sree cine ey SIFFS ware ey yew SS ! tlégar News PAGE A6, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 1991 MEMBER OF THE 8.C. PRESS COUNCIL ESTABLISHED AUGUST 7, 19047 TWICE WEEKLY MAY 4, 1980 THE MID. i 12, 1978-AUGUST 27, 1980 LV. CAMPBELL ~ PUBLISHER, AUGUST 7, 1947-FEBRUARY 15, 1973 BURT CAMPBELL, PUBLISHER EMERITUS ~ PUBLISHER, FEBRUARY 16, 1073MAY 1, 1901 PUBLISHER ~Dave McCullough EDITOR ~ Simon Birch _ /EMAN -— Peter Harvey PLANT FOR fo > OFFICE MANAGER “Menen Cheol: Staaao™ CIRCULATION MANAGER ~ Heather Hadiey- SENIOR SALES REPRESENTATIVE — Gary Floming en EDITORIAL Flow of info welcome The amount and type of information the city distributes to the media before every council meeting continues to increase, and it's a welcome change from years past when background material on such things as bylaws, policy changes and rezon- ings was scant at best. . We adhere to a simple, fundamental belief that the more information provided by a government — whether it’s local, provincial or national — the better-informed citizens are about®hat a government is doing and how it works. However, the deluge of information can be a double-edged sword for the media. - On one side there's the immediate benefit of having the information readily available to convey to the public. On the other side, there's the danger of us becoming lazy, of relying too much on the material provided and not asking pertinent questions. Of course, 99 times out of 100 the facts are straightforward and, other than the need for clarification, there's no reason to ask probing questions of council members or city staff. But if we stop asking questions there's a good chance we'll miss a piece of crucial information the public should know, information city staff honestly thought was not important — or, perhaps, were told to downplay by the politici But that doesn't happen in Castlegar, does it? We're aware that city officials are busy people, especially now with the ex ion and modernization, of the Celgar pulp mill underway and its spinoff effects on the social and eco- nomic life of the city. But we hope they understand it's our job to keep asking questions, despite the abundance of informa- tion they're providing. The other problem, but one we're happy to deal with, is finding the time to write the stories and the room in the newspaper to publish all the information the city is providing. In fact, the city, with a large degree of serendipity, is pro- viding us with much material we can use as we continue the process of redefining our role as a community newspaper. As CasNews publisher Dave McCullough said in early June, our aim is to be-a great one that is in your homes twice a week. A newspaper packed with useful information is a key to achieving that ambitious goal. Having information flow freely from city hall certainly helps. VIEWPOINT ‘LEADERSH CANDIDATES ... WHAT DO \ YoU THINK... Gf Ullal + Yitidliiiiididnriat, La Why not abolish CRTC? Broadcast regulator has outlived use as TV watchdog By BILL ANDERSON The Canadian Press Ever since June, when the CRTC said it could do nothing to stop the cuts to local CBC television, I’ve had this idea in my head: Why don’t we just get rid of the CRTC? So many people had put their faith in the CRTC — the federal broadcast regulator — and community leaders and concerned citi- zens were practically on their knees last March begging the the CRTC was supposed to do, what it has done, how the Canadian TV system is set up and — ultimately — whether the TV indus- try still needs to be highly regulated. These questions could occupy a royal com- mission for months — and some time they probably will. charge. Allow me to answer them now free of The CRTC was set up in 1968 in order to ) * July iz, 1991 Castlogar Nows By MARTIN MEYER Recycle Advisory Group Over the past few months the Regional District of Cen- tral Kootenay's Recycle Advi- sory Group has printed a num- ber of articles in this column which informed you of options for disposing of various items, rather than allowing them to end up in the Ootischenia dump. Many of our suggestions have other environmental ben- efits as well. Unfortunately, we don’t have easy answers for every issue that plagues us here in the Castlegar area. This is a low population area and therefore we don't have the benefits of the com- materials which will be accept- ed in the Vancouver area, Taking recyclables on road an option for area residents to prepare various materials and will even provide you with old appli- ances, auto parts, batteries, cardboard, peper, alate, maga- zines, scrap metat, phone books, catalogues, plastic and tin cans. and b hours of depots to take your recy- clables to. If you expect to be in a hur- ry when you are in Vancouver, ask for a location that will be mercial and gov recy- cling outlets that exist in other larger communities. It's hoped Castlegar will have its own depot within a reasonable period of time. Many Castlegar area resi- dents, however, travel to Van- couver and other coast loca- tions where collection depots do in fact exist for many items. Until local outlets are developed, one option is to bring some of your recyclables to the Vancouver area if you are going there anyway. There is a lengthy list of This Is a low population area and therefore we don't have the benefits of the commercial and government recycling outlets that exist in oth- most to wherever you are going. There are several outlets close to the freeway. If you’ve got more time, you may wish to drop in to visit the Recycling Council of B.C. at 201 - 1525 West 8th Ave., Vancouver, from 9 a.m. to 5 er larger ‘ p.m. Mi to Friday. This ization has a con- For more information, call toll-free to the Recycling Hot- line at 1-800-667-4321. They will assist you to identify how tract with the provincial gov- ernment to operate the Hot- line. They also maintain a good refernce library on subjects related to recycling. By JOHN CHARTERS Bill Fraser, a former resident and high school teacher in Castlegar, returned for a brief visit last week; bringing with him word of honors and. recogni- tion, C:W. Fraser is the son of the late Colin Fraser, a former assistant station master here, and the late Anne Fraser. After graduating from the University of B.C., Fraser and John Charters taught in 1947- 48 the first Grade 9 class in Castl in the old Doukhob Hall. Fraser left to enrol at McGill University where he studied librarian science and eventually became the head librarian at the Library of the College of Physi- cians and Surgeons in Vancou- ver. At his retirement dinner at the UBC faculty in June, he was honored with a scholarship established in his name. The $10,000 endowment, raised by the faculty and former students, is called the C. William Fraser Scholarship and will be awarded annually to a student in library science entering the field of health sciences. Earlier, at a conference in the United States, he had been industry is widely thought to have hed the mature phase of its development. The prospects for growth are slim, because there simply isn’t the advertising revenue to sup- port much more expansion. That means the CRTC cannot force much more Canadian content out of private TV broadcasters. So why not just freeze the sit- uation as it is? You could do away with most of the CRTC hearing process, and just set up a skeleton watchdog crew to commission to do something. And yet, after six long days of hearings and three months of deliberation, the commission approved CBC’s plans. The commission said it was sorry that CBC was in a finan- cial bind, but that it didn’t have the power to reverse the How long can the government keep manip- ulating access to American TV? How long before the next technological breakthrough — Say, birdbath-sized satellite dishes — whisks away the whole house of cards? enforce the current rules. There would be objections to such a major deregulation of TV, course, with worries put forth about more American channels becoming available, and so on. But really — how long can we keep this up? How long can the government i ing access to. cuts. Commissioner Paul McRae, in a lone dis- sent, tried to ring the alarm. He warned that by the fall of 1992 —- a scant 14 months from now — CBC-TV could be down to just a national service, with one English-language production centre in Toronto and a French counterpart in Montreal. He urged the com- mission to refuse the licence amendments the CBC was seeking. But the commission said no, the matter was out of its hands. Only Parliament could decide. So really, you have to ask: What is the purpose of the august Canadian Radio-tele- vision and Telecommunications Commis- sion? And in asking this, you.open up a Pando- it means looking at what ra’s box — b Socreds differ on how to win By STEVE MERTL DELTA — They may not dif- scandal. His replacement, interim Pre- Canadian culture. to today’s levels. Meanwhile, Canadian viewers have an unabated thirst for American entertain- ment, to the point where Canadian TV is more dominated than ever by U.S. channels, shows, movies, news, roller derbies, you name it. ensure that public property — the airwaves — were used to advance the interests of In radio, the commission instituted Cana- dian content rules for music, and everyone agrees they worked marvelously. TV, however, is a different animal, far more costly and difficult to produce. It’s been a slow grind to get Canadian produc- tion — especially drama and comedy — up At the same time, the Canadian TV Pp American TV? How long before the next technological breakthrough — say, birdbath-sized satellite dishes — whisks away the whole house of cards? Isn’t it clear that, when it comes to the cultural side of TV, the CRTC has outlived its usefulness? But one suspects that the CRTC will con- tinue its rounds — at a cost of about $31 million a year — while Canadian TV is actu- ally being shaped by politics and technology. Maybe $31 million is sm*!] change to the federal government, but even a portion of that could restore some of the lost local TV programs. When it’s spent without question on the CRTC, it only fuels the suspicion that in Ottawa today, basic services are chopped, but dubious bureaucracies sail on. fer strongly on politics, but the frontrunners in the Social Credit leadership race don’t quite see eye to eye on the party’s re-elec- tion chances in British Columbia. Former finance minister Mel Couvelier told leadership con- vention delegates Tuesday night that the Socreds’ best hope for winning a provincial election this year is for a new leader to persuade voters the party has undergone renewal. “T’ve got to convey the impres- sion to the voters that this is a new party and we've got a new vision,” Couvelier said. But rival Grace McCarthy said the party doesn’t need remaking, just teamwork and more footsoldiers to hold the fort against the New Democrats. “I don’t think there’s any- thing wrong with this party,” McCarthy said, noting that except for a three-year interrup- tion by the NDP in the ‘70s, the Socreds ‘have held power for 38 years. “We don’t have to run from our past,” she said. “We've had a damn good government in this province.” McCarthy was a persistent critic of former premier Bill Vander Zalm’s leadership style and eventually quit his cabinet over it. V Zalm resigned in April over a conflict-of-interest mier Rita Johnston, also doubt- ed Vander Zalm’s tainted stew- ardship was fatal to the Socreds’ re-election hapes. Joh said her trips across the province, where she met more than half the 1,900 delegates for this week's Vv, Peabo’ V the party is strong. “I want to tell you that the feeling right across the province in our Social Credit family is good,” she said. “Social Credit is on the move again.” About 110 delegates from sev- eral suburban Vancouver rid- ings showed up for the usual all- candidates meeting at a Delta junior high school. Groups of delegates sat in steamy, unventilated classrooms while the five candidates including former cabinet mini ter Norm Jacobsen and back- bencher Duane Crandall, hopped from room to room like visiting teachers. Their philosophies seem largely interchangeable: they're for balanced budgets and against special deals for Quebec to stay in Canada; for revisions to the sometimes i By LARRY WELSH The Canadian Press OTTAWA — Even if Quebec separated, Canada would still have the seventh largest econo- my in the western industrial world. Prime Minister Brian Mul- roney suggested on the eve of the 17th economic summit that Quebec separation would threaten Canada’s place among the seven richest industrial democracies. But, judging by size alone, Canada without Quebec should still belong in the world’s most exclusive club as the seventh largest industrial economy. Canada would continue to rank ahead of Spain if Quebec separated, based on a 1988 comparison by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co- operation and Development. Quebec as an independent country would rank 15th among 24 industrial countries belonging to the OECD. agricultural land reserve and against policies that would fet- ter B.C. business competitive- ness. All stressed the impor- tance of education. * please see SOCREDS page A7 y said Canada has earned an important place among the so-called Group of Seven - the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Mulroney warns Canada's economic status harmed without Quebec But divided Canada would still be world's seventh largest economy United Kingdom and Canada. f anybody doesn’t under- stand the importance of Cana- da holding onto a seat at the G- 7, be it in Quebec or British Columbia, then he éught to have his ‘head read, fast,” he said in a CBC interview. “And yet we actually have people so conducting them- selves as to put in jeopardy our capacity to be here.” But without Quebec, the annual size of the Canadian economy would be $374.6 bil- lion US, still ahead of Spain ($340.1 billion US) according to the 1988 OECD comparison. Including Quebec, the total value of goods and services pro- duced in the economy was $490.3 billion US, followi ie clout d the United Kingdom ($822.89 bil- lion US). The size of Quebec’s econo- my would be $115.7 billion US, smaller than Austria but larger than Denmark. The rankings can change depending on fluctuations in international currency exchange rates. By one sel d d Mulroney is the first G-7 leader to raise the issue of Canada’s place at the summit if Quebec separated. And it’s highly unlikely that other leaders would comment on whether they would black- ball Canada if Quebec left Con- federation. There are no formal or legal membership require- ments to determine which countries can attend the sum- mit. Tom Courchene, director of the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., and a frequent economic adviser to the federal government, said he doesn’t know if Canada would remain a member of the G-7. “How did we get there in the first place? We got there because in the second summit we were invited and we've been there ever since. “But I don’t think we're there just because of numbers." Using membership at the was $18,924 US. Without Que- bec, it would be $19,442 US, based on the OECD compari- son. The value of economic pro- a the Canadian economy imight for each Quebec would be $17,421 US. plo: ter as debate heats up over Canada’s future, he predicted. “The prime minister is going to use every trick in the book and a few more.” Japanese Socreds continued from page A6 The only gap of consequence appeared on aboriginal land claims. Jacobsen reiterated his view that claims negotiations are a federal responsibility and settle- ments should come out of the federal government's pocket. The others — except for Crandall who didn’t address it — said British Columbia must be at the table. McCarthy stuck largely to generalities, saying she’d want Robson Recreation Society 4TH ANNUAL SUMMER BINGO Thurs., July 25 Castlegar Community Complex EARLY BIRD 6:30 P.M. REGULAR BINGO 7 P.M. PACKAGES AVAILABLE 60% Payouts Licence No. 769067 to consult with the Sacred cau- cus and grassroots before announcing election planks. Johnston, by contrast, gave a tub-thumping election speech that slammed NDP Leader Mike Harcourt. Both she and Couveli- er said they looked forward to debating him. Retired pilot Bernie Cryder- man said he didn’t waver in his support of Johnston but was impressed with Jacobsen’s straight-shooting style. E “He’s so solidly in touch with « Americans buy their Husky Chainsaws at Trowelex. Drop in and find out why!!! TROWELEX RENTALS AND SALES industrial Park, Castlegar 365-3315 Wa GHusqvarnam FRESH SHRIMP ARE BACK! RE URANT? SHRIMP SALAD SHRIMP SANDWICH SUMMER HOURS Mon.-Fri., 5a.m.-4 p.m Sot., 5a.m.-2p.m SHRIMP CROISSANT SHRIMP CLUBHOUSE ordinary people’s thoughts and answers every question straight out.” Delegate Mina Leekha, a stu- lent, also liked Jacobsen but is ticking with McCarthy. “I really think Grace is the one to take us into the next elec- tion because she is‘the one who represents the most people in the party from all the various spectrums in the province,” said Leekha. Steve Mertl writes for The Eighteen students from Selkirk College’s sister institu- tion, the Ayama Technical Col- lege near Tokyo, arrive Satur- day for the fifth consecutive tour of the Castlegar area. The students, this year with- out instructors, will settle in with homestay host families until they return home on Aug. 10. Among the activities planned for the students are morning English language classes and afternoon and evening cultural and recreational outings. “(These) make Castlegar a popular destination for interna- tional students,” a news release ‘UBC names scholarship after former teacher ‘CasNews photo by John Charters Former Castlegar resident and school teacher Bill Fraser checks out the new causeway at Zuckerberg Island during a brief visit to the area. made a Fellow of the Medical Librarians Associations, an international group, for out- standing contributions to medi- cal librarianship — a rarely bestowed honor. Asked what he intended doing during his retirement, he said, “T'll get some more reading done, then start what I have always to do, write plays, paint and take up Tai Chi (Chinese calisthenics).” He regretted that his stay had to be so brief but asked that greetings be extended to earlier friends and neighbors and particularly to his former pupils of whom he remembered a surprising number. students tour area says. “So much so that, this year for the first time, the 18 stu- dents ... are not accompanied by instructors from their college.” The tour will take advantage of golf, swimming and horse- back riding opportunities afford- ed by the area as well as excur- sions further afield, says tour organizer Carrie-Lynn Brown. More activities such as pic- nics, barbecues and softball games have been planned to include the members of host families. A Kootenay Lake heritage tour will take the students to Nelson and Ainsworth Hot Springs one day, while another day has been set aside to tour the Creston Valley wildlife sanc- tuary. This year’s tour will spend an afternoon houseboat- ing on Christina Lake. Nearing the end of the tour, the students will participate in a scavenger hunt in downtown Castlegar as a practical English- speaking exercise. “They have to be able to fig- ure out where to acquire the items they are hunting for, then approach total strangers and make themselves understood in order to do well in this scav- enger hunt,” said instructor Laurie Jarvis. “It’s a real good challenge for them.” Closed Sundays & Holidays | WE ACCEPT WESTAR, CELGAR AND COMINCO MEAL VOUCHERS 1004 Columbia ® Ph. 365-8155 Don't be caught ‘Short this summer. Ask about f you have the driving ambition to succeed in the DRIVING AMBITION. business world, we'll provide you with the very best vehicle — the CGA program — the most contemporary and complete accounting program currently available. ‘To ensure that you will graduate fully equipped to meet the financial challenges of tomorrow, CGA is the 365-7232 our overdraft protection! CASTLEGAR SAVINGS CREDIT UNION “Your Community Financial Centre” CASTLEGAR 601-18th Street ‘SLOCAN PARK Highway 6 226-7212 iY) L y P CHRISTMAS November 8 and 9, Castlegar Community Complex. Sponsor: Recreation Commission. info.: L. Gallo, 365-3878, R. Cook 365-3057. Creek 247 Coming events of Castlegar and District non-profit organizations may be listed 5 15 words are $5 and additional words are 30¢ each. Bokifaced insertions . Minimum charge is $5 (whether ad is for one, two or three times). ‘Saturday’ Deadlines are 5 p.m. Wednesdays for Wednesday's paper. Notices should be Columbia Ave. 's paper and 5 p.m. Monday for brought to the Castlegar News ati97 first and only professional accounting body to fully integrate micro-computer training into its courses So, if you are seeking a career in financial management, management accounting, or public practice, the CGA program will put you in the driver's seat wherever sound financial decisions are made. And to become a CGA, you don’t even have to leave your current position. Our five level program lets you learn at your own pace while you continue to earn a living. The final date to apply for the Fall Session is August 7th. ‘To find out if you qualify for the CGA program, write or call for an information kit today, it could put your career into high gear. In Castlegar, contact Joan Blain, CGA at 365-7287 or call TOLL FREE 1-800-565-1211 for our information kit. 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