ESTABLISHED AUG 7, 1947

saganeen OF THE B.C. PRESS COUNCHL

wnch weeny MAY 4

HE AID WEEK MUR

A.V. CAMPBELL —- PUBLISHER AUG, 7, 1947-FEB. 15, 1973

OFFICE MANAGER — Lindo Kositsin

ere auc 27, 1980

'— Gary Fleming
— Heather Hadley

Full
vested in Coste News Lid.; prow

belong 10 the advertiser

\

in ony printed matter produced by Castle News Lid.
however

‘ond belongs rowrded,
ony edverinvement prepored Irom repro proots, engravings, etc. prov:

het cepyrght i that portend that por! only of
ovided by the advertiser shall remain in and

Valuable

An editorial in the Spokane
Spokesman Review was reprinted a
few weeks ago at the bottom of
this page. The editorial lauded
Nelson Mayor Gerald Rotering for
the “valuable message” he
delivered to downtown Spokane
merchants concerned about the
challenge posed by a proposed
mall.

Rotering said that buffing up
historic downtown buildings can
pay significant dividends in
economic vitality and does not
have to cost bucketfuls of money.
The editorial was reprinted not
simply because it referred to the
West Kootenay, but also because
of the number of surprising
parallels between Castlegar and
Spokane.

Castlegar may be many times
smaller than Spokane, but like the
Washington state city, Castlegar's
downtown businesses are also
facing stiff competition from a
proposed mall.

Spokane has answered the
challenge by taking a hard look at
upgrading its downtown buildings
and streets. A committee of 50
Spokane retailers, property
owners, architects, professionals
and youth workers who work
downtown, with

last month to begin preparation of
a new central b district

message

isn't so much to devise a plan, but
to implement the plan. So far that
has been a major stumbling block
for Castlegar’s downtown property
owners. The first revitalization
plan was deemed too large and the
second too pricey.

Another committee made up of
some of the major property owners
in the downtown core is currently
revising the plant in a bid to come
up with something. acceptable to
the majority of property owners.

This is pretty muh the last

SF VAR OU ER SON

Remember
When?

35 YEARS AGO
From the June 11, 1952

News

Agreement in principal that the
south corner of the Village property on
Columbia Avenue be sold to the
Castlegar Co-operative Transportation
Society, was reached after long and
heated deliberations at a joint meeting
of the Castlegar Village Commission
and representatives of the Transpor-
tation Society, the Parks Board and the

Projects Society Monday.

* 6 *

At a recent meeting of the Kinnaird
Improvement Society, it was récom-
mended that Kinnaird's 12-acre com-
munity park be named Morice Park in
recognition of the time and work
devoted to the park project by R. J.
Morice.

This recommendation will be for-
warded to the next meeting of the
Kinnaird Village Commission.

. .

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Fowler of
Robson returned home last week from
a three day convention of leading
North American Life Insurance Co.

hurrah for Castl

revitalization progearn. It has been
in the works for seven years but
has never got off the ground.
Castlegar council finally agreed to
foot half the cost of the second
plan, only to see it rejected by the
property owners.

But council has signalled that it
won't wait forever for property
owners to decide on a plan. Coun-
cil has given the new revitalization
committee a deadline of July 1 to
come forward witha new plan or
the city will pull out of any cost
sharing. That would scuttle any
large scale improvements in the
downtown.

And that would indeed be unfor-
tunate because Castlegar's down-
town is in dire need of a facelift.
Like the editorial in the Spokesman
Review said about Spokane,

plan.

Castlegar has also answered the
challenge with a _— similar

devel: plan. But Cast!
has an edge on the Spokane group.
While Spokane is just embarking
on its revitalization program,
Castlegar has already come up
with not one plan, but two.

The challenge for Castlegar now

Castlegar's r program
would serve notice that down-
town Castlegar will not sit idly by
while outsiders lay plans to seduce
its tenants and customers.

The final line to editorial states
“If Spokane business interests
work together, downtown
Spokane will enjoy a new and
stronger future.” The same can be
said of Castlegar.

Ron
Norman

I had to laugh last Monday
watching Pamela Martin read the
news on BCTV's 6 p.m. newscast.
Martin come on, saying how only
300,000 workers walked off the job
that: day in protest against the
provincial government's new labor
legislation.

She pointed out that it amounted
to about only one-quarter of the
province's workforce. Then she
went on to say how little effect the
strike had on most people and detail
how well Vancouverites coped.

Martin missed the whole point of
the work stoppage. The fact one
quarter of the province's workers
did not show up for work Monday is
pretty significant. It means there is
a large constituency (I'd say 300,000
is a pretty hefty number in
anybody's book) out there that does
not think the province's labor
relations act is a good idea. And
they gave up a day’s pay and
possible reprimand to, voice their
disapproval

Similarly, she is off the mark if
she thinks — or those who write the
copy at BCTV think — that the
walkout was intended largely to
inconvenience people. I admit I, too,
at first thought the strike would be
a major inconvenience. But when I
reflected on it, I realized that a
one-day walkout causes only a ripple
of inconvenience for most people

Certainly employers were put
out, and perhaps some people living
on Vancouver Island or in Glade and
Harrop were inconvenienced more
so than others, because the ferries
were halted. But most of us found
we can quite easily put up without
some services for a day

Now, a week-long or two-week
general strike would be a com
pletely different story. That would
present incredible inconveniences
and in many cases outright hard
ship.

But the B.C. Federation of Labor
didn’t call for anything longer than a
24-hour walkout because its primary
purpose wasn't to inconvenience the
public and show labor's power. It

was to seid 2 message to the
government of Premier Bill Vander
Zalm.

That message is that unions and
their members are unhappy with
Bills 19 and 20. From time to time,
Vander Zalm has said that only the
union leaders and a small core of
militant workers are opposed to the
labor legislation. He has even gone
so far as to suggest that most of
organized labor supports the chan.
ges to the labor code. Well,
Monday’s general strike was inten.
ded to say to the government that
such is not the case.

Last week I suggested that public
opinion was beginning to shift away
from labor and toward the, Vander
Zalm government. That was based
on the changes Vander Zalm made
to Bill 19 and the one-day general
strike. The changes helped Vander

image while the strike hurt

But who would have guessed the
Vander Zalm government's re-
sponse to the work stoppage would
be to bring in an all-encompassing
injunction which suggested the
walkout was “seditious” and some
sort of attempt to overthrow the
government by force.”

I thought by this time Vander
Zalm et. al. would be well on their
way to winning the hearts and
minds of British Columbians in this
battle over the labor code. Instead,
it appears to have shot itself in the
foot and given labor a chance to
carry on the fight even longer.

* * «

It is interesting how others view
this dust-up between labor and
government. I spoke with former
CasNews reporter Simon Birch last
week from his home in Santa Rosa,
Calif. Birch, who is editor of a
weekly newspaper just outside of
Santa Rosa, says the chamber of
commerce president in that com
munity gave the opinion that the
unions are at the centre of all of
B.C.'s troubles.

“Yoo hoo, Mr. Harcourt. .

. you can come up off the fence footings now."

Letters to the Editor

Don't blame service
on postal workers

My personal experience of being
serviced by the Canadian postal service
for over a half a century has convinced
met that the lamentable deterioration
of the post office cannot be blamed on
the employees.

The clerks, local management and
maibcarriers have always been helpful,
courteous and friendly. The latter even
greet you with a smile as they unload
their mountains of junk mail at one’s
residence.

I wish that I could say the same for
the policy and management of the
“decision-makers”. They have con.
sistently raised rates, curtailed del-
ivery, spent ridiculous sums of money

n “super” mailboxes and mis-directed
mail bags to cities where mail is either
lost or delayed. The crowning indignity
is their latest move to mount a “search

and destroy” against the employees by
suspecting them of stealing, and thus
justifying the searching of lunch boxes
and purses. In other words, the
employees are considered a gang of

- crooks and are guilty before proven

innocent.

These kinds of policies will do
nothing to alleviate the problems of
mail service. The policies are wrong,
wrong, wrong and can only aggravate
the present situation.

I can envision some future directive
fo the mail carriers; they will have to
‘come to one’s door stark naked (minus
pockets and purses). Aside from the
titilation one may experience, the
result will be a bare failure.

Pat Romaine
Castlegar

What's next, Bill?

The people of British Columbia
should view with great concern the
government's proposal to call people
who publicly disagree with govern
ment legislation “seditionists”.

Anyone who publicly protests school
closures, spraying of harmful chemicals
in backyards, uranium mining, clearcut
logging, property taxes, liquor laws,
proposed ferry closing, sales of utility
companies such as West Kootenay
Power, to name a few concerns, could
next be called a “seditionist” if the
injunction to ban protests is granted.

Lobby groups such as senior citizens
groups, women's groups, the hotel
owners’ association, native Indian

groups, real estate groups, the Electric
Consumers Association, heritage com.
mittees and parent support groups, to
name a few groups, could possibly be
jailed for conspiracy if they appear to
be gaining public sympathy for their
protests against legislation that harms
selected groups in our community.

What's next, Bill?

Is it to be mandatory wearing of the
letter “S” for “seditionist” or is it to be
the mandatory tatooing of your own
personal “seditionist's” number on
your left forearm? «

William Hadikin
* [concerned citizen by nature,
“geditionist” by government decree]
Castlegar

Voters
denied
rights

In the last provincial general election
922 voters in the constitutency of
Rossland-Trail registered to vote on
election day. Left off the voters’ list,
they were exercising a right enjoyed in
most other provinces — a right that the
Social Credit government is planning
to wipe out in British Columbia.

Across B.C. over 157,000 people
voted in this manner in 1986. In the
Rossland-Trail riding over five per cent
of all votes cast on election day were
registered at the polling station. But if
the provincial government has its way,
voters like these, missed by our sloppy
voter registration system, will be
denied the right to register and vote
on polling’day.

The solution, of course, is to improve
our system of voter registration. But
the small improvements in Bill 28, the
Election Amendment Act, in no way
compensate for removing voters’ rights
to register on election day.

Instead of disenfranchising citizens
who are left off the voters’ list, we
should develop a full enumeration at
the beginning of each election. For the
few people missed by this process the
right to register on polling day must be
maintained.

B.C. has a long and unfortunate
history of unfair election practices —
like redrawing the political map to
favor Social Credit. By giving us less
than full voter registration at each
election, and denying people the right
to register on voting day, Bill 28 writes
another sad chapter in that history.

Gordon Hanson, MLA
New Democrat Spokesman on
Fair Election Practices

at Virginia Beach,
Virginia, U.S.A.

Mr. Fowler who is the local represen-
tative of the company, was among 65
insurance men from various parts of
Canada, the U.S. and the Bermudas at
the convention.

25 YEARS AGO
From the June 7, 1962
Castlegar News

Castlegar Village Council reserved a
decision to continue the grass seeding
project on the CPR property along

Columbia Ave. until the fall in

of a petition ining the
signatures of 229 taxpayers presented
to Tuesday nights council meeting.

‘Alex Nahonoff presented the pet-

ition which halted improvements to the
landscaping in that area.
He was supported at the meeting by
Carl Rolph and Mike Harshenin.
* * «

Square pegs in round holes of ten fail
because of poor judgement, the 65
Grade 12 graduates of Stanley Hum-
phries secondary school were told at
commencement exercises last Friday.

Dr. J.F.K. English, deputy minister
of education and superintendent of
schools for the province of British
Columbia, told the graduates that two
aspects of success in life are the ability
to attain a goal and “sociability” which
he described as “the ability to make the
world a better place to live in.”

7

A joint Celgar pulp mill-sawmill
first-aid team won second at the
novice's event at the annual WK mine
safety competition held Saturday in
Riondel.

15 YEARS AGO
From the June 15, 1972
Castlegar News

Tuesday afternoon Lands and For-
ests Minister Ray Willison and John
Moran, director for Area I, got behind
an old crosscut saw and sweated their
way through a log to officially open the
new Kalesnikoff sawmill in Thrums.

More than a hundred people stood
around when the chunk of log fell with
a thud and watched the cabinet
minister raise his arms and call out “I
now officially declare this new Kalesni-
koff sawmill open.”

* 8 6

Weep not for the Kinnaird post office
that is about to fold, but then on the
other hand, weep buckets that it is.

These seem to be concensus of a

More letters on page A5

ON GENERAL STRIKE

Papers’ opinions vary

The following are exerpts from
editorials in British Columbia news:
papers relating to Monday's province
wide strike:

Vancouver Sun: Although British
Columbians coped remarkably welt
with the shutdowns yesterday, the
response of the Social Credit govern
ment is an alarming assault on liberty
that seems designed to stifle any
murmur of opposition to its will.

It isn’t just the sweeping scope of the
application that offends. Its very
language is inflammatory and insult
ing: equating a strike with the use of
force, accusing labor leaders of at
tempting to subvert the democratic
process and mislead the Queen. What
the government seeks is far too broad
as restraint on freedom of association
and speech

Nanaimo Free Press: One doubts
whether the government at whom the
strike was aimed was seriously incon
venienced. The illegal nature of Mon
day's stoppage, which involved breach
of contracts galore by many thousands
of unionized workers, suggests there
has to be legislation to prevent such
actions.

The government is the government,
and despite what some will claim to be

workers’ inalienable rights to make
their protests known, illegal strikes are
not the way to do it.

Victoria Times-Colonist: If organized
labor believed it could teach the
Vander Zalm government some kind of
lesson, it was downright naive. At-
torney General Brian Smith hurried off
to court, proving the government is
anything but chastened.

Did the Vander Zalm government
get the real message — that just

‘what does the
Fed do for
an encore?’

because the Social Credit party won a
whopping majority in the legislature, it
cannot undertake major labor law
revisions without prolonged and
sympathetic discussion, explanation
and justification? Smith's response
suggests it didn't.

Prince Rupert News: If this is the
Social Credit way to end confrontation,
thank God the government doesn't
want to put a stop to erosion of
individual freedoms or even high
insurance rates

Cranbrook Townsman: The B.C.
Federation of Labor may claim success
in Monday's general strike but that
so-called success will be overshadowed
by the harm done to B.C. Fed mem
bers, the employers they work for and
the provincial economy in general

If anything the government will be
more determined to proceed with its
labor laws. The battle over Bill 19 and
Bill 20 should stay in the political realm
where it rightfully belongs, rather than
harm innocent parties.

Kamloops News: Monday's general
strike demonstrated the power wield
ed by the province's big labor unions.
The question is, what does the Fed do
for an encore? Fa

Should it hold another strike, fewer
people would participate and the entire
strategy would collapse

It’s likely, in fact, that more British
Columbians support the government's
actions today than they did yesterday.
The B.C. Federation of Labor proved
its power Monday but it won nothing.

Alaska Highway News: This irres
ponsible one-day general strike would
appear to be the best argument for new
labor legislation such as that proposed
in Bill 19.

(Canadian Press)

lephone poll taken over the weekend
by the Castlegar News as to the effects
of the closing scheduled for August 21.

It will make way for home delivery in
the twin towns of Castlegar and Kin-
naird.

Many of those contacted felt getting
home delivery was a positive step in
the community, but they did regret
they would no longer be able to have
postal boxes in their community.

5 YEARS AGO
From the June 9, 1982
Castlegar News

The provincial Ministry of Environ-
ment's Waste Management Branch has
turned down a request from B.C.
Timber for a one-year extension of its
current pollution control permit at
Celgar pulp mill and told the company
it must complete the mill's pollution
upgrading by Dec. 31, 1984 as
scheduled.

. 2 «8

The Castlegar Chamber of Com
merce is looking into relocating its
office and tourist information centre in
the proposed Boel shopping plaza on
Columbia Ave., just north of the Hi
Arrow Motor Hotel

* 2 6

After years of negotiations and a
series of delays, the provincial Envir.
onment Land Use Committee Tuesday
gave final approval to the Lower
Arrow Lakes resettlement plan.

The plans calls for B.C. to sell back
more than 30 waterfront lots between
Robson and Broadwater to former
waterfront owners whose land was
acquired by B.C. Hydro for the Arrow
dam project in the 1960s.

A Ay as lal dis Aas iat “Toe ee

Castle‘ News +s

June 7, 1987

Debate in a democracy on the
issues of the day is something that
should be encouraged and wel-
comed. Trading ideas, arguing one's
case and developing the kind of
dialogue where reason rather than
rhetoric prevails are the best ways
to solve problems and develop
solutions.

But — and this is critical — we
have to remember that there's a big
difference between legitimate dis-
sent and debate and illegal acts.
There's a point of no return, a line if
you like, that no special interest
group has a right to cross.

That line was crossed last Mon.
day when one such ‘special interest
group organized and took part in a
24-hour work stoppage that was no
more or less than an illegal strike
that hurt individual British Col:
umbians and their families, our
economy and our image in a number
of ways.

The dollar cost of what some
commentators have described as.
“economic terrorism” will run high
with some estimates putting it at
more than $100 million when lost
wages, production and contracts are

Premier's
Report

By Bill Vander Zaim

with union and business leaders and
individual British Columbians . .
the process was wide-open, lengthy
and productive.
Because we kept listening, we
brought in major changes and
that the

What's too often forgotten is that
our government has a mandate to
govern and we cannot and will not
be swayed by illegal acts and tactics
that would hurt the democratic
process and the rights of all British
C

concerns that had been raised and
we've ended up with a revamped bill
that given the chance, will provide
us with a more effective way to
develop a more stable labor climate
in our province.

What's needed now is for the
special interest groups to set aside
self-interest and perhaps their pol-
itieal motives, so that we can get
down to work to attract new
investment and new business to
British Columbia.

If we can establish an awareness
out there among our customers and
the people we deal with that we're
moving in the right direction and
that we are developing fair and
effective mechanisms to resolve

No group, no matter how power-
ful, can hold itself above a duly-
elected government and the rule of
law. Government must be allowed
to meet its responsibility to protect
the rights and promote the welfare
of all the people it has the duty to
serve.

The fact is that there is much
more at stake than any group's
determination to preserve its power
base . .. our economic prospects and
ability to compete in markets that
are tough and growing more comp-
etitive every day, will be placed at
risk.

We have to find a better way to
bring about a better labour climate .

Ra tp Res reememae

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TTER
Injustice done

to SuperValu

It is our feeling that an fired for our absence.
injustice was relayed to our It is unfortunate that this
employer in the Wednesday, mininformation was publish-
June 3 edition of the Castle- ed. We acted as we did on our
gar News. We, the staff of own conscience Monday as
SuperValy at the Castleaird we are now in asking that the
Plaza, would like to set the facts be known.
record straight.

Yes, on Monday, June 1,
there was a general strike
and, yes, we were aware of it.
Some employees chose to
work, some chose not to.
Neither those working, nor
those absent were repriman
ded in any form and never
was there a statement made
by our employer, nor a hint
implied, that we could be

Nelson, B.C.
Vil 4He8

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added up. And while that dollar cost
is staggering, we also have to
consider the personal inconvenience
and problems the walkout caused in
the lives of British Columbia.

I think it’s worth noting that no
piece of legislation has ever in-

consultation as Bill 19. Province-
wide hearings, face-to-face sessions

labor disputes, we'll be sending out
an important signal.

But if special interest groups
continue to operate on the principle
that they have the*right to usurp
government's role and responsib-
volved as much discussion and ilties ...
illegal protests . . .
will be for naught.

if there's a continuation of
our best efforts

.. we have to recognize that the cost
to our economy and well-being of
prolonged and costly labor disputes
is no longer affordable or tolerable

.- and that the time is long overdue
for the public
protected.

Think about it and ask yourself
just how much we were all helped
by the 24-hour strike.

Bathroom Tissue
$199

FURNITURE
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interest to be

MORE LETTERS

Footbridge to close

You may be aware of the existence of
the wooden suspension footbridge in
Gilpin which is slated for closure in
about three weeks. The move could
have repercussions throughout many
communities if such action could set a
precedent for similar actions.

dl of the impli we

the pedestrians as invisible. But for us,
we prefer continuity through main-
tenince and we are planning to wave
flags so we can be seen, although we
have seen no one looking for us to count
us in. But safe renovations should make
us materialize again.

are facing erradication and/or neglect
of a respected heritage site. Public use
is being thrown out of context in
exchange for a thrifty economic policy.
Is this the way of the future? We do not
see political activism as conducive to a
simple life, yet we sense that our
tolerance is being tested.

In this case, the Ministry of High-
ways proclaims the bridge as senile and

, the ministry would
trade off our bridge (which we like) for
alternative road improvements (which
we do not want and at triple the cost to
the taxpayer). We know there is a
contradiction somewhere and if we
would work to build our own bridge,
we may drown in our attempt to
remain solvent.

Gilpin Footbridge Committee

Brisco confusing

The latest edition of Kootenay West
MP Bob Brisco’s report has hit the local
newspapers. It deals with the much
touted White Paper on Tax Reform
which is supposed to be presented to
the Commons on June 18.

I waded through about 20 inches of
type in an attempt to make some sense
out of Brisco's summary, but came to
only one conclusion: The author's full
title should have an M.O. added to the
M.P., D.C. which follow his name.
Where Brisco obtained his Master of
Obfuscation degree I do not know, but I
feel sure that after reading more than
20 inches of type, he must have
graduated with honors.

Let's anyalyze the “reforms” in the
proposed White Paper:

Simplification of tax forms: I'l
believe it when I see it. Previous so-
called simplification has led to more

and confusion in completi
tax forms.

Redistribution of tax burden through

tax credits: Ambiguous and mis-
leading, because added taxes which
low-and-middle-income Canadians pay
will increase with no special benefit to
this group.

Lower corporate rates of taxation:
Most corporations pay no taxes at all or
pay five to 10 per cent where wage
earners pay up to 25 to 30 per cent.
Most corporate taxes are withheld
anyway. Corporate deferred taxes
could cover the whole budget for 1987.

Replacement of federal sales tax
with a national sales tax: Such a tax is
regressive and means that middle-or-
low-income wage earners will have
their taxes increased when related as a
percentage of income.

Brisco M.P., .D.C, M.O. has lived up
to his previous billing and come
through on all counts by attempting to
use his talents to obfuscate and
confuse.

Tom Mackenzie
Nelson

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