ESTABLISHED AUGUST 7, 1947
THE

OPINION
Castlégar News:

PAGE A4, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1991
MEMBER OF THE B.C. PRESS COUNCIL

TWICE WEEKLY MAY 4, 1980
12,

(LV. CAMPBELL — PUBLISHER, AUGUST 7, 1947-FEBRUARY 15, 1979
PUBLISHER — Burt Campbell
EDITOR — Simon Birch
PLANT FOREMAN — Peter H:
ADVERTISING MANAGER jay’ ol
FFICE MANAGER — Linda Kositsin
CIRCULATION MANAGER — Heather Hadley

itolz

EDITORIAL

Keenleyside a
guessing game

Predictions of a rosy economic future for the West Kootenay,
and Castlegar in particular, clouded somewhat last week with reports
that B.C. Hydro had delayed for an indefinite period its plans to in-
stall turbines in the Hugh Keenleyside dam.

Following a press conference with Chris Boatman, Hydro’s vice-

president of corporate and

affairs, V: *s daily

newspapers reported that Hydro had shelved the Keenleyside project
along with plans to build the Site C dam on the Peace River under a
new policy that places much more emphasis on smaller generation
Projects from the private sector, conservation and increased coor-
dination with neighboring utilities in B.C., Alberta and the U.S. Nor-

thwest.

Yet Peter McMullen, Hydro’s. manager of corporate com-
munications, told CasNews reporter Donna Zuber the Crown utility
hasn’t ‘‘abandoned’’ the estimated $800 million. Keenleyside project,

Are both Mr. Boatman and Mr. McMullen right?

Probably, because, as Mr. McMullen said, ‘‘the world is always
changing” and Hydro has 10-year plans which are reviewed every two
years. Translation: nothing's written in stone as far as B.C. Hydro’s

concerned.

Which is all right, except a lot of people in this area got the
distinct impression last year — after Hydro sent out fancy brochures
on Lower Columbia River Projects, discussed the projects at open

houses and pr

ing studies — that the

with pi

Keenleyside project was a virtual certainty.

Of course, Hydro officials never committed themselves to a firm
date when the project wéuld begin, but the impression they left was
that it would be sooner rather than later.

Mayor Audrey Moore remains confident the project will in fact
Proceed and construction will begin on the heels of the Celgar expan-

sion and modernization.

For the sake of the long-term health of the West Kootenay

economy, we hope she’s right.

VIEWPOINT

Spotlight shines
on park system

Editor’s note: An open house and
Presentation on Parks Plan 90 will be
held in Castlegar on Feb. 14 at the
Sandman Inn starting at 2 p.m.

By JOHN SAVAGE
Minister of Parks

British Columbians will be hearing
a lot about our provincial park
system in the next few months. At
BC Parks, we've introduced Parks
Plan 90 as a public discussion to find
out where we need new parks. We’re
counting on you — and all British
Columbians — to help us select those
areas which merit protection as park
land.

You've given us the task of being
Steward for some of British Colum-
bia’s most outstanding natural areas.
Our province has the most impressive
park-system in Canada, and we want
it to stay that way. Over the past two
years, government has created 26
Class A parks and enlarged another
21 parks covering a total area of

more than 230,000 hectares. Yet,
with a record-breaking 22 million
visits this year, our 390 provincial
parks are getting crowded.

We're glad our provincial parks
are so popular. But at BC Parks,
we're also concerned about B.C.’s
unprotected areas. As time ‘goes on,
there’s more pressure on our
diminishing land base for logging,
mining, housing. With so many
ongoing discussions over land use,
we need to make sure that park in-
terests are not overlooked.

Some special interest groups say
that 12 per cent of the province
should be set aside as parkland. 1’m

Pleased that people are talking about
parks, but let’s point the discussion
where it belongs — which lands need
to be protected, not what should be
the total amount of park land at the
end of the-day- If you take a magic
figure or paint a map green, you
don’t necessarily meet the needs of
British Columbians.

Public debate over issues like
Carmanah has shown that people
care about protecting the environ-
ment. In surveys, British Columbians
rate conservation as the top priority
for our park system. But we can’t
just go ahead and create parks
wherever we want.

We have to find a way to balance
the need for park land with the need

heated debates between neighbors.
Without a systematic plan, com-
munities can be torn apart by the
struggle between preserving jobs and
Protecting the environment.

Parks Plan 90 will. help solve the
land use debate. It’s guided by the
mandate of BC Parks: to protect and
manage for public benefit and use
out: di and Pp ive
examples of British Columbia's
natural and cultural heritage.

BC Parks has identified conser-
vation and recreation goals to fulfil
our mandate, and has determined
how well our existing park system
meets these goals. We have now
identified study areas — potential
park land which would meet one or
more of our six goals.

We've created two conservation
goals to better fulfil our mandate.
We want to create parks to protect
wildlife, old-growth forests, the
highest waterfalls, outstanding
beaches and other special features.
We believe it's important to have
large parks to preserve representative
examples of B.C.'s $9 distinct areas
or landscapes.

Following our mandate, we also
Protect areas for your benefit and
use. We want to’ make sure that
everyone has access to recreation op-
portunities provided in parks —
everything from camping and hiking
to white-water rafting. Parks could
be created to serve people along
travel routes, near their homes, at
major outdoor recreation
destii and in y

areas.

Parks are only one element of
B.C.’s protected areas. The Ministry
of Forests is creating a similar plan
to encourage the public to help
create additional forest wilderness
areas. Parks and Forests will have
joint public meetings to create a
single plan for B.C.’s major new
Protected areas.

One reason why people are so
proud of our park system is that
some of the province’s most out-
standing areas will forever be protec-
ted as parkland. The action we take
now will leave a living legacy for
generations to come.

Now is the time to talk about
parks. I encourage all British
Columbians to participate in the

VLELOLL:

SOCRED Ho

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

INTERNATIONAL NEWS.

Haste makes waste

It's all so confusing — Celgar has hurried us
all through the review process. Now it complains
(Castlegar News, Jan. 9 and Castlegar Sun, Dec.
27) that unless final approval comes with indecent
immediate haste, it will fail its loan deadline and
fold.

Whatever happened to a ‘world-class mill?”
Surely socially and environmentally responsible
banks want to be sure they’ll be investing in
something decent, not a jerry-built rush job. And
why should they worry about a few weeks? After
all, Celgar won't be delaying payment, it’ll be
delaying demand, and I’m sure the banks are
already collecting interest somewhere else. It seems
as though local people are facing just one more
superior level of power dictating what they must
tolerate. And what are the names of the banks
that want this approval process rushed through
with inadequate consideration anyway? — no
bank I want to do business with, thank you very
much.

The Sun's editor, Nancy Lingley, does a

tseedy job of comparing apples and oranges when

she says (Dec: 27, p.6A), “Over 7,000 people
signed petitions indicating that they were in favor
of this project ...” and ‘*. . . 340 Persons wrote
letters stating their opposition to the Project. rs
and ‘*. . . the fact that over 20 times as many were
for, as were against should have some bearing on
something, somtwhere.”” A

Oh come now! First of all, that was a single
Petition, not several, and inaccurately worded
(Ceigar was not already a ‘‘clean mill’’) and stale
(open for about four months, which is really
Pushing it) at that. Any sloppy joe with an ene for
a dirty dollar could sign it without a second
thought, early and often. The letters were
individually written, reasoned and aimed not
against the mill but against its abuses. Give us
credit for a little sense, Nancy!

But the worst insult comes from Nelson-
Creston’s Howard the Dirks (Lost in a World He
Never Mads): ‘‘Approval in principle means that
feasible and effective means for managing all
i i i and social
impacts are available.”’ (Sun, Dec. 27 front page).
Wake up and smell the coffee, Howard! Neither
Celgar, nor the review panel, nor cabinet, paid
any attention whatsoever to the impact of mill
expansion on g¥@bal warming. They ignored those
who raised the issue, they refused to answer
Questions on that impact and they supplied no
evidence even when requested to do so formally.
So Howard is speaking into the storm — but
never mind, he'll be off somewhere else when the
consequences come, so who cares?

Some of us care. Some of us believe the mill
is not and will not be an environmental success
and, because eventually you just can’t have an
economy without an environment for it (and us)
to live in, it’s not an economic success either. Old
Lao Tzu said it really well a long, long time ago in
China (home of 50 per cent of Ceigar’s backing):
If you drain the pond, you'll catch a whole mess
of fish — once.

F. Mark Mealing
Castlegar

Media ‘disgusting’
Much of the media in B.C. has become
disgusting. They no longer report the news . . .

they create and embroider it.

Public perception is created by what the
People hear and the way it is presented to them.
The recent media fiasco over doctors is a prime
example. None of us likes to pay for all the
increases people want. I, for one, would sooner
See the increases people (who are totally paid out
of our tax dollars) get during bargaining go to
Pensions to help take care of their future, rather
than raising fees or wages. é

It is difficult enough now for the private
Sector to compete with what unions have
demanded for their members. I don’t agree that
doctors should get such a big increase, but on the
other hand what if they escalate job action?

If you think the media is howling now, just
think what would happen if sick People went
untreated, or perhaps even died. Finally having a
settlement would at least relieve stress for ill
people who worry about the doctors going on
strike.

‘We could get the health care costs down if we
do even more to promote a well society. How
about doctors, naturopaths, nutritionists,

ists and other people in
the health field combining their knowledge in a
“Health Doctor Book”’ of good advice on diet,
exercise, health tips, etc., to distribute free to
every home in B.C.?
Iris Bakken
Kootenay Stone Centre
Salmo

Same rules wanted

The provincial government should require
bidding and purchasing criteria for West Kootenay
Power comparable to those under which B.C.
Hydo operates in order to assure thrifty and
accountable expenditires open to public and B.C.
Utilities Commission scrutiny.

At the Oct. 22 WKP rate hearings before the

ission in R: i and evidence
Presented showed that WKP had spent $355,000
for services rendered by a management consultant
firm without securing competitive bids. This is in
direct contradiction of stated WKP policy that
requires competitive bids for much smaller
expenditures.

During the hearing, as an independent
intervenor, I questioned how WKP could
de ine if this it was
Prudent and met other pertinent necessary criteria
before the BCUC would allow the cost to be

charged to WKP customers. The only reassurance .

the hearing received was the opinion of WKP staff
that the Colorado Springs firm was the best
available.

This presentation was devoid of any objective
information. That is, there were no competitive
bids to establish a cost base and no comparisons
of i or of other i
consultants. Given this lack of evidence on what

opportunity for waste or under the table deals or
suspicions thereof.

WKP may not wish to be considered a public
insti but the is from
financial risk by the BCUC Act and regulations
and is not i ly by this pi ie
In contrast to most public institutions, WKP
makes its own purchasing rules and frequently sets
them aside for large purchases by senior officials.
During the application for the gas/oil turbine in
Oliver the same officials contracted to purchase
some $20 million of turbines without competitive
bidding so the management consultant case is not
atypical.

It is noteworthy that more junior employees
must obtain bids so the benefits of competitive
bidding are recognized by senior management.

In the present case there is an implication that
because the adoption of the consultant’s
recommendation is considered to have an early
Pay back the $355,000 amount is not important.
This implication is not worthy of consideration as
the ratepayers are being charged with most of the
costs which should be as low as possible. The size
of the estimated pay back is sufficiently large that
it reflects unfavorably on the cost and calibre of
management prior to hiring the consultant.

I look forward to Energy Minister Jack
Davis's favorable consideration of this request to
make whatever changes are necessary to assure
that WKP operates under rules for bidding and
purchasing comparable to those under which B.C.
Hydro operates.

Luau liked

Congratulations to the organizers of the
Aquatic Centre's first birthday bash!

The Hawaiian luau was excellent — good
food, good music, super prizes and a fun time for
everyone who participated.

I hope there will be a second birthday bash
next year.

Enfys Moorhouse
Castlegar

lraqi
leader
isolated

CP News Analysis
By Paul Mooney

OTTAWA (CP) — Nearly six
months of diplomacy appear to
have failed.

Hopes for peace dim as
diplomats continue desperate,
last-minute efforts to avert war in
the Middle East.

‘Why was the world unable to
Persuade Iraqi strongman Sad-
dam Hussein to withdraw from
Kuwait and peacefully settle
historical grievances with his
neighbor?

Was there a breakdown in
communication due to cultural or
language differences too deep to
bridge?

explanation, say Middle East ex-
perts. Most Arab leaders
wouldn’t have acted as
Hussein has done.

they believe Saddam
seriously miscalculated op-
Position to his invasion of oil-rich
Kuwait on Aug. 2.

They’re convinced that
fawning "advisers and Saddam’s
lack of exposure to the outside
world — especially western
democracies — led him to
mistake anti-war sentiment and
free-wheeling debates in western
Parliaments as weakness that
would allow him to prevail.

They describe a ruthless, cun-
ning thug — but one who is
calculating and sane.

“I might believe this was sim-
ply a breakdown in com-
munications if the United States
alone had talked to him," says

That’s an oversimplified, racist |

++. miscalculated opposition

The Iraqi dictator understands
the awesome military firepower
arrayed against him, Heller adds.
But he’s convinced it won't be
used.

American
president
steadfast

CP News Analysis
By John Valorzi

WASHINGTON (CP) — As
an 18-year-old high school senior
during the Second World War,
George Bush enlisted in the U.S.
navy in what he said he saw as a
great moral crusade against
Adolf Hitler and Nazism.

Bush said he believed western
appeasement of the German dic-
tator helped cause the war and
his later experiences as a bomber
pilot convinced him the United
States had a moral obligation to
fight aggressors that bully smaller
countries.

Nearly a half-century later, the
same good-versus-evil ideal has
brought Bush to the brink of war
against Iraq, a conflict that could
cost thousands of lives and cause
a terrible backlash in the Middle
East for years.

The risks are enormous, yet the
66-year-old U.S. leader remains
steadfast in his resolve to use for-
ce to force Iraq out of Kuwait.

For months, he has consisten-
tly been the true hawk in his ad-

“‘He has’ a predilicti to
believe that he is tougher than
“everybody else, that Iraqis are
tougher than some other country,
that Arabs are tougher than
some other culture.

“*But lots of people from dif-
ferent cultures have made the
mistake of underestimating their
adversaries."’

Saddam was born in 1937 to a
miserably poor, landless family
near Takrit on the Tigris River
130 kilometres north of Baghdad.

Elia Zureik, a
at Queen's
Kingston, Ont.

“But other countries — Arab
leaders; Third World leaders —
also tried to convince him to
withdraw from Kuwait.’’

Mark Heller, research director
at the Canadian Institute for In-
ternational Peace and Security,
says Saddam has misunderstood
the world’s determination to un-
do his annexation of Kuwait.

former professor at the
Jaffee Centre in Strategic Studies
at Tel Aviv University noted that
Saddam has little exposure to the
world outside Iraq. He has
travelled abroad only three times,
always to Arab capitals, and
speaks no foreign language.

“And he is surrounded by a
bunch of sycophantic advisers
who tell him-what they believe he
wants to hear,’ Heller says.

University in

His was
crude and illiterate man who
disliked him and insisted he stay
home to tend goats.

Saddam was. finally able to
Start school at 10. Poor grades
kept him out of the Baghdad
Military Academy. He entered
law school in Cairo in 1961 but
did not graduate.

He grew up hating the legacy
of British colonialism in the
region. His hero was Saladin,
another Iraqi from Takrit who
drove Europeans of the Third
Crusade from the region in the
13th century.

After participating in a coup
that overthrew the Iraqi gover-
nment in 1968, he made up for
his lack of military education in
1976. He arranged to get himself
Promoted to lieutenant general
and made himself a field marshal
please see SADDAM page AS

insisting force is as
necessary today to deter Iraq as it
was when the United States
fought German, Italiap—and
Japanese totalitarianism.

On deciding to go to war,
“I've got it boiled down very
clearly to good versus evil,’” Bush
said in a recent magazine inter-
view.

“It helps if you can be that
clear in your own mind.”’

More than any world leader,
Bush has led and sustained the
coalition against Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein, whom he has
often likened to Hitler. And he
now faces the most difficult
decision any. president can make
— whether to. go to war and send
countrymen to their deaths.

As the midnight Tuesday night
deadline for Iraq’s withdrawal
from Kuwait approached, Bush
met with intelligence and
national-security officials after
walking the White House groun-
ds alone at dawn to reflect on the
critical days ahead.

He also called religious leaders
and asked them to pray for the
country.

With the United States deeply
divided over the question of war,
what forces have helped shape
Bush’s thinking on the Persian
Gulf and brought him to the
brink of conflict with Iraq?

Some pundits have said Bush’s

Saddam, Bush nearer war

- . . ‘good versus evil’

macho threats‘to ‘‘kick ass’’ in
the Persian Gulf are an attempt
to fight a ‘‘wimp’’ image that
still dogs him two years into his
Presidency.

But there’s far more behind
Bush’s actions than the need to
Prove his toughness under fire
and assure his place in history as
one of the handful of great U.S.
Presidents.

Preventing Saddam from con-
trolling the Middle East oil sup-
ply — the economic lifeline of
the West — is paramount in U.S.
strategic thinking but so is the
unshakable belief the U.S. must
deter Iraq’s “naked aggression”
to safeguard the post-Cold War
world order!

Bush also said he was deeply
horrified by reports of brutality
by the Iraqi invaders of Kuwait.

The president has had a
longstanding but, little-known, af-
fection for the tiny sheikdom,
from his days as a Texas oilman,
and he has often compared
Kuwait to the countries attacked
by Hitler.

A diplomat before he tackled
presidential politics, Bush: also
believes the United States is the
only country with the will and
means to stop regional conflicts
and ensure the success of his
“‘new world order,’ a system of
collective security led by the
United States through a rein-
vigorated United Nations.

Last weekend, a divided
Congress narrowly voted to give
Bush authority to wage war in
the Persian “Gulf. Although
please see BUSH page AS

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 only will be published. Only

possible basis could a j on the

of their purchase be rendered. Despite the lack of
i it evidence the BCUC has apparently
accepted the $355,000 as a legitimate cost.

Most public bodies are required to obtain
competitive bids and for larger sums
advertisements and written bids are mandatory.
This assures ratepayers, taxpayers and indeed
employees of the agency that there is no

in exceptional cases will letters be
Published without the writ: 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.

MP urges quick decision on mill

Editor's note: Kootenay decision.

they have been honest.

The bottom address very long-standing pollution

West-Revelstoke MP Lyle Kristian- line is — and their final recommen-

As you know, a joint federal-
EARP it dation to you will no doubt reflect

concerns, while creating major con-

struction employment and some in-

creased on-going employment.
a

il
ie

to a strong y.
That's why everyone, including those
whose jobs depend on resource in-
dustries,. has to be in on the
discussion. Land use issues can cause

and take the
to make our park system even better.
Public meetings are scheduled for
February. Please come and heip us
shape the future of our park system.

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Project

would mean the current dirty mill

facing massive clean-up costs with no
counter-balancing new revenues.

Please give the highest priority to

addressing the technical recommen-

Snug as a bug?!

Probably not yet, if
you've just moved
in.

Perhaps your Wel-
come Wagon hostess
can help to ease the
confusion.
Heather at 365-5490
or Ginny at 365-5549

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