Castlegar News August 22,1990 ACTION ADS/ INTERNATIONAL NEWS a —_—_—_—————————— HELP WANTED Full Time FLORIST Required Apply Box No. 3007S WORK WANTED BUSINESS OPPOR. Human shield tactic not new FOR SALE 1990 Kenworth T600A with good cal job to qualified operator. Call 55-2275. / FORECLOSED! Marina on Kootenay 3 cabins, 2 shop, storages, retail area, about 100 all-season mora 60 covered ond fully rented. Asking $498,000. Coll Syd 862-8100 Syber ba iy 74 Kelowna. EARN $3000 to $6000 per Scat distributing 100% natural skin, hair ond MATURE | WOMAN available to babysit in a rates I products. Please call 24 hour recorded message. 442-2725. 7/67 By FRED BAYLES The Associated Press Experts say moral and political considerations would keep the United States from responding in kind to a chemical weapons strike by Iraq. But there is another constraint: the weapons would accomplish little. Much of the U.S. arsenal of poison gas weapons is old and defective. What could be used is designed for a available, Phone 365-6646 tn/65 NOTICES Licensed LADY HAIRDRESSER © Will Cut Hair in Your Home Visits between 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Appointments call 365-2475 HANDYMAN — Light carpentry, fe patio decks, painting, inside and ou TAROT CARD reading. Sophio's back For appointment call 365-5636 or 8144. 3/66 ZUCKERBURG ISLAND HERITAGE PARK ‘Open daily dawn to dusk. Chape' House open 7 days from 8 a.m RAILROAD STATION — Mon.-Fri For information on weddings and tours call Heritage Office. 365-6440, _ttn/45 rates (senior di 965- 2267 Lorne. Vin’ SCHARF CARPENTRY * Contractin Finish Carpentry Framing Cabinets Closet Orgonizers Decks FREE ESTIMATES CALL CHRIS 365-7718 R.U.4_ CONTRACTORS © HOUSE RENOVATIONS 2 ICONCRETE ° SWIM MING POOLS 365-8355. tin, PROVINCE-WIDE CLASSIFIED - $165 $15 DISCOUNT FOR CASH! Call us for details! Classified Ads 365-2212 acre Castlegar News GERRY'S BACKHOE SERVICE Landscaping and Excavation 365-7137 THE FISH TRUCK, (formerly Westcoast Seatoods), at Woodland Park Shell, next ce wash, Friday, Aug. 24, 10.a.m to7 SoasLAND TRAN “Social Cr can je: October 5, 1990. Time: call Maureen Milne 364-2259. PLANNING on building or remodelling? Reliable tradesman available for all phases of construction or painting. No job too big or too small. For tree estimates call 365-8302 ARE YOU HAVING AN AFFAIR? For your next wedding, social or par ty, call us. Dance bands, mobile disco School District No. 9 (Castlegar) TO PARENTS EDUCATING THEIR CHILDREN AT HOME Under provisions of the School Act. porents educating their children at home MUST register their children os Home Education students at a schoo! in School District No. 9 For further information. call the Superintendent of Schools at 365- 7731. iT quarters fight in European fields and forests, not the hot, open expanses of the desert. Moreover, nearly half the 30,000 tonnes of U.S. chemical agents storage tanks in Arkansas, Indiana and other states. ““What chemicals the United States could get there would be in artillery shells and that doesn't figure into the kind of response we'd want to make,"’ said Gordon Burck, a Washington consultant and former director of studies on chemical biological wa ¢ at the Federation of American Scientists. The United States and other powers pledged in an international pact during the 1970s not to be the first to use chemical weapons, The use of chemical weapons in war was banned under the Geneva Conventions after the First World War. Experts like Burck agree there is lit- tle chance U.S, forces would ever use chemical weapons in response to an Iraqi attack. The country and its allies could not abide theiruse; the United States would lose whatever moral Hussein in the eyes of people who haven’t made up their mind on the issue,’’ said Matthew Meselson, a Harvard biochemist who has advised arms control negotiators since 1963, Although the United States has not used lethal chemical agents since the First World War, large quantities of tea known as-CS, were used during the Vietnam War. August 22, 1990 Castlegar News cy Castlegar News SECTION high ground it now has in the Arab The U.S. arsenal of lethal world after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. chemicals includes mustard gas, “It would put the president which can burn the skin and lungs; (George Bush) on the same moral the lethal nerve gas known as GA or plane as (Iraq President Saddam) Sarin; and VX, a more deadly nerve agent that can kill after limited con- tact with the skin. Brad Roberts, a chemical arms ex-' Chemical war unlikely sas wanes com LONDON (AP) — The tactic of putting civilians in harm's way to deter attack has been used in 20th- century combat by Germany, Britain and the Viet Cong, but scholars say Saddam Hussein is the first leader to announce it as a tactic. The Iraqi president said he would prevent more than 11,000 westerners from leaving Iraq and Kuwait until the United States withdraws from the Persian Gulf and lifts the blockade against his country. The westerners will be deployed at strategic military and industrial points in Iraq to deter assault, Baghdad Radio said. Over the weekend Sad- dam said, ‘‘the presence of the foreigners with Iraqi families at vital targets might prevent an attack."" U.S., British and other forces have been massing in the gulf since Iraq in- vaded Kuwait on Aug. 2 and annexed it six days later. Vietnam forced local civilians to mar- ch ahead of its troops to try to prevent enemy troops from opening fire. During the Second World War the Germans placed Allied prisoners of war on rooftops in occupied Netherlands to deter Allied bombers. Another case of human shields was disclosed by old official documents declassified last year. This was Britain’s ‘‘minesweeping taxi,’’ used during the Arab rebellion in 1939 during the British mandate over Palestine. The documents showed that taxis owned by known Arab troublemakers were commandeered with their drivers and put at the head of British convoys in case the road was mined. Lord Dufferin of Ava, who was then parliamentary undersecretary at the Colonial Office, commented at the time: ‘‘British lives are being lost and I don’ 't think we . . . can protest Strategic and International Studies, “is standard practice for terrorist said the weapons were stockpiled over groups who take hostages. They the years as a deterrent in any always place the hostages near the European land war with the Soviet tenia: Union. “*But is it not easy to think of a case in this century of a government using PATIO DOOR SPECIAL human sandbags in this way,’ Boardwalk Enterprises Is now accepting orders for QUALITY CEDAR PATIO DOORS Act Now, While the Weather is Great! FORGET OUR LINE OF DONT SPECIALTY WINDOWS — ARCHES, YS & ROUND WINDOWS! “We Take pride in our work & deliver on time! CALL JERRY ENEWOLD At 399-4769 It is not easy to recall a case where this is implemented as an act of state policy.”” SEPTIC FIELDS SNOW PLOWING DIRT REMOVAL PHONE 365-7124 Adam Roberts, of inter- nationabrelations at Oxford Univer- sity, said Saddam's public announ- cement is not only highly irregular, it is illegal in terms of the 1949 Geneva Convention IV on international rules in time of war. Iraq signed the con- vention. Although the international force in Saudi Arabia is not at war with Iraq, the westerners are detained as a result of Iraq’s invasion. Clause 28 of the convention reads: “*The presence of protected persons may not be used to render certain Points or areas immune from military units, PA rental, musicol sales and supplies. Ph. 362-7795 eee STUDENT FOR HIRE Three responsible, 12 1/2 year old girls are willing to do ail of the following jobs — babysitting 1 1/2 yr. 8 yr olds house-cleaning and yard work; getting s and helping the elderly; pet r washing, Please call 365-2387 2986 3/65 I and college services under this category. Phone our Action Ad no 2212, We will run your od ter 3 es at no charge FN/59 Responsible 16 yr old will do any odd jobs around house or yard. Call Brion ERIC is back from holidays! If you need your lawn cut, odd jobs, pets walked etc. Call 365-2375. tin/67 GIVEAWAY iF YOU hove an item you'd like to giveaway please drop us a line or phone 365-2212. We'll run your ad for 3 issues charge. /; CK MALE 1'%-yeor-old Molamute Very friendly. Phone 365-5387 or see at 204-8th Ave. (corner of 4th St. and 8th 7/63 TO GOOD HOMES wl tens, 365-5604 _ TWO black kitter (1 mol eg tim ; TWO Colico kittens ‘approx. 6-weeks old. 365-6 365-1 6491 3/67 71 female) 3/67 SHARE A RIDE WORK, School Trips, Weekly Shopping Cut expenses and save money. Get together with a neighbour in our FREE Sha! column. We'll run your ad 3-tences-towe-ot charge. Phone our Ac tion Ad number 365-2212 tn /67 ANNOUNCEMENTS MR. and MRS. JOSEPH BEHAN of Robson announce the engagement of their doughter, Colleen Patricia to Todd Clayton McKinley son of Mr. and Mrs. Clayton McKinley of Genelle. The wed ding will take place in Victoria on Oc- tober 6, 1990. 67 PERSONAL Journey inward workshop at Blaylock’ Estate. Experience your inner guidance. Sept. 14, 15. Register early. 365-7035. 3/65 Color drapings and makeovers. Ladies pamper yourself — call today to tind out how to host an Image Improvement Clinic. Personal consultations also. Karla Bucsek, Certiied Image Consultant 365. 2125 ALCOHOLICS anonymous and Al-Anon. Phone 365-3663. 104/71 SHARON — well known North American trans-medium. Aug. 23-24. For appoin. tment call 365-7035 67 CARD OF THANKS ** Protected persons in this context, Roberts said, means civilians, both local and foreign. But he said there were several in- stances of countries using foreigners and civilians in this way. The most recent was during the Vietnam War. Early in the war, he said, the com- munist Viet Cong insurgents in South about taken by the men in the front line.”” B.J. Bond, a professor of war studies at London University, said he knew of no official ‘‘human shield” threat by a national leader in modern times. Donald Watt, professor of inter- national history at the London School of Economics, said he believed there were cases during the Second World ‘War where the Germans used civilians to drive over mine fields. “*But as for using hostages as a kind of shield as an instrument of state policy, you would have to go back an awfully long way,”’ he said. Watt said there had been a medieval custom whereby a person signing a treaty gave the other party a close relative as a hostage, ‘‘a guaran- tee of your word.”” David Capitanchik, senior lecturer in politics at Aberdeen University, Scotland said the human shield idea Bush crosses line By BARRY SCHWEID WASHINGTON — U.S. President George Bush crossed a critical line Monday in finally describing the foreigners trapped in Iraq and Kuwait as hostages. It may mean he is closer to sending some of the troops now massing in Saudi Arabia into [Iraq in a rescue operation or even an outright attack on Baghdad. Or Bush merely may have been acknowledging the obvious. The president held off for more | WOULD like to Thank ail the Pythion Sisters and Knights of Pythias, my wite Myrtle, my daughter Diana and her friend Mary, my sister Ruth and her family, my friends who attended the oc casion of my 80th birthday. Thank you to those who brought flowers. gifts, cards ‘and good wishes and fo the dear Pythian Sisters who brought baking. It wos o special day for me and one I'll never forget. Sincerely, Slim Thomas. 67 LEGALS than two weeks, emphasizing diplomacy and appeals to Iraq’s Sad- DIRECTOR OF RESIDENT CARE Applications are invited for the position of Director of Resident Care for a new Intermediate and 25 bed Extended Care Unit that is opening in January of 1991 Reporting to the Administrator. the Director of Resident Care will be respon- sible for the and of care for the residents, The successtel applicant must be a sell saotineeo leader and team builder with proven skills in communication and problem solving. Current registration with RNABC and three years supervisory experience in care is o formal training in Gerontology, Poviniatrie Nursing and completion of a recognized course in L.T.C Management an asset. Please submit a resume by September 10, 1990 to: MAR. K.A. TALARICO, Administrator Castlegar and District Hospital 709-10th S Castlegar, B.C. VIN 2H7 AUCTION HOTEL & RESTAURANT FURNITURE & EQUIPMENT — ON SITE AT — Slocan Inn — Slocan, B.C. Saturday, August 25 — | p.m. — PARTIAL LUSTING _ © Assorted Mirrors 150 Pedistal Tabled 150 2-Dr., Cold Stream Cooler dam Hussein to observe i norms. Hours before Bush spoke to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Baltimore his spokesman had told reporters the term ‘‘hostage’’ would not be used. But the plight of the foreigners seemed to worsen after more Americans were rounded up in Kuwait City by Iraqi officials. Saddam’s government has said it will use the hostages as human shields to prevent attacks on key military in- stallations. So Bush revised the speech IN MEMORIAM CANADIAN CANCER SOCIETY. In _ memoriam donations information: Box 3292, Castlegar, B.C. 365-5167. 104/24 CANADIAN DIABETES ASSOCIATION In Memoriam Donations, Box +228 Rossland, B.C. VOG 1Y0 104/80 LOST MENS Ditocal glasses, lost between bank ond Hi Arrow Arms on Monday Aug. 20. 365-7002 /67 FOUND “Your Charity of Choice’’ Your caring gifts in Honour or in Memoriam ore o beautiful ond thoughtful reminder. Please help vs tight Conade's to. Kier fi power lary Sherr B.C. AND YUKON HEART FOUNDATION Costlegar. 8.¢ Vin he Your Donation is Tox Deductible IN THE SUPREME COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA IN BANKRUPTCY IN THE MATTER OF THE BANKRUPTCY OF HI ARROW ARMS | MOTOR HOTEL No! is hereby given that a receiving order was made against H Arrow Arms Motor Hotel of the City of Castlegar in the Province of British Columbia on the 26th day of June. 1990 and that the first meeting of ‘creditors will be held on the 30th dey of August, bon the. Aero Arms Ai Motor Hotel, Banquet Room, 651-18th Srrest inte Cinrort City of Castlegar in the Province of British Columbia. DATED at Longley, British Columbia this 16th day of August, 1990. Coopers & Lybrond Limited Trustee 106-20644 Eastleigh Crescent , B.C. V3A Telephone: (604) 533-3811 5-MONTH-OLD, white, female cat, in the yiciniy of SHSS and primary schools 365-3630 3/67 FOUND items ore not charged for. It you've found something. phone our Ac tion Ad no, 365-2212 during regular business hours and we'll run your ad for sues free of charge tin /67 A PET BIRD in 9th Ave. and 10th Ave Grea, South Castlegar. 365-8270. 3/66 Action Ad Phone Number is 365-2212 Planning a Wedding? We Sell Distinctive Invitations, Napkins, etc. Come See Us At ss 197 can Ave. LOST DUPLI CERTIFICATE OF LAND TITLE ACT RE; Lot 3. District Lot 7246. Koot 41436 lasved in the nome of NICK MARE HADMIN hos been tied in thin otice given that | sho ot thee rom the Of Title in how of the vod Duplicate volass in meor volid objection be mode Doted of the Lend Title OWtice, Melson, 8.C. Thin Vth doy of August. A.0. ton C.8. Semis Dote of First Publicotion August 22.1990 prep: for him for the VFW national convention to inject ‘‘there can be little doubt, whatever these in- nocent people are called they are, in- deed, hostages.” Bush could be trying to establish a legal justification for an attack, Wood Chairs Antique Notional Cash Register Simplex Propane Mangle Iron 4 Automatic Washers Centrifugal Extractor «(320 V1-PM) Commercial Double 140,000 BTU Oll Fired Water Boiler 600 Sq:Ft..New Floor Tile ALSO TOFU MAKING EQUIPMENT TO BE SOLD AT ANOTHER LOCATION. The following will be offered in one lot: Cast Iron Cooker ® Water Bean Stone Grinder Press Boxes & Lids ® 4'x8' Drain Tub * Deep Fryer Conveyor Toaster Nacho Warmer Taylor Slush Machine Glasses & Dishes 2 Basket Deep Fryer 220 V Pizza Oven Microwave eereceee 2-Dr. Schaefer Cooler SEATTLE (CP) — They're shooting it out in the Pacific Northwest. But the battle is being fought with cameras not guns as Seattle and Vancouver compete for the movie buck. “Vancouver was Flavor of the Month for a couple of years,”’ says producer Paul Tucker. ‘‘Now there are better deals elsewhere and Naneouver's fortunes are starting to wane,” The rising Canadian dollar, higher labor costs and the federal government's proposed goods and services tax have U.S. film-makers thinking twice now before they cross the border, “Two years ago every production company that called our office and was considering scouting in Seattle or was going to = says Christine Lewis, manager of the Washington State Film Office. “Now I’m finding that’s not the case.”” Last year Lewis helped find locations for such ryweights as Steven David Lyn- ch and Lawrence Kasden. Earlier this year, the Moses Lake Airport in central Washington was used for Die Hard II starring Bruce Willis. Lewis, a tall woman with large blue eyes and shoulder-length blond hair, sits in the Cloud Room at the top of the Camlin Hotel as she discusses the Washington State movie industry. With its rich tables and ing view of the downtown core, the bar was used last year in The Fabulous Baker Boys starring Jeff and Beau Bridges and Michelle Pfeiffer. Spielberg shot Always with Richard Dreyfuss and Holly Hunter in the Moses Lake area, while Kasden used Tacoma for the filming of | Love You To Death with his Big Chill buddies Kevin Klein and William Hurt. Lynch chose the logging town of Snoqualmie, west of Seattle, for his ABC pilot Twin Peaks. Still, in spite of those impressive film credits, it’s clear any U.S. pullout from British Columbia isn’t going to happen overnight. Only $20 million US was left by productions in state last year, Pp with just over $200 million left in British Columbia. The two big-budget features We’re No Angels with Robert De Niro and Sean Penn and Bird On A Wire starring Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn helped turn last year into the best ever for B.C. film industry. But the number of features shot in Washington state is growing. Last year, 13 feature films were shot in British Columbia compared to 10 in Washington state. Two other films were shot partially in Washington state. The exodus north across the border began about five years ago because of the lower Canadian dollar. The amount of money left in the province by produc- tions. jumped to $70 million in 1985 from $33 million the year before. By 1987 that figure had doubled again to ‘$150 million. At that British Colu U.S. TV movies-of-the-week shot in joyed about a $160,000 savings, ac- cording to Gi jpman, director of development for AVR Produ s in Vancouver. He says the average television movie budget is $2.5 million. “Now all things being equal, they would be saving. $100,000,"" says Chapman, previously Vancouver's business agent for IATSF (Canada’s largest film union) from 1980 to 1989. Castlegar reaped some of the benefits of B.C.'s booming film industry when scenes for the 1987 feature film Housekeeping were shot with the Castlegar Rail Station as a backdrop. CosNews tile photo “The real story is it costs about $100,000 for a producer to relocate to Vancouver.” Chapman says the seven per cent goods and services tax, which the federal government plans to bring in in 1991, will further inflate the budgets of U.S. productions. While they are considered products for export and exempt, U.S. will have to pay the tax up front and get arebate later. For a TV movie, that amounts to a payout of roughly $90,000; a $10-million feature faces a $350,000 bill. U.S. productions, however, won’t get back administrative costs for figuring out the tax — estimated at about $9,000 for a TV movie and $90,000 for a $10-million feature. B.C.’s film unions took steps last month to ensure the Americans don’t pack up and leave. Six unions 3,000 film direc- tors, writers and performers came together to form the B.C. and Yukon Council of Film Unions. Jak King, LATSE’s current business agent in Van- couver, says the advantage for U.S. producers is that there will now only be one group to negotiate with instead of six. The council’s first initiative, called the Preferred Locations Program, allows producers to shoot free of charge in the publicly owned buildings of seven par- ticipating municipalities in British Columbia and the Yukon. ; In addition, the local chamber of commerce have promised to provide a list’ of businesses’ willing to give movie companies a break. Despite the doom and gloom some were forecasting last year, the level of film activity in British Columbia for 1990 appears promising. In addition to TV series, there are currently three features and one ii he otk plus a mini-series based on Stephen King’ 's : book It. Mark DesRochers of the B.C. Film Commission says the future is looking brighter than it was last winter when he was having a hard time selling the province to U.S. producers. 500 Gal. Propane Tank Office desk & chair USSELL UCTION — SALE CONDUCTED BY — 399-4793 my. Open Mon.-Sot. 9 a.m. * 7’ Stainless Hood c/w t © 4-dr. file cabinet rei, it was not i i clear the status of the igs being detained had changed under inter- national law. The president also may be preparing the American public psychologically for the support he needs to escalate from economic pressure on Iraq to combat. American leaders have historically rallied to the aid of Americans held abroad against their will. Former president Jimmy Carter exhausted all available means after Iranian fundamentalists overran the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and seized the embassy staff and their U.S. Marine guards. His rescue operation failed, but he never at- tacked Tehran. Meanwhile, the isi i was nightly with the message the United States’ was being ‘‘held hostage.’ Ronald Reagan, campaigning against Carter, capitalized on the frustration and won the White House in 1980. Reagan, in his two terms, failed to free a number of Americans held hostage in Lebanon by pro-tranian factions. Barry Schweid is a writer on inter- ational diplomacy with the Press. American 2 Air Powered Spiders Adjustable Staging Sond Blasters Cherry Picker Hoist Tires & Tubes ross Amount of Chain Placards Point & Spray Equipment Rod Flushing Machine eee eeececece SSELL For AUCTION LIGHT INDUSTRIAL GOVERNMENT SURPLUS & CONSIGNMENT SALE Russell Auction Site 5 Miles North of Castlegar, B.C. * 2067 Highway 3A Sunday, Aug. — PARTIAL LISTING — ALSO: Office chairs, stacking chairs, counter shelving, filing cabinets, photocopier, computer & typewriters Hwy. 3A Thrums ELL Socmenon 399-4793 Open Mon.-Sat. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. 26 — Ila.m. * Radial Arm Sow bd ton ‘amount of new auto parts manuals trom car dealership . misc electrical RV'S, BOATS & VEHICLES * '82 Wagon (Rebuilt Motor) * 802 © 2-8' Truck Compers * 16’ Boat & 25 H.P. Merc © "83 Suzuki, GR 650 By MARK BASTIEN The Canadian Press Taxes. Late garbage pickup. What the neighbor's dog left on the lawn. How much beer costs. The weather. Especially the weather. No matter how brilliant the skies, how refreshing the breeze, how docile the clouds — the weather. “*Why do Canadians complain about everything?’’ asks Felix Mendes as he watches a series of grumbling Torontonians recite a litany of woes on the TV evening news. “We are living in Canada, where anything is possible! What is there to complain about?’’ As an immigrant from the poor, politically unstable country of Guatemala, Mendes can be excused for his view of Canada as a country so perfect that moaning about it seems petty and mean-spirited. But his belief that Canadians are complainers merits attention. Do we tend to gripe about things, rather than take action to improve our lot? Is there a national tendency to see the bad side of things? Are we — gulp — whiners? “Yes, we're whiners — but we're whiners about the wrong things,’’ says Peter Warren, the shoot-from- the-lip radio talk show host at CJOB in Winnipeg. On his morning kvetchfest, Warren regularly hears the beefs of average Canadians. And after 20 years conducting gripe sessions on air, he has discovered the more niggling the issue, the more people are inclined to get steamed about it. “To give you an example, I recently did a few stows on constitutional matters — stuff about the future of the country — and people still called in to complain about dog (droppings) on their street. “*Some people just have no concept about what matters in this world.”” Among those people are the chronic complainers who call Warren’s program to groan about the color of chicken meat — why is it sometimes yellow? — and multi-eyed potatoes. “‘Really;-who cares whether potatoes have four eyes or six eyes?” he asks. Last year, Canadians filed an estimated 180,000 complaints with Better Business Bureau outlets across Canada. They sent exactly 20,001 ‘‘extremely earnest"’ letters to the editor of the Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper. Tens of thousands of people phoned radio call-in shows, wrote corporations and signed petitions about things that got their individual goats. Every month, 4,500 people phone or write the CBC — to sound off about something they have or haven't seen on television, or heard or haven't heard on radio. Have Canadians become a bunch of whiners? Sometimes Virgi answers the phone. “Yes, we're just a big bunch of complainers,”” says the CBC’s bubbly audience relations supervisor People call her to say there’s too much hockey on TV — or too little, There’s not enough news — or too much. One caller, after noticing one of the human stars of Sesame Street was pregnant, complained that the show was promoting promiscuity. “Some even complain that (the radio program) Sunday Morning is on Sunday morning,” Grant says “They miss it when they go to church.’” City halls are a favorite target of complainers — especially since they can cite municipal bylaws to back up their gripes. Calgarians made 1,900 complaints last year to the city’s central woe depot and filed hundreds of others with animal and noise control officials. A favorite subject of scorn is the neighborhood pothole. Smelly pets and messy neighbors are constant complaints. **We have a few chronic complainers who seem to be on the lookout for things to call us about,”’ says Chris De Witt, supervisor of Calgary’s complaint department. “Then again, we do depend on citizens to call us when the city’s bylaws are being broken.”” In other words, sometimes complainers act in the public’s best interest. ‘There’s good complaining and there’s bad complaining,’’ says Bill Gairdner, author of The Trouble With Canada, a best-selling book filled with complaints about the country. “Bad would be griping about something without any intention of acting on it. Good complaining is where you join forces to fight something — to get some result."” Unfortunately, Canadians have historically been private whiners afraid to publicly speak out, says historian Michael Bliss. But he says that changed — especially since Canadians got their Charter of Rights and Freedom in 1982. “People who complain are people who believe they have rights,” says Bliss, a professor at the University of Toronto. “Complaining is about questioning authority — the more we do of that, the better."” About a quarter of a million Canadians tune in to Cross Country Checkup on CBC radio each Sunday afternoon to listen to some of their compatriots do just that. Host Dale Goldhawk says the weekly gripe athon — celebrating its 25th anniversary — is 4 great way to get an instant reading on the mood of the country. And how are we feeling these days? Sulky, cranky, whiney? ia Grant is the person who May's book chronicles fight to save Moresby By IAN BAILEY The Canadian Press Things changed quickly for Elizabeth May after she angrily quit her job as an adviser to former federal minister Tom i McMillan and May were on a first- name basis. Then McMillan approved construction of Saskatchewan's Raf- ferty-Alameda dams without en- vironmental assessments, and May walked out. Soon afterward, she began earning her keep cooking meals on a tour boat off the South Moresby region of British Columbia’s Queen Charlotte Islands. When asked now about her 1988 career detour, the 36-year-old, Con- necticut-born lawyer laughs and ex- plains it was a deliberate choice. “wanted to write a book about South Moresby and to soak up the place, which was why I spent time on the boat.”” Paradise Won: The Struggle to Save South Moresby is the published result of May’s efforts. With a title twisted from John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost, May’s book recounts the 14-year bat- tle to save the islands from logging — with an emphasis on federal- provincial talks in the year after Mc- Millan hired May. Though McMillan adopted the Moresby issue as a personal priority after visiting the area, May initiatty brought it to his attention and during the long talks served as a link between the minister and environment groups. “IT wanted to tell a story with a happy ending to give people a sense of how possible it is to change the world,”” May said from Ottawa, where she now runs a non-profit group that works to save threatened forests worldwide. “It’s easy for people to feel a sense of total desperation. The only way we won't feel it is'if we feel we can make a difference.” Raised in Cape Breton, May lear- ned she could make a difference when she worked on campaigns to prevent pesticide and herbicide spraying in the island's forests. In the case of South Moresby, the focus was on 138 islands covering 1,470 square kilometres which were seen as natural parks stocked with black bears, rare peregrine falcons and trees more than a thousand years —Environmentalists saw —South Moresby as an Eden worth preser- ving. To the Haida Indians, it had been home for 10,000 years before arrived in 1789. The British Columbia government saw “If people made tempting assum- ptions that all people who are right wing should be hounded out of power, we wouldn’t have gotten South Moresby.”” May says South Moresby was saved because pro-park players worked well together. Take Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who wore a green hat on the issue and revived the talks after they broke off at the last minute. “There was never a time when we asked his help that we didn’t get it,”” unlogged forests. By the time the federal government agreed in July 1987 to pay $106 May recalled. New Democrat Jim Fulton, MP for "if you take time to become friends with people, you can find things out, whether It's the Tory caucus or the Social Credit caucus. If people thetall who made are right wing s hould be h ded out of p . South Moresby. we wouldn't have gotten Eli beth May million in compensation to buy land for the park, the struggle—had—in- volved — among others — the Haida, who blocked logging roads, three federal environment ministers and even Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. In a ploy aimed at B.C. Premier Bill Vander Zalm’s Dutch roots, Canadian environmentalists per- suaded Bernhard to send the premier a-tetegram urging the-creation-of-a park South Moresby might be old news to some, but May says there are several reasons to remember the fight. The struggle to preserve the area told politicians. the public regards Canada's forests as more than raw material for the timber industry. Environmentalists, meanwhile, learned they had to work with natives on common interests. And May says the successful cam- paign showed there’s no better way to push for environmental change than to be nice about it. “‘If you take time to become friends with people, you can find things out, whether it’s the Tory caucus or the Social Credit caucus,”* she said. the British Columbia riding of Skeena,and-Commons Speaker John Fraser were also longstanding allies, but May casts another key supporter in an odd light. While McMillan’s personal convic- tions and political instincts egged him on, May suggests the silver-haired Prince Edward Island native, who lost his seat in the 1988 federal election, was out of his depth. Asked—at—one—point—to—call Mulroney to push for the park, May describes McMillan fidgeting before confessing: ‘‘I’ve never called the Primer minister at home before. 1 mean, I see him all the time, but I don’t know. What could I say?’’ May’s book is never dull because she writes competently about in- teresting times. It's not always fair, but May says it was never entirely meant to be. “IL didn’t feel I had to be even- handed. This was something I was a part of. And I wasn’t a reporter.”” Paradise Won: The Struggle for