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OPINION
Castlégar News

PAGE A4, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1990

MEMBER OF THE 8.C. PRESS COUNCH.
ESTABLISHED AUGUST 7, 1947 TWICE WEEKLY MAY 4, 1980
THE MID- WEEK 12,

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

EDITORIAL

Zalm's decision
shortsighted

Premier Bill Vander Zalm has put the profits of an industry
ahead of the health of his constituents.

His decision to override his cabinet’s approval of tougher new
Pollution regulations that would have reduced substantially the
amount of toxic dioxins which pulp mills are allowed to discharge is,
at the very least, shortsighted.

While governments of other countries such as Sweden choose to
believe the evidence that dioxins are dangerous to humans even - dead
tiniest amounts and are moving to legisl their eli

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Pole position...check, checkered flag...check, winn
champagne..check. All 1 need now are the keys to tl

's wreath...check,
car...

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pulp mill effluent, the premier says the saving of jobs in the bite
term is more important than stoppifig the long-term pollution of
British Columbia’s rivers, lakes and ocean inlets.

But even union leaders who, more than anybody, should be con-
cerned about the possible loss of jobs, say jobs are not an issue.

Len Snow of the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada said
his union supported tough dioxin laws because ‘‘it’s poisoning the
food we eat. Something had to be done about it. The technology was
there.”

But pulp industry officials are said to have convinced the premier
otherwise while complaining the new rules would cost $600 million on
top of the $1 billion already pledged to cut dioxin emissions into
B.C. waters.

Their complaints that they are being asked to spend millions of
dollars to clean up their act before there is conclusive evidence of just
how harmful dioxins are and in what quantities they are harmful is
reminiscent of the griping by tobacco companies who for years
pleaded there was no conclusive evidence that cigarette smoking is
harmful to humans just because it gives rats cancer.

Sorry.

As the public’s awareness of the need to protect their health and
the environment grows, people are becoming less and less willing to
accept compromises and concessions such as.Mr. Vander Zalm’s.

John Reynolds, who quit as provincial environment minister over
the premier’s failure to back the tougher pollution laws, put the
whole issue into concise and appropriate terms following his
resignation.

“I don’t think big business should be dictating the province. The
government cannot compromise its commitment to protecting human
health and the environment.”’

Unless Mr. Vander Zalm resigns before the next provincial elec-
tion, the voters of British Columbia will deliver the same message to
him at the ballot box.

VIEWPOINTS

Federal green
plan a letdown

By DENNIS BUECKERT
OTTAWA (CP) — When Lucien
Bouchard announced 1$ months ago
he was preparing a five-year en-
vironmental agenda, he described it
as a radical measure that wor
Produce a revolution within that much time and
government publicity, it was expected that the
“‘It’s not a philosophical dream,’’ plan would be firm and precise when
he said. ‘‘No, it’s a plan of action, it finally appeared.
with a list of concrete measures, the But it turns out to be full of com-
amounts that will be spent and a mitments which could be derailed by
clear timetable.’’ Political hazards down the line. Each
Comments like that fuelled high project and program will have to be
exper among men- ‘by cabinet in the future.
talists. Many were disappointed with Four pieces of legislation are
the green plan when it finally came promised, but their significance will
down even though it carried an im- depend on how they are drafted and
pressive $3-billion price tag. on what happens to them on the long
“If this had been published in ride through the parliamentary
1975, it would have been great,”’ said _ process
Kai Millyard, policy director of Many of the commitments depend
Friends of the Earth. on co-operation from the provinces,
“But it sure doesn’t change the yet the agreements to ensure that co-
way government deals with the en- operation aren’t yet in place.
vironment or the way Canadian For example, there’s a pledge to
society deals with the environment. reform forest management to ensure
It’s keeping government structures forests are harvested on a sustainable
exactly the same.’” basis, but there are no details on how
The green plan has had a long please see LETDOWN page AS

buildup. It was originally due in
February, then delayed until May,
then delayed until fall and finally
appeared in December. Each delay
created additional headlines and

Reynolds gets
poor grades

VANCOUVER (CP) — John
Reynolds may have resigned his en-
vironment portfolio on a matter of
Principle but environmentalists gave
the former talk show host and stock
promoter poor grades for his per-
formance as minister.

After 13 months in the job,
Reynolds quit on Monday after
Premier Bill Vander Zalm vetoed a
cabinet decision on tougher pollution
standards for B.C. pulp mills.

“What exactly has he done in the
last year? I can’t think of anything
important,”* said Catherine Stewart,

regional director of Greenpeace,
which first provided laboratory
Proof that B.C. pulp mills discharge
dioxins into the environment.

Reynolds appears to have resigned
to position himself for a Social
Credit leadership race, said Stewart,
echoing an observation by some
political analysts.

“I'm not convinced of the nobility
of his actions based on his track
record.""

Vander Zalm’s argument against
the regulations Reynolds sought was
please see REYNOLDS page AS

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Shoddy performance

On the night of Nov. 27, 1990, the visitor’s
section of Castlegar’s city council room was
overflowing with people — some were even
standing. They had come in all sincerity in
response to the Notice of Public Hearing on
bylaws to do with major changes in zoning of the
city.

These were conscientious, concerned people
— achievers from all walks of life. They spoke in
a sincere, orderly manner, as law-abiding citizens
should. In the case of Bylaw 558(2) (rezoning for
apartment blocks on 14th Avenue) they expressed
concerns over inadequate design of 14th Avenue
for great increase in traffic, incompatible mix of
land uses, increased danger to children from the
hodge-podge of traffic, and of the

Progressive business stimulation scheme
introduced by the Trail Chamber of Commerce,
largely through the work of the manager, Helen
Secco. The itiitiative was seen to be of sufficient
importance to warrant an article in the weekly
newsmagazine British Columbia Report.

This program calls for interest-free loans to
be made available to shoppers who agree to spend
the money within the community. Compliance is
assured by the issuing of special cheques that will
be accepted only by those merchants who are
Participating in the prograrh. When they deposit
the cheques the merchants will pay a small fee to
the banks and credit unions as a contribution
toward meeting the costs they incur in making the
loans.

The plan promotes economic activity by

peaceful, rural quality of life — the reason they
settled here in the first place.

How were these people to know that they
were completely wasting their time, that whatever
they said and however they said it, it would not be

ng money that would otherwise be lying at
rest in deposits. An economist would say that the
velocity of circulation of money is being increased.
It is apparent that no new money is being brought
into the area, and indeed to the extent that goods
“from away”’ are purchases, some money is being

given the slightest by of
the council. By an sleight of

d. To some degree this is unavoidable in an

hand three or four unrelated bylays were
packaged into one and a single vote was taken.

The passage of this omnibus, catch-all bylaw
required only that each council member be
strongly in favor of one of the bylaws in the
package. By this apparent trickery the passage-of
the unpopular Bylaw 558(2) was assured by
dragging it along with others that were much more
highly favored.

The matter was further by the

such as ours, and recognizing it is in no
way to be construed as a negative criticism of the
Program.

What has all of this to do with the WKP rate
hearings? Well, at the hearings | had convenient
access to a wealth of data. Among the documents
that-I read, or more frequently, skimmed, were
the first two of the WKP 1990 interim reports and
the 1989 Annual Report. In the two quarterly
reports the president tells us in his message to the

fact that this four-in-one bylaw was voted upon
and passed by the outgoing council thus unfairly
leaving the flak and the repercussions to the new
councillors, who had nothing to do with the
matter.

Now that the shoddy performance is over, it
is not only a. atier of whether people can live
with the bylaw, but also the undemocratic way in
which it was pushed through — the apparent
calculated disregard for the well-founded concerns
of the people who attended that ‘‘make-believe’’
hearing.

As one of a number of closely watching
residents from the adjacent Area J of the Regional
District of Central Kootenay — one whose
grandparents came here in 1913 — I believe that
those of the outgoing council who took part in
this “‘charade’’ owe an apology and an
explanation for their behavior.

Perhaps those trusting, concerned people who
attended this “‘bogus’’ hearing should all send in a
bill for full and realistic compensation for their
wasted time.

Bylaw 558(2) is ‘‘strike two’’ on the way to
“*strike out” for city planning in the area of 14th
Avenue north, an area that originally had the
greatest potential of all to become the exclusive,
high-quality residential district of Castlegar.

“Strike one’’ occurred about 20 years ago
when a wedge of noisy, dusty truck terminals was
allowed to come in between the quality housing
developments of Grosvenor Place/Tamarlane and
the new homes of the RDCK to the west.

“Strike two"’ means that the present planning
nightmare of 14th is to be worsened by stacking a
numbers of basic, box-like apartment blocks next
to a beer warehousing terminal and a sawmill.

As for ‘‘strike three,"’ one trembles to think
what gross injustice in planning this will be.

Harry F. Killough
Castlegar

Stop the bleeding

From Oct. 23-31 I spent my days at the West
Kootenay Power rate hearings in Rossland. It was
on the whole a most interesting experience, as it
should be when we consider that this process,
open to all, is the means by which the rates we will
pay to WKP for our electrical energy are set for
1990 and 1991 and for 1992 as well if the British
Columbia Utilities Commission agrees that WKP
can see this far into the future.

I cannot undertake here to do a report on the
hearings, there being weil over 1,700 pages of
transcripts, and exhibits that can be measured in
terms of kilograms. But I do wish to make an
observation pertinent to our circumstances here in
southern British Columbia.

While the hearings were underway there was
coverage in our media of an imaginative and

*

that divi of $1 million were
paid in February and again in May. In the 1989
Annual Report we learn-from the Statement of
Retained Earnings that the dividends for the year
were $4.82 million. The shareholder — there is
only one — is the Missouri-based UtiliCorp.

Ownership of this money, $4.82 million last
year, $2 million as of the end of June of this year
has been removed from Canada. Where did this
money come from? It came from you and from
me, from everyone in southern B.C. who pays a
bill to WKP or to one of the smaller utilities that
get all or a portion of their electrical energy
requirements from WKP.

What have we bought from WKP? We have
bought electrical energy of course — electrical]
energy produced here in Canada by Canadian
workers using Canadian resources, electrical
energy consumed here in Canada to drive our
industry, our commerce, to light and heat our
Canadian homes.

If we agree, and I believe that most of us do,
that a shortage of money is a problem and that we
can and should boost our economy by giving it a
transfusion of money, we may profitably take
some advice from our friends in the medical
Professions. The first step is treating a bleeding
Patient is to stop the hemorrhage.

Fred G. Marsh
Castlegar

Robbery sad

On Dec. 7 we found out our school was
robbed. The instrument that I play in music was
stolen and a brand new synthesizer that was just
opened Dec. 5 or 6 was taken as well. Now I don’t
know what I’m going to play in senior band.
There was one class that had five computers but
now they just have one computer because the rest
got stolen.

When I got to school and heard the news |
was very, very sad. | wonder why someone would
do such a thing. I wish someone would have seen
the robbers and phoned the police.

Andrea
‘Twin Rivers elementary schoo!

Story well written

We would like to thank Donna Zuber for her
very well written story about our trip to Romania
and the adoption of our son Alexander.

One correction we would like to make is that
the figure of $7,000 was an estimate compiled
from information given to us about other couples’
experiences. Afier totalling our own personal
expenses, and removing unusual expenses that

arose due to our own time constraints, the amount
that we personally spent was substantially lower.

We would also like to note that while we were
there, we visited orphanages in Alexandria and
Braila and maternity wards in Alexandria, Braila
and Bucharest.

Those people wishing to help the Romanian
orphans by donations of diapers, powdered milk,
rice pablum, cereal and other dry goods can direct
their donations to:

Gheorge and Monica Cazan

77349 Bucuresti

Tincani BI. Z19 Apt 59.

Sect 6 Romania
Tom and Cindy Mairs
Castlegar

Silence not golden

Having just returned from a national
conference about rural Canada, I'd like to share
its basic theme. Many of us residing in outlying
areas throughout Canada often feel exploited and
ignored. It is this sense of alienation that
prompted the federal New Democrats to declare
Dec. 1 as a ‘‘Day in Defence of Rural Canada.’’

Many rural Canadians have remained silent as
services and lifestyles have slowly eroded. Rural
residents have paid the price for urban
development and government cost cutting.
Deteriorating water supplies and air quality, Via
Rail cuts, postal closures, corporate farming, crisis
in the logging industry, cross-border fish
Processing and the loss of regional CBC

ing are just the begi

No longer can we take any of our basic
services for granted. For example, if Canada Post
has its way, by 1996 the post offices in Castlegar,
Nelson and Trail, along with more than 5,000
other rural post offices will be closed. Thus a
“*Day in Defence of Rural Canada”’ is relevant to
all Canadians. With the help and understanding of
our urban areas in considering rural needs, we'll
all be winners.

Sandra Lee Groepler
Robson

Lions Club helps

We are writing to thank the Castlegar Selkirk
Lions Club for the time and effort put in for the
help of our daughter Skye Perepelkin

The donation was greatly needed to get her to
the B.C. Children’s Hospital for her operation. If
it was not for the Lions Club, our daughter might
have gotten very ill, but she is doing great now!
You people sure helped make a little girl’s
Christmas a lot brighter this year. Thank you all
for making life a little easier for Skye and our
family.

We would also like to add that the members
of the Lions Club are very caring and considerate.
One could only wish that everyone in this world
were as kind as they are. Again we thank you
from the bottom of our hearts for all that you
have done, it is greatly appreciated and will not be
forgotten.

Steve, Teresa and Skye Perepetkin
Krestova

Please address all letters to the editor
to: Letters to the Editor, Castlegar News,
P.O. Box 3007, Castlegar, B.C. VIN 3H4,
or deliver them to our office at 197
Columbia Ave. in Castlegar.

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

NATIONAL/PROVINCIAL NEWS

Plan promises protection
es .\ |

OTTAWA (CP) — Environment
Minister Robert de Cotret presented
a $3-billion “‘green plan’ Tuesday,

promising more than 100 measures to
protect Canada’s land, water, soil,
forests and wildlife over the next five
years. bs

“Three billion dollars is a lot of
money,’ de Cotret told reporters.

“That's three thousand millioi.
dollars. It’s all fresh, new money.
The only thing recycled in the green
plan is the paper it’s written on."*

However, environmentalisis and
opposition spokesmen criticized the
plan, saying it contains many
previously announced goals and will
require further cabinet approval
every step of the way. They also
called it vague .and condemned the
scant emphasis on enforcement of
pollution regulations.

energy efficiency, and rules to
reduce smog and emissions of
gases that promote global war-
ming.

But there are few details, no
specific money allocations, no
agreements with the provinces
and a lot of proposals for con-
ferences.

“The plan suffers from a
number of fatal flaws,’ said
Liberal environment critic Paul
and joy, earmarks $3 billion over Martin, who said Canadians must
five years to protect Canada’s change their way of living.
air, land, water, forests and “It fails to understand that
wildlife. traditional economic thinking is

It contains about 100 part of the problem, not part of
initiatives. Among them: at least the solution.””
five new national parks by 1996, “The problem with the plan is
national tree-planting programs, that it’s vague, not green,” said
laws on clean drinking water and Jim Fulton, the NDP environ-

By JOHN WARD
The Canadian Press

Disappointing. Vague.
Recycled. Foggy. Flawed. A
public-relations document.

To judge by the reaction of
environmentalist groups and op-
position politicians, the federal
government's green plan, released
Tuesday, is an ecological disaster.

The plan, Environment
Minister Robert de Cotret’s pride

Complaints roll in from
all sides about plan

ment critic. ‘‘The real thrust of
this document is to clean up after
big business.””

“It has absolutely no vition of
where we want to be,”’ said Julia
Langer of Friends of the Earth.

“This document will

Dermott of Greenpeace.
neither green nor a plan.””

The jibes and sneers went on
across the country.

The green plan offers British
Columbia a new national park,
forest-preservation proposals and
a cleanup of the Fraser River and
Burrard Inlet at . But

De Cotret said that he had
waited for every detail to be worked
out, the plan would never have been
completed.

The plan includes «

to set aside 12 per cent of Canada’s

It sets aside $100 million for an
environmental initiative in the Ar-
ctic, but offers few details. It also

of wild animals and plants,
Promotion of energy efficiency and
dumping of waste in the oceans.
The plan promises at least five new
national parks by 1996, a step back-
ward from a previous commitment to
establish five new parks by 1995.
The $3 billion is to be spent over
five years, but de Cotret did not give
a year-by-year breakdown of the
spending. Nor were there details on
how much moncy will go to cach
initiative.

Canada’s Program to control

B.C. activists were not mollified.

Under the plan, the government
will set up a community tree-planting

The military will be given a new

Reynolds

Cashore i the resi; ion as
“*a cynical ploy,’’ so Reynolds could
specious because job loss in pulp paint himself as a green candidate in
mills is being caused by new produc- ofa review.

continued from pege A4

mill i . . - He seemed to be
taking a stronger stand on cracking
down on polluters.””

tion technology, not pollution con- “I don’t think the public will fall

trol equipment, said Terry Jacks, for it,” said Cashore. ‘‘He has been

who founded Watch ing but it frien-

to fight Howe Sound pulp mill dly.”

pollution. Sierra Club director Vicky
Jacks also said he believes Husband said Reynolds was largely

Reynolds quit ‘‘to get some quick ineffectual as i minister

Letdown

continued from page A4
this will be done. Forests are a

points to join the race for the but praised him for initiating some
premier’s job.”” action.

Reynolds provided lots of talk, but “*Regardiess of the political nature
not much action on of his resi ion, you have to
issues, said Ken Lay, a director of acknowledge that he would fight in
Western Canada Wilderness Com- cabinet — he would go that far,”
mittee. said Husband.

NDP environment “*He was the first to move on pulp

critic John

Safety is crucial’when you're working in
avalanche control. That’s why you should attend
an Avalanche Blasting Seminar organized by
the Workers’ Compensation Board.

You'll learn all the proper techniques and
safety procedures regarding helicopter, hand
and comice blasting, and avalaunchers. And if
you pass an examination conducted at the end of
the two-day seminar, you'll receive an avalanche
blasting certificate from the WCB.

Plan to attend. Because the more you
know, the safer you'll be.

—— —
DATE: Dec. 18 and 19, 1990
| TIME: 8:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.
PLACE: WCB Office
524 Kootenay Street
Nelson, B.C.
Admission is free, but places are
limited. Please register before
|| December 14, by c ane 352-2291
|_or 1-800-663-

BOARD Snax

P juri:

Some commitments depend on
agreements with the United States.
The green plan pledges to reduce
ground-level ozone, the main com-
ponent of urban smog, but much of
the ozone in Canada comes from the
Unhed States.

Federal Environment Minister
Robert de Cotret’s press secretary
Terry Collins rejects criticisms that
the pian is vague.

“If he (de Cotret) had waited until
we had everything nailed down and
approved by cabinet, in aii the
details . we'd still be waiting for a
plan at the end of the century.”

Collins remembers the days when
he worked for former environment
minister Tom McMillan, who had to
make a new pitch to cabinet for
every program and project.

“Now we've got a five-year
management plan for the environ-
ment which is going to be updated.
The process has been established. I
think that’s been overlooked.”"

Dennis Bueckert writes for The
Canadian Press.

|| EVERYTHI.
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role in to
tal disasters such as oil spills.

And the government will negotiate
with shipowners on a possible move
to double-hulled tankers, with the
aim of reducing the risk of spills.

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