to keep courtesy of Kats Trophys
and a lunch for 2, value to $15.00, ss
courtesy of the Sandman Inn. WAN

IS POLITICALLY
MEMBER OF-THE
Established Noy

Published
Weekly o

Member of Canadian ¢
BC Communtty

ill indicates

mment intervention such as

We'd like everyone in Castlegar to know
that service excellence exists in our
ontinually skepti community. This award recognizes
Communist pres 1 read and informed publi a nominated business. ty
Now we have ook fr rder, But surely, a necessary « WZ
Americar academi The Gastl gar Sun
Edward §. Herman's ‘Beyond If you know of someone that offers RS
Hypocnsy: Decoding the News in "Excellence in Service," call me, 7I\\N
an Age 7 Propag _ in ” nics hi Marilyn Strong at 365-5266, or
writes about the role 0 ne
media on foreign policy. refernng drop a letter at the Castlegar Sun
with your suggestion. TQr iy

to their ability to use lies and ERRATA

choose and shape facts selectively d War \

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