OPINION
Castlégar News

PAGE A4, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1990

MEMBER OF THE 8.C. PRESS COUNCH.
ESTABLISHED AUGUST 7, 1947 TWICE WEEKLY MAY 4, 1960
ING THE 2,

LV. CAMP@ELL — PUBLISHER, AUGUST 7, 1947.FEBRUARY 15, 1973
PUBLISHER — Burt Campbell
EDITOR — Simon Birch
— Peter Ha:

EDITORIAL

Three-year terms
may intimidate

Standardizing the terms of city councils, regional district boards
and school boards throughout B.C. is a good idea intended not only
to save the costs of elections every year but also to spur voter interest.
Voter turnouts in the past, especially in ‘‘off’’ years when the
mayor’s job wasn’t up for grabs, have been dismal.

But making the terms of office three years may have discouraged
People from running. As a result, there seems to be a preponderance
of uncontested races, with many positions in the West Kootenay and
throughout the province filled by acclamation, including the mayor’s
job in Castlegar where challengers to Audrey Moore failed to surface.

yj

ADH A

J
AWC

NATIONAL NEWS

Dye releases final report

OTTAWA (CP) — Auditor
General Ken Dye crooned mournful
melodies about cheatin’ and sneakin’
Tuesday in the final show of his 10-
year crusade against government
waste.

But his annual report to
Parliament turned the tables on the
growing public cynicism with
Politicians by criticizing Ottawa for
being too lax with citizens who break
the rules.

Dye Kad a chorus of complaints:
Life is too easy for drug smugglers.
People who cheat on their taxes are
often never caught. Students who
default on government loans are

taking a multimillion-dollar joy ride.

Nothing seemed sacred. Dye cast
his sharp eyes over the plethora of
charities. Then he warned that
phoney donations may be costing Ot-
tawa millions of dollars in lost taxes.

Missing from the report was the
usual smorgasbord of juicy horror
stories.

Dye, who retires March 31, says
government operations have im-
Proved during the 10-year term, but
things remain far from perfect.

“There are still some serious
problems, some affecting the safety
and well-being of Canadians,” says
Dye, an accountant with a bulldog’s
tenacity.

Upset with turf wars between
government departments, Dye says
Strained relations between the RCMP
and Canada Customs make it easier
to smuggle drugs into the country.

“They follow different strategies
at ports of entry and are unable to
co-operate fully, which may impair
the ability to disrupt large-scale drug
operations.’*

Federal coffers lose an estimated
$1.2 billion a year due to tax
cheating, but evaders get far lighter
Penalties, if prosecuted, than those
guilty of other types of fraud.

Lax surveillance of charitable
donations may be costing the gover-

‘ment even more in lost income.
“For those of us who pay all our
taxes, we're entitled to be damned
annoyed at cheaters.’’
Dye also says one in six students
defaults on government loans, but
banks make little effort to seek

Minister Brian Mulroney merely
recycled an old auditor general's
Teport which said the former Liberal
government was close to losing con-
trol of the public purse.

Enforcing criticized

OTTAWA (CP) — Provincial

sibility for enforcing these

has been

are not en-

largely

forcing some federal i
regulations, says Auditor General
Kenneth Dye.

Dye also said in his report Tuesday
that Environment Canada is falling
far behind schedule in testing and

ion of toxic sub:

to the le
“*This is an example of the type of
situation that raises questions in the
minds of the Canadian people about
which level of government is truly
responsible for the quality of the en-
i .”” the report said.

Mayors in Rossland, Montrose, Fruitvale and Creston were also

returned by acclamation as
municipalities across the province.

were mayors in

several other

Numerous positions on school boards and regional district! boar-
ds here and throughout B.C. were also uncontested.

No one’s yet made an issue out of the three-year terms but when
the dust settles now that nominations have closed it’s likely to be one

to come forward in

of the reasons
several municipalities.

were

Three years is a long time for people to commit themselves,
especially in municipal politics where the elected jobs are supposedly
Part-time and must be balanced with the demands of other commit-
ments, especially ‘‘real’’ jobs — the jobs which pay the mortgage
and put food on the table. But ask municipal politicians and they'll
tell you how “‘part-time’’ their jobs really are.

Asking for a

three-year commitment

to seemingly endless

meetings and stacks of paperwork may be asking too much.
Two-year terms might be less intimidating.

VIEWPOINTS

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Breath of sanity

I applaud the refreshing breath of sanity amid
all the panic and paranoia surrounding the Celgar

pulp mill expansion.

Capt. Brian Plummer and Mr. John Meade
have brought rational thought to the process with

their proposals for barge and rail chip
transportation, respectively.

In another article, the Ministry of
Ti ion and Hi i

upgrading and changes to sections of highways
3A, 6 and 23 ‘‘in anticipation of increased truck
traffic carrying wood chips to the Celgar pulp
mill’’ will cost the taxpayers up to $65 million.
Add to that figure the cost of the Robson-

that

expansion.

, another

And if one thinks this can happen, take a look at
what is happening to the lumber industry today.
Just to correct a popular misconception, the
Ministry of Transportation and Highways budget
is provided from general revenue, not specifically
from gasoline taxes and licence fees. Which means
the $100 million required to improve the chip-
truck corridors will come from such nasty sources
as property tax and income tax. Which in turn
means that we are all supporters of the pulp mill

Instead, why not spend one-third of this
money on basic road maintenance and minor

burden is still with the taxpayer, not with Celgar.

Please address all letters to the editor
to: Letters to the Editor, C:
P.O, Box 3007, Castlegar, B.
or deliver them to our of
Columbia Ave. in Castlegar.

Letters should be typewritten, doubie-
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
hird helping Celgar

Castlegar bridge (to be built only if the

Experts say
buy home now

By ROB CARRICK
The Canadian Press

House prices are falling, but mor-
tgage rates remain high. As usual,
conditions for buying that first home
fall short of ideal.

Still, many reai estate experts say
there are enough bargains around in
both resale and new homes to make
it an excellent time to buy.

“*I wouldn’t wait for the great day
when interest rates come down —
because when they do, that’s when
(house) prices are probably going to
start rising,’ said Frank Clayton, a
housing industry analyst based in
Kitchener, Ont.

“Once rates fall, there will be an
avalanche of buying,’’ added real
estate lawyer Alan Silverstein.

Sales of existing houses in 25 cities
across Canada have dropped almost
21 per cent in the first nine months
of the year compared with 1989, the
Canadian Real Estate Association
has reported.

As demand for houses has slum-
ped, so have prices. Through the fir-
st nine months, the association says,
the average price of a house in the 25
cities fell two per cent.

Evidence that the decline is gaining

came in an i
report saying average home prices in
September were off 3.3 per cent
from levels in the same months last
year.

Some markdts have been hit hard,
but others haven't. The average price
in Toronto fell 11.4 per cent in Sep-
tember compared with the same
month last year, while Vancouver
turned in an 8.2 per cent increase.

Meanwhile, interest rates have
eased moderately in recent months,
but remained-around 13.25 per cent
for a one-year term in mid-October.

Interest rates will fall eventually,
personal finance expert David
Chilton believes. That means a mor-
tgage taken out today could be
renewable at a lower rate.

“‘Interest rates are a short-term
pain,’’ said Chilton, a Toronto
author and frequent public speaker.

Still daunted by high mortgage
rates? There are ways around the
problem, Silverstein says.

For example, you can try to
assume the mortgage held by the
Previous owner of a home if the rate
is attractive

There are also mortgage rate
buydowns, in which the seller lowers
the mortgage rate on a home for a
set period by making a lump-sum
Payment to the financial institution
holding the loan.

Clayton says some of the best
bargains right now can be found in
new homes. Many can be had for
cut-rate prices and low mortgage
rates offered by builders anxious
about slumping rates.

In Toronto, the average price for
an existing home in September was
$245,519. But Clayton says he knows
of a development of new 93-square-
metre  (1,000-square-foot)
metre (1,000-square-foot) town-
houses in Bowmanville, about a 45-
minute drive east of Toronto, going
for about $100,000.

“If that’s not a bargain, I don’t
know what is,”’ says Clayton.

Aside from price,- another
argument for moving quickly to buy
a newly constructed home is that the
seven per cent goods and services tax
will apply to such purchases after
Jan. 1.

A GST housing rebate will cut the
effective tax rate to 4.5 per cent
new homes priced under $350,000,
and there is a sliding scale on those
between $350,000 and $450,000.
There is no rebate above that

As for existing homes, which will
be exempt from the GST, Clayton
believes prices could fall slightly in
the near future.

Dieter Peschmann, a Toronto-
based mortgage broker, doesn’t see
any rebound in prices until the
spring. ‘I’m biased, I'd like to see
the market pick up,” he said. ‘But I
don’t see things suddenly taking off.

“So you are losing nothing by
waiting a while.”

Silverstein says that if you're able
to find a well-priced property,
“you'd be wise to buy now.”*

“*You certainly won’t have over-
Paid compared to where we were a
year ago.""

he also advises first-time
buyers not to rush into anything.

Use the current slump as a chance
to get a feel for the real estate
market and do some bargain-
hunting, he advises.

“The key “is to negotiate
vigorously,"’ Silverstein said. ‘‘Look
for an old listing. The sellers have
Probably dropped the price a few
times and they'll Probably be happy
to get an offer.””

First-time buyers are valued in the
real estate market because they don’t
have to sell their old houses before
making a deal, notes financial plan-
ner Warren Baldwin of Toronto,

Agents also recognize that first-
timers are good busincss because
they often resurface in a few years,
ready to trade up to more expensive
homes.

burden could easily top $100 million.

No, I don’t suppose Celgar is too anxious to
build barge or rail facilities, given that our

government is willing to shoulder the
ibility for Pra

8
when pulp markets turn and mills close,

and the Fauquier link, and the total tax

roads. But

develop alternate transportation methods and the
remainder on local projects (the downtown
italization program, for i

which would

George Stein
the

encourage secondary industry and tourism? We
would finally be rid of the one-industry town ’
syndrome under which we are currently laboring.

in exceptional
published without the writer's name.
Nevertheless,
telephone number of the writer MUST be
disclosed to the editor.

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

only will be p

. Only
cases will letters be

the name, address and

Author thinks friendly advice
far better than good advice

By ROD CURRIE

When you think about it, there’s a
big difference between good advice
and friendly advice.

Jon Winokur has thought about it
a good deal, to the point where he’s
compiled and edited a book called
Friendly Advice, illustrating with wit
and humor that it is far better than
good advice.

Good advice, he says, is con-
descending, humorless and
authoritarian. Pepole tend to ignore
it

Friendly advice is frivolous, ironic,
funny and often benefits the
recipient.

Winokur is supported in this by
Oscar Wilde, who said: ‘It is always
a silly thing to give advice, but to
give good advice is absolutely fatal.””

Winokur’s book offers friendly
advice on a variety of subjects — ac-
ting, aging, baseball, drink, love,
marriage, politics, sex — from such
diverse sources as Albert Einstein,
Andy Warhol, Yogi Berra and Miss
Piggy.

A Californian whose earlier books

included Zen to Go, Winokur makes
the claim that the some 1,300
quotations in Friendly Advice
represent ‘‘the amiable wisdom of
the ages’’ from artists, scientists,
clergymen, sports heroes, actors and
statesmen.
Take acting, for instance.

“‘The most important thing in ac-

ting is honesty. If you can fake that,
you've got it made.’’ — George Bur-
ns.
But Glenda Jackson thinks the
most important thing is to be able to
laugh and cry, remarking: ‘“‘If I have
to cry, I think of my sex life. If I
have to laugh, I think of my sex
life.””

Spencer Tracy advised: “Know
your lines and don’t bump into the
furniture.”

On aging:

“The secret of staying young is to
live honestly, eat slowly, and lie
about your age’’ — Lucille Ball.

Drinking:

“If you drink, don’t drive. Don’t
even putt’? — Dean Martin.

“*Brandy and water spoil two good

things’” — English essayist, Charles
Lamb.

“If you drink enough wine, it
doesn’t matter how bad it is’? —
Anonymous.

On marriage:

Phyllis Diller advised: ‘‘Never go
to bed mad. Stay up and fight.”
And Bette Davis: ‘‘Separate
bedrooms and separate bathroom.”

To succed with the opposite sex,
tell her you're impotent, advised
Cary Grant. She can't wait to
disprove it.

Mae West: ‘‘Too much of a good
thing is wonderful.”

On the subject of business,
Canadian-born cosmetics queen
Elizabeth Arden offered this hagdly
friendly advice to her husband:
“Dear, never forget one little poiht
— It’s my business. You just work
here.’”

From the field of baseball comes
these knuckle-balls, both courtesy
of Yogi Berra: ‘Swing at the
strikes’’ and ‘‘When you arrive at a
fork in the road, take it."”

Casey Stengel: ‘‘The secret of

managing is to keep the guys who
hate you away from the guys who
are undecided.””

And on a variety of subjects,
Winokur unearths thes¢ nuggets:

“The best way to keep children at
home is to make the home at-
mosphere pleasant, and let the air
out of the tires’? — New York writer
Dorothy Parker.

“Music with dinner is an insult
both to the cook and the violinist’’
— G.K. Chesterton, English novelist
and poet.

“Everything should be made as
simple as possible, but not simpler”
— Einstein.

“Wise men don’t need advice.
Fools don’t take it’” — Benjamin
Franklin.

Never eat more than you can
lift’” — Miss Piggy.

Winokur offers only one bit of
advice of his own — Read this book

If you're so inclined, it’s
distributed in Canada by Stewart
House, a division of McClelland and
Stewart, at $22.95.

Rod Currie is entertainment editor
for The Canadian Press.

‘Dirty story' takes wind out
of cocky New Democrat's sails

VICTORIA (CP) — Moe Sihota
was talking about his futur e when a
tiny voice from the next room called
out in Punjabi for wieners.

His four-year-old daughter

who is eight months pregnant.

When a reporter wanted to find
out where he’s been since being in
the middle of a scandal that rocked
the Social Credit government
through entds and early fall,

torn herself away fi S

Street. Wieners are the same in

English as in the East Indian

language.

Sihota, wearing a Winnipeg Blue
irt and

doled out some food as he explained
how his career has changed since
July.

He’s not the cocky NDP golden
boy standing in a media scrum in the
halls of the B.C. legislature slam-
ming the government for its evils,
real or imagined.

Rather, he’s a dad with ruffled
hair who decided to spend a Friday
morning with his daughter and wife,

Sihota did not hesitate to invite him
over.

The NDP justice critic looks tired.
He’s lost weight, about seven poun-
ds.

“I know my reputation has gone
down a notch,” said the 35-year-old
lawyer, no trace of cockiness in his
voice.

During the next 90 minutes he
sedately reviewed the scandal

sations between the province's attor-
mey general and a senior ministry
lawyer.

He talked about a lawyer he hired
to prosecute a former Social Credit
cabinet minister after Bud Smith
refused. Smith resigned in July as at-
torney general after Sihota released
transcripts of the tapes in the
legislature.

Sihota recalled Smith’s phone
conversations that appear to
disparage a lawyer’s reputation and
delve into the relationship Smith had
with a press gallery TV reporter, who
later resigned.

“It’s a dirty story,” said Sihota,
sprawled back on the sofa.

He talked without the Political en-
thusiasm he had months before
about why the former cabinet
minister should have been
Prosecuted.

Although he insists he did the right
thing, he knows some of the dirt

Stuck to him.

An editorial cartoon showed Moe
Sihota with Larry and Curly of
Three Stooges fame.

Sihota, who once admitted he
liked to “‘swashbuckle’’ in the
legislature, was touted as attorney
general should the NDP win the next
election.

Now, some wonder whether he
would ever get that job. Others
Question whether he is fit.

“It puts (NDP Leader) Mike
(Harcourt) in an awkward position,”
he admitted.

“I was basically in a position
where things looked pretty good for
me," said Sihota,..who in 1986
became the first Indo-Canadian ever
elected federally or provincially.

In addition, he said, there is vir-
tually no monitoring of the environ-
mental effects of dumping waste into

Dye says responsibility for en-
vironmental matters is divided
among 24. federal departments and

the oceans, and the depar has
this lack of i

the » and there’s no
ism for dinati

from Parliament.
Dye says fewer than half of
Canada’s metal mines were in com-

“The consequence,” the report
says, ‘‘is a patchwork that makes it
almost impossible to assign public

Dye’s report:

for drug traffickers.

deliberate evasion.

pliance with federal on
liquid effluent in 1988. Respon-

ity for ding

Canada’s environment.”’

Group ‘outraged’

OTTAWA (CP) — Greenpeace
says Canadians are ingesting dioxins
at 300 to 700 times the rate that
Produces an increased cancer risk,
but Ottawa is preparing to legalize
dioxin contamination in food rather
than trying to eliminate it.

““What has outraged us is that the
government has moved to allow the
Pollution, not to pass concrete laws
to eliminate the pollution,’’ Green-
Peace activist Stan Gray charged
Tuesday at a news conference.

Gray urged Ottawa to eliminate

the sources of dioxins: chlorine
bleaching of pulp and paper,
chlorine-based wood preservatives,
chlorinated pesticides and municipal
waste incinerators.

Health Minister Perrin Beatty said
the Greenpeace estimate of increased
cancer rates is based on faulty scien-
ce, although he ‘concedes there is
some increased risk.

Beatty says it’s unrealistic to main-
tain the current regulation, which
says there is no safe level of dioxin in
food, except fish.

than

been recovered.

where the money will come from.

Highlights of report
from auditor general

OTTAWA (CP) — Highlights of federal Auditor General Ken

* Jurisdictional wars between the RCMP and Canada Customs
Persist six years after creation of special drug teams, making life easier

* If Canadians want to cheat on their taxes, the odds are
excellent they won’t get caught. Revenue Canada estimates it loses

more than $1 billion a year in unpaid taxes because of errors and

© Federal government computers are wide open to theft,
computer hackers or even disgruntled employees who want to cause
trouble. In the first four months of this year, government computers
were infected with 21 software viruses.

© For the last three years, Canada has admitted far more
i by cabinet, raising doubts about the
ability of government programs to cope with the load. There has been
little progress in clearing backlog of refugee applicants.

© One in six students defaulted on student loans last year, costing
the government $156 million. Since the loan Program began in 1964,
Ottawa has paid $858 million for bad loans; only $297 million has

* The Defence Department trains people mainly for Peacetime.
And military hospitals are fully staffed but underused, with a cost per
patient 86 per cent higher than standard hospitals.

* $1.4 billion in improvements are needed at federal airports in
the next five years, but the Department of Transport doesn’t know

* As the country heads into recession, even going bankrupt is a
problem. The Bankruptcy Act, dating to 1949 and last revised in 1966,
needs changes to deal with problems like consumer debt.

* Construction of forestry centres in Victoria, Fredericton, Sault
Ste. Marie, Ont., and Ste-Foy, Que., was estimated to cost $30.3
million. The final bill was $79-million.

kg. 2.14/b.
* fresh segments * fresh frying

chicken
breasts

© family pack kg. 6.13/Ib.

pork cut * family pack
side ribs
SuperValu
Sliced bread
sugar.
cake donuts

kg. 4.14/Ib.

10's pkg. B

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“WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO LIMIT SALES TO RETAR QUANTITIES.~