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OPINION

Castlégar News

PAGE A4, WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 1991
MEMBER OF THE B.C. PRESS COUNCIL

ESTABLISHED AUGUST 7, 1947 TWICE WEEKLY MAY 4, 1980
INCORPORATING THE MID-WEEK MIRROR PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 12, 1978-AUGUST 27, 1980

LV. CAMPBELL - PUBLISHER, AUGUST 7, 1947-FEBRUARY 18, 1979
BURT CAMPBELL, PUBLISHER EMERITUS ~ PUBLISHER, FEBRUARY 16, 1973-MAY 1, 1901

PUBLISHER —Dave McCullough

EDITOR — Simon
PLANT FOREMAN — Peter Harvey
OFFICE MANAGER —Warren Chemoft
CIRCULATION MANAGER -~ Heather
SENIOR SALES REPRESENTATIVE — Gary Fleming

EDITORIALS
Campaign
underway

|S i
MIDDLE OF ON
yy yy th, Mines

Vy by.

Premier Rita Johnston has survived one test, winning the -

Social Credit party leadership last weekend in Vancouver.

Now she faces the real test — convincing B.C. voters she
and her party deserve another crack at governing this
province.

All indications are it’s going to be a tough haul for Cana-
da’s first woman premier. Tooling around on a train at tax-
payers’ expense on the pretext it’s a “cabinet tour” is not good
start. The cost to rent three luxurious BC Rail cars, hotels
and other expenses will add up to about $40,000.

“It’s not a junket,” a testy Mrs. Johnston told reporters
Tuesday. “If you’ve seen the schedule you know we're up at
5:30 in the morning Wednesday (today) so it’s lots of work.”

That may be true, but a lot of work also goes into getting
elected, and this tour has all the makings of a pre-election
campaign.

Mrs. Johnston would have been better advised to stay at
home until she drops the writ and then chalk up the expenses
to the Socred re-election fund.

But the fact the premier decided to forge ahead with the
730-kilometre tour — which started in North Vancouver and
winds its way through a number of small ities and

LETTERS TO

THE EDITOR

Bet on the broccoli

I’d need some high-tech military hard-
ware to jam all radio and TV signals in B.C.
so I could substitute my own.

Td have to make clones of all-the media
types likely to be known by the Socred dele-
gates so everything would appear normal
inside the convention, and I’d have to come
up with a foolproof plan to keep the real
media ied and away from the conven-

ends with a full cabinet meeting in Prince George — may be a
hint to where the Socreds are pinning most of their re-elec-
tion hopes: the Interior.

It’s no secret former premier Bill Vander Zalm’s problems
hurt the Socreds more in and around Vancouver and Victoria
than in rural B.C. So in the more remote areas of the
province Mrs. Johnston may escape to some extent the taint-
ed-by-association tag the New Democrats will try to stick on
her because of her past close relationship to the disgraced for-
mer premier.

Locally, expect the Socreds to play up the premier’s knowl-
edge of the southeast B.C. ridings as a result of her stint in
the now-defunct post of minister of state for the Kootenay
development region and the time she spent as minister of
municipal affairs.

As well, expect a lot of emphasis on major capital projects
such as the new Castlegar-Robson bridge, the West Trail
approach and the Castlegar Aquatic Centre as the Socreds
try to prove they haven't ignored Rossland-Trail despite 18

tion for a short time.

In the fantasy world I live in periodically
after staring at a dying civilization too long,
this is all a piece of cake.

Td broadcast the “news” about the latest
Angus Reid poll indicating that the only
hope left for the slumping Socred election
hopes was if they chose a head of broccoli as
their new leader.

Clone media types flooding the conven-
tion floor interviewing delegates about this
startling development would give tt instant
credibility.

Panic would spread_at first among dele-
gates who would naturally fear that the par-
ty constitution will not allow a vegetable to
lead the party.

Cooler heads are sure to prevail as the
Socreds realize who they are. The idea of
being led to power by a broccoli overcomes

.consecutive years of NDP representation.

VIEWPOINT

Unity easier
said than done

By GERARD YOUNG
The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — B.C. Pre-
mier Rita Johnstori pitched her-
self as the unity candidate at
the Social Credit leadership con-
vention. :

But the newly appointed lead-
er may find preaching unity a
lot easier than putting it into
practice.

Johnston hyped a we-are-
family theme regularly during
the eight-week campaign, which
ended Saturday with her eking
out-a narrow victory over party
grande dame Grace McCarthy.

But when the u 1

Even McCarthy, who talked
unity herself, didn’t sound over-
ly optimistic.

“I hope it will stay together,”
she said moments after John-
ston’s victory. “Everybody’s
preached unity. Now they have
to understand they have to act
unity from now on.”

Some of McCarthy’s support-
ers left the waterfront Vancou-
ver Trade and Convention Cen-
tre immediately after the sec-
ond-ballot results were
announced.

Those who stayed tried to
downplay splits in the party,

candidates were called on stage
to rally around the new leader,
- disheartened McCarthy support-
= ers loudly booed third-place fin-
*isher Mel Couvelier, who unex-
pectedly threw his support
behind Johnston after the first
ballot.
Socred campaign manager
Jess. Ketchum, who had hoped
: the momentum of an uncontro-
> versial convention might propel
Socreds into an election, just
shook his head in disbelief.
“I think there was a lot of bit-
terness at this convention,” said
> Donald Blake, a University of
British C b litical scien-

would heal
before an election which must be
called by fall.

“The people I’ve talked to in
Grace’s camp, about 10 per cent
of them have a problem with
anyone who is not Grace,” said
Vancouver Island delegate
Lawrence Pearson. “Right now
theyre just upset about the
loss.”

McCarthy pledged to work for
the new premier, but then

all r : polls, after all, are accurate
19 times out of 20, within four percentage
points.

I can see Gracie standing on the podium
now, her hair dyed green and styled to look
like a broccoli head. The Rita J Cafe and the
rest of the “candidates village” is a broccoli
farm.

I think we can count on a grassroots
movement to prepare an extraordinary reso-
lution allowing late registration of a new
candidate, the biggest head of broccoli avail-
able at short notice in the Vancouver mar-
kets.

I’m ready for The Zalm when he phones
in to announce if they are going to allow new
candidates to declare at this point . . . his

phone line goes dead before he can declare.

More than 35 million pieces of mail are

A little is to my
twisted sense of values, but I draw the line
at inciting heart attacks.

Just as the broccoli is officially registered,
but before it has to give a speech, the results
of another poll are broadcast.

The electorate is extraordinarily fickle at
this time of year, my clone media anchor
states this new poll indicates, and now is
only interested in the Socreds if they are led
by a pile of'manure. A fake political analyst
broadcasts from the floor of the convention:
“sounds like a lot of bull to me.”

The video signal cuts to Richmond where
Bart the Angus bull, honorary head of the
organization responsible for the broccoli
poll, is d iting his on a political
system that would choose a leader of a
provincial government based on the poll of
the moment.

Apparently, Bart would prefer that the
choice be made based on ability and policy
proposals. In lieu of the tribute Socreds feel
they owe .The Zalm but dare not give, Bart
has been strategically placed on the parking
lot outside a convenient symbol, say Fantasy
Gardens.

At this point the jamming equipment is
turned off, the cloned media types leave, the
real media is turned loose, and I lie low for a
few hundred years. It would keep me off the
streets.

David Lewis
Crescent Valley

Post improves

Reader Anne McFarlane argues Canada
Post is reducing service to increase profits.
The facts do not support her contention.

Since 1981, the year the corporation was
created, Canada Post has been able to
imp: service by lining its delivery

d by Canada Post every day. The
corporation's latest service tests, conducted
independently by Ernst and Young, show
that 97 per cent of letters are delivered on
time and service is improving.

Canada Post is a good example of this

pproach to imp d service. In addition to
the corporately run post office, there is a
full-service retail postal outlet in Carl’s
Drugs.
Contrary to Ms. McFarlane’s comments,
the ber of employees assigned to work
at the customer counter in the Castlegar
post office is set to match customer traffic
and sales volumes at that location.

Basic letter rates in Canada are the sec-
ond lowest in the western world and rate
increases have been kept below the rate of
inflation for a number of years. .

Doug McClellan
Communications Manager
Canada Post
Pacific Division

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
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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 C; News reserves the right

and mail processing network, by i
access to postal products and services, and
by-improving on-time delivery performance.

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

Government's study reveals

GST's actual costs to consumers

Predictions fall short of reality in wallet

By LARRY WELSH
The Canadian Press

Consumers haven't been
gouged by the GST, according to
a federal government watchdog,
but you might come to a different
conclusion if you bought a screw-
driver, portable stereo, lipstick
or went to a bar for a beer.

A new study by.the GST Con-
sumer Information Office shows
prices for all those things went
up more than it predicted.

Last fall, the GST office pre-
dicted what should happen to
prices in dozens of categories to

quickly inded the

she won't be running in the next
election. Some McCarthy sup-
porters warn she will take a lot
of volunteers and potential

tist.

= While*he believes Johnston
= grew stronger as a leader during
= the convention, Blake says she
ifaces an Dace battle to

with her.

Johnston, meanwhile, was
realistic.

“There will be a very concert-
ed effort to ensure that all our

party’

's pull tog .” she
please see page AS

help shop
after the tax took effect on Jan. tured
1

Results from a new study of
what happened to prices during
the first three months of the year
suggest those predictions were
rarely correct.

The study used some complex

stics to esti

what impact the GST had on
prices, removing other fectors
like underlying inflation, other

7

taxes and seasonal
changes.

It concluded that. overall con-
sumer prices increased 1.3 per
cent because of the GST, less
than the 1,4 per cent it had origi-
nally predicted.

Out of 44 categories, the GST
increased prices more than
expected in 12 — including pub-

price

Prices went down instead of
up in four cases.

In only two categories — alco-
holic beverages sold in stores and
camping and picnic goods — did
prices fall more than the GST
office predicted.

Now, if it seems many prices
have actually jumped since the
seven per cent goods and services
tax took efect on Jan. 1, that’s
because they have.

Prices rose a lot in some cases,

more to blame than the GST for
big price increases.

Its study says other culprits
are also pushing up prices, like
underlying inflation, other taxes
and seasonal price changes —
the same reasoning used in com-
plex economic gymnastics to esti-
mate the impact of the GST.

Confused?

Don’t be. All this has left your
wallet a lot lighter.

Prices went up for a:

.

lic transportation, teleph ser-
vices and medical supplies.

The seven per cent goods and
services tax also should have
helped reduce some prices when
it replaced tfie 13.5 per cent fed-
eral sales tax hidden in manufac-
products.

But the study found prices
went up instead of down in nine

‘Now, if it seems many
prices have actually
jumped since the seven
per cent goods and ser-
vices tax took effect on
Jan. 1, that's because
they have.’

g luding cars,
detergent and soap and house-

A predicted
in 10 categories — including
clothing, hotel and motels and
dental

like eight per cent for a beer
served at a bar, 9.8 per cent for
some heating and water, 9.3 per
cent for haircuts and 10.2 per
cent for books, magazines and

The -GST-office-said there's

‘iver. Up 4.4 per cent
in total. GST increased the price
3.2 per cent. Government pre-
dicted one per cent decline.

* Portable stereo. Up 3.5 per
cent in total. GST increased the
price by 4.1 per cent but competi-
tive factors made the price rise
smaller. Government predicted
one per cent decline.

* Lipstick. Up 4.6 per cent in
total. GST increased the price
3.6 per cent. Government pre-

0.4 per cent decline,

* Beer in a bar. Up eight per
Price

cent in total. GST i:
6.6 per cent. Government pre-
dicted 2.5 per cent increase.

Socreds

continued from page A4
said, “It’s essential to our sur-
vival.

“It's not an overwhelming
problem. It’s just a matter of sit-
ting down and éhsuring that we
understand our-differences and
do what we can to resolve them.”

The party never recovered

Backers

continued from front page
that my enthusiasm will be
right up there again,” he said.

“I actually enjoy politics. I
certainly want to be involved
and I want to do the best I can
to make sure we don’t have a
repeat of the Ontario situation.”

Ontario elected an NDP gov-
ernment for the first time last
year. The New Democrats sub-
sequently passed a budget with
an expected $10 billion deficit
and the party has plummeted i
publi¢t opinion polls. .

B.C. Socreds are expected to
focus on Ontario’s budget in the
upcoming election.

Pellerine said he supported
McCarthy because of her experi- .
ence.

“I felt that we needed a per-
son with her experience, her
knowledge, her abilities, her
know-how. I feel she would have
been capable of doing a good job.

“But on the other hand, in
retrospect, I feel that Rita John-
ston is also a capable person.”

The West Kootenay also had
its share of Johnston support-
ers.
“I was happy with the result,”
former Trail mayor Marc Mar-
colin said. “I think Rita is more
knowledgeable, perhaps, of pre-
sent-day conditions.”

He said Johnston will also be
“more supportive of rural B.C.”

“I think she knows a lot about
the area. I think she was one of
the best municipal affairs minis-:
ters this province has ever had.”

Marcolin said he doesn’t
think party unity is threatened
by the convention results.

“I wouldn’t use the word
threatened, notwithstanding
some people were quite vocal
about their views when Mrs.
McCarthy didn’t win.

“I think Johnston’s people
would have supported Grace if
she had won. I know I would
have.”

Siemens agreed Johnston is
well acquainted with the West
Kootenay, having served in the
now-defunct post of minister of
state for the Kootenay develop-
ment region.

“So she does know the area
and if we have a Social Credit
representation we'll continue to
benefit,” Siemens said.

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July 24, 1901 Castlegar News As

from the 1986 leadership cam-
paign that saw a charismatic
Bill Vander Zalm glide past 11
other candidates, including
McCarthy.

By mid-1988 a vocal
McCarthy had left cabinet, criti-
cal of Vander Zalm’s leadership.
She helped set off a mini exodus

from the party and caucus,

Most Vander Zalm supporters
never forgave her.

Vander Zalm’s leadership
drove a wedge'between members
who still supported him and
those fed up with his antics, bad
polls and six straight byelection
losses.

Some dissidents even broke
away and formed a new party.

Scandal finally forced Vander
Zalm from office April 2 and
Johnston was picked as interim
premier after a close caucus
vote. She was immediately

branded a Vander Zalm_toyatist

by her detractors,

—— WE INSTALL ROOFING - SIDING -

HANDYMAN'S SP.

The leadership race between
Johnston and McCarthy, who
served in the party's 1960s hey-
days, became a battle over what
the party had become and what
the party used to be.

The results suggest Socreds
still haven't conclusively made

up thei? minds. Johnston earned
51.6 per cent of the’ votes cast int
the second and and final ballot;
McCarthy had 48.4 per cent.

Johnston's challenge now is
to ensure her smal] margin of
victory doesn’t leave a big gap in
party unity,

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