Saturday, November 30, 1991 m@ z i PAGE INtON =) Dave McCullough Composing Room Foreman Mark Davis Advertising Manager Warren Chernoff OurViEWS AdrianRAESIDE Road work reasonable lo pave or not to pave, that is I the question. A simple question, really. After all, is there anyone among us who enjoy that rocky sensation that the city's many potholes can give? Or how about the pure thrill of a soaker because the drainage pipe outside your home is in desperate need of repair? On Dec. 14, the citizens of Castlegar are being asked to pass a referendum which would grant the city authority to w up to $1.286 million from the inancing Authority to pay for the first two years of a five-year road rehabilitation program. That loan would be paid back over the course of 20 years, starting in 1994. The citizens of Castlegar have a duty to endorse this referendum. Without question, the shape of Castlegar roads is terrible. This | referendum allows us to change that. Furthermore, according’ to alderman Lawrence Chernoff the tax implications will be next to nothing, if anything at all. Chernoff has boldly stated that the Celgar expansion would pay for the road work in its entirety. If taxes were raised, however, he said it would work out to $23 per year for houses valued at $75,000. At $23, how can we go wrong. City council is acting responsibly with this referendum. We must do the same. OW TWAF OUT MULRONEY abdish the Senale Sclap Mulroney, Do aur WOYTHE 6ST. Traoh “Mai HE STEERING GROUP ON PROSPERITY ReVieNS Some, SUGGESTIONS ON HELPING CANODIGNS GET RICHER .. GIVE MMARONEY THE BOOT Deport Mudroney Firethe MP’* Fire Joan Crow. DUMP MULRONEY ss WILSON ne senate Lin PaIBONEY SELL MULRONEY i $m n 4000] }¢0) Scrap Fre Trade SEND MULRONEY TO MARS Abolish the GST TRUE TIULRONEY ocrap the Torivo Fire Mulroney Abdiish Revawe Canada Experts, experts everywhere Are you one of those people like me for whom life is just one big puzzle? Do you have more questions than answers? Then take heart. I've found the perfect magazine for us. It’s called: “Issues...for people wanting answers”. A bi-monthly magazine published out of Penticton, Issues taps an undeveloped market. Look at the shelves at the local supermarket; they’re filled with Comments from the Crossroads the bookstore. It had all the answers to that bewildering stuff about Lady MacBeth’s darned (this is a family newspaper) spot. But Issues is better than Cole’s Notes because it’s free. (Well, actually, it gets a bit confusing here. In one corner it says ‘Free’ but underneath it has ‘Subscription requested’. which gives you the magazines about women’s fashions, gourmet cooking, motorcycles and hot rods (sometimes all in the same issue). But is there one that provides us with all the answers? (Well, alright perhaps the National Enquirer does — but only-on a hit-and-miss basis). So you can imagine how I felt when I picked up Issues. It was the same way I felt in Grade 8 when I first came upon a Cole's Notes guide to Shakespeare's MacBeth in impression that this issue is free, but they want you to pay for the next one. In the other corner it has ‘Priceless’. Go figure.) It’s a good thing the magazine is free, because the answers inside aren't. And the answers weren’t quite what I was expecting. On the first page is an invitation to an intensive weekend workshop on Touch Polarity. please see Norman page 7 Heather Hadiey Circulation Manager Burt Campbell Publisher Emeritus L.V. Campbell ‘Aug, 7, 1947. Feb. 15, 1973 Saturday at 197 Columbia Ave., Columbia by Castle News Ltd. for Canwest Publishers Lid. Street TALK John Koznuik peas McCluskie Question: Has the GST affected your Christmas spending? Noella Skulnec Therese Plamondon Fred Stoll “I don't spend. The government gives then takes it away.” “Personally, no. I don't pay any attention to it.” “No, not at all. We just accept it.” “We have to pay the deficit one way or the is just a fact of life.” other.” I doubt it. The GST ae @ Saturday, November 30, 1991 OtherMN EWS q Please address all letters to: or deliver them to 197 Columbia Ave. Letters should be 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 9am. and5 p.m. The writer's name and city or town of residence only will be published. Only in exceptional cases will letters be published anonymously. Even in those cases, the name, address and phone number of the writer MUST be disclosed to the editor. The News reserves the right to edit letters for Letters toWHE EDITOR Thumbs up on pesticides I applaud your Nov. 16 opinion on page 6 regarding the use of pesticide on our highways. Thank you for taking a stand for our health and our future. Thank you for pointing out that we have Regional District that has some courage to speak out and stand up for its citizens and Thumbs down on NDP I must take objection though to your opinion column of Nov. 20. regarding the NDP government. They have been sworn in less than three weeks and already you're saying they should be making major decisions. With mostly inexperienced MLAs? You say Harcourt is over in Japan worrying about tomorrow instead of doing something today, and then you say a moment later that we elected the New Democrats for a new tomorrow. If that is true, then what Harcourt is doing is the right thing, taking a little time now to get things right for tomorrow. Keith Light their future generations. Keith Light For the love of pete give them a little Winlaw time to get organized and informed. Winlaw Norman continued from page 6 Is that like Touch E Football, I wondered? No siree. “The premise of polarity work is that disease is caused by obstruc- tion of energy flow... this weekend intensive workshop offers a way to balance, harmonize and heal the seven bodies of individual expres- sion.” So there it is in black and white. I don't have only one body. I have seven bodies. But that leads to an- other questions: Where have the other six gone? er into the magazine — past the article on vibrational therapies and the ad on microcur- rent electrical neuro-muscular stimulation — is another ad, this one for. for channelled consultations yy mail. It seems this fellow named Pe- ter Morris (who “offers 40 years of metaphysical experience” — what- ever that means) from Maderira Park will provide a ch ling A common thread running through the magazine (besides the fact everything costs money) is the way the people offering the ser- vices list themselves are accredit- ed or certified, as if there might be some i about their quali- service if you simply mail him your request in handwriting. My guides will tune in to your vibrations and pass the informa- tion recorded on cassette tape to you as accurately as if you were present. All for just $45. The way I figure it, if this guy and his guides are so tuned in, why do they need a cassette tape? Why not simply ‘tune in’ the cus- tomer and fill them in. It would save on postage and handling. fications. For instance, we have a certi- fied master practitioner of neuro- linguistic p: ing and time- line therapist; a certified rebal- ancer; a certified polarity thera- pist; a certified colon therapist, and an accredited music therapist, among others. The last is my favorite. For a fee (what else is new?) a Summerland woman will provide you with GIM (Guided Imagery and Music). Just what is GIM? “Music transformational therapy which uses specifically programmed clas- sical music to stimulate and sup- port a dynamic unfolding of inner experiences.” In other words, you listen to Mozart, Brahms and Stravinsky. You could say that Beethoven was a music therapist, though likely not accredit And this from the article on GIM: “The phenomena experi- enced by the person while listen- ing to the mousic are referred to as images.” Excuse me now while I put on my headphones and experience a few “images” (for free). Labor leader’s demands on Harcourt way out of line That noise you heard last week was B.C. Federation of Labor chief Ken Georgetti knocking on Pre- mier Harcourt’s door. Organized labor, he told the premier, wants a greater role in running British Columbia. Georgetti is only the first in what will be a long line of special interest groups trying to collect their IOUs And he made no bones about his intentions of calling in his markers. Without the help of organized labor, Georgetti told the federa- tion’s annual convention in Van- couver, Harcourt wouldn't be pre- mier. “The challenge now is to ex- pand the role of labor much be- yond the bargaining table and even beyond just electing political representatives of labor,” he told delegates. “We want an equal say on key issues and challenges fac- ing us,” he added. Really, Mr. Georgetti? And just what, may I ask, do you mean by expanding labor’s role in govern- ment? Could we interest you in daily briefings by the premier? Perhaps you would like to sit in on cabinet meetings? Or is a veto in govern- ment decisions more to your lik- ing? Just name it, Mr. Georgetti. After all, a king-maker deserves his reward. It seems to me that Georgetti is a little confused about the role or- ganized labor or any other special Report from Victoria peeibers BEYER interest group, for that matter, should play in government. There is no doubt that the poli- cies of successive Social Credit governments have been hostile to organized labor. There is also no doubt that this was one of the con- tributing factors to the massive defeat the Socreds suffered in the last election. But that hardly qual- ifies organized labor for special privileges. The only thing'that's called for is fairness, nothing more, nothing less. Moreover, fairness must ex- tend to all British Columbians, not just organized labor, and I can think of a number of injustices that are higher on the list of prior- for moral support, but have diffi- culty finding shelter and protec- tion from physical and sexual abuse. There are the minimum-wage earners whose $5-an-hour pay is too little to live on and too much to die on. There are the single mothers who desperately need an increase in social assistance and a reprieve from the stigma of uselessness the previous government has never been too eager to deny. There are the over-crowded universities and high tuition fees that deny all but the wealthy a higher education. There's a forest industry that’s bleeding to death right now, en- dangering thousands of jobs. Well, how about that? As I’m writing this, a press release lands on my desk. “Government In- creases Minimum Wage.”, it says. Starting February 1, 1992, the minimum wage is increased to $5.50 an hour from the present $5 an hour. The minimum wage for workers under the age of 18 goes up to $5 an hour. “Too many B.C. families, most of them headed by women, are liv- ing below the Poverty line. This ities than the i orga- nized labor believes to have suf- fered at the hands of previous gov- ernments. There are the under-funded homes for battered women and mn who can phone a hotline wage , an elec- tion promise by Premier Harcourt, is a positive first step in helping working people help themselves and their families,” Labor Minis- ter Moe Sihota is quoted as say- ing. Gee, Minister, a whole 50 cents an hour. Are your sure, that’s not too much? I mean, what are they going to do with all that money? Back to Mr. Georgetti and his de- mands. He obviously is convinced that organized labor elected the NDP government and he wants to collect what he believes is labor’s just reward. The scrapping of Bill 19, the In- dustrial Relations Labor Reform Act, passed in 1987, is on top of the list of Georgetti’s demands. Organized labor has always con- sidered this piece of legislation an insult and has, more or less, boy- cotted some of its provisions. Again, while I can understand Georgetti’s loathing of Bill 19, I have some difficulty with the way he is lobbying the new govern- ment to replace it. “We'd like to give the premier some friendly advice. Mr. Premier, Brother Harcourt, Bill 19 must be gone, gorie, gone . . . at the earliest opportunity,“ he told delegates to thundering applause. Friendly advice? Sounds more like a threat to me, or an ultima- tum, and that, Brother Ken, is not acceptable to those of us who be- lieve that a government must serve all British Columbians, not just you and your fellow-union members. I have no doubt Bill 19 will bite the dust, and it probably should, but not at the demand of a special interest group.