11, 1991 @ PAGE?’ pinion Aug Feb. 15, 1973 LE Our WIEWS D’Arcy would have impact Any doubt that Chris D’Arcy could have a significant impact on the outcome of the provincial election here in Rossland-Trail, if he decides to run as an independent, should be dispelled by the straw poll The News con- ducted Saturday and Monday. The poll can't, of course, be considered sci- entifically accurate, but we don’t think its results are as meaningless as the declared candidates, Walter Siemens of the Socreds and Ed Conroy of the NDP, might wish. We agree with Mr. Conroy that the large number of people who said they're undecid- ed might not accurately reflect their voting intentions. But the real message is in the answers from the people who said who they would vote for, or who said they are unde- cided, and changed their answer when Mr. D’Arcy was factored into the equation. Unless those people blatantly misled us — a possibility, but we like to think people are more honest than that — Mr. D’Arcy’s candidacy would cut into Mr. Conroy’s sup- port by some nine per cent and Mr. Siemens’ support by four per cent. That support for Mr. D’Arcy put him into the lead among decided voters in a three- way race. Local Socreds, however, have their own poll which shows their candidate in the lead by five per cent over Mr. D’Arcy and seven per cent over Mr. Conroy, The Socred poll has the advantage over The News poll in that it was conducted by a professional polling firm. However, unlike our poll, the Socred poll asked voters who they think “would best serve your area as MLA over the next four years” and offered a rating system for each candidate from one to seven, with one being not very likely and seven being very likely. Our poll simply asked voters who they’d vote for, a question whose answer seems less open to interpretation. Nevertheless, the two polls show Mr. D’Arcy could garner significant support in the election. But, as everyone knows, it’s the election campaign and the real poll where voters mark their ballots that will deter- mine the winner. And as one local political observer noted, when local New Democrats and Socreds get the call and gear up their election machines, an independent candidate could get run over. eT EA THE EXWOBT OF DISPATCH TO RITA JOHNSTON... Canada’s water not ‘surplus’ @_NDP-sponsored petition says country’s rivers aren’t for sale Once the tap.is open, will we ever be able to close it? And once open a little, what’s tokeep B.C.’s water-export tap from be- ing opened further, beyond our control? These are perplexing ques- tions and becoiie more pressing as California endures another year of drought and while a di- version scheme builds credibil- Lyle KRISTIANSEN Copies of the petition are availablethrough my riding offices in Nelson or -Revelstoke, or from my Parliamen Hill office. Filled with names of con- cerned British Colum- bians, they should be re- turned to my office at the House of Commons, where I will present it to the free- View minded Conserva: from Ottawa ity. Multinational Water and Power Inc., reporting from its Vancouver of- fice, proposes to divert one million acre-feet of “surplus” Thompson River water to California via pumping stations and the Columbia Riv- agreement plays a role in the ion of water ex- ports. Under its provisions, the first export of water might well enshrine Canada’s obligation to maintain water exports even in the event of future domestic water shortages. s New D a Canada with er. The company paints a bright tal picture of improved downstream flows for fish, happy consumers and additional power generation. New Democrats say, “No!” An NDP-sponsored petition invites you to “Urge the government of Canada to state cat- egorically that it will not permit our fresh wa- ter rivers to be dammed and diverted into the United States and to state that our Canadian rivers are not for sale.” more independence than that. And we don't be- lieve that naturally flowing water should ev- er be considered “surplus.” ‘Too often we have thought to tell mother na- ture what was surplus, only to learn too late that the rhythms of nature are beyond clever water engineers arid fast-buck-oriented politi- cians who think only of steel pipes and per- capita water consumption in California. Russ Fraser: MLA a champion of the overdog @ Lament over departure of Dave Mercier reveals a ’s conflict-of-i leg- him into big trouble. = islation must be changed. And But instead of selling the claims or putting them into a blind trust, Mercier decided to quit politics. Other VIEWS} | dangerous blind spot in his view of politics in general VICTORIA — I like Russ Fras- er. He is intelligent, has a sense of humor and, much to my chagrin, plays a good game of poker, but he does have a tendency to indecent- ly expose himself at times as a rag- ing champion of the overdog. His recent lament over the de- parture from politics of Dave and Social Credit MLA for Burna- a by-Edmonds, reveals blind spot in the attorney general’s view of politics in general and con- flict of interest in particular. Hubert BEYER Victoria election after conflict-of-interest commissioner Ted Hughes told him to get rid ofhis mining claims ifhe wants to stay in cabinet. Mercier was appointed to his Mercier was involved with a h, Appearing on a Vancouver radio open-line show, Fraser said Merci- er’s decision not to run again had reinforced his belief that the gov- of companies in B.C. which, in the opinion of the commissioner and, I dare say, in most other people's opinion, had the potential to get And that, Fraser says, is a pity. With all due respect to the at- torney general, I don't see it that way. Mercier had a choice, and he chose busi over public service. I have no problem with that, al- though his decision to leave poli- tics may have had more to do with the setting Socred star than his If Mercier could have been cer- tain of his and the Socred ‘8 Tight walk base eoleas obs might w sold his mining claims and stayed in politics, but please see BEYER page A7 11, 1991 Letters to THE EDITOR Comments puzzling I read with some interest of the recent articles about Dr. David Suzuki's visit to the New Denver-Silverton area. Comments attributed to him relative to the blockade of potential road building in the Hasty Creek area of the Slocan Valley were of particular interest. As well as interesting, I found some of his reported to be hat puzzling. Such as: * “There's lots of evidence in B.C. that ° we have much to learn about how a forest works, We must take the most conservative approach in view of our ignorance.” I fully agree there is much to learn about forests, as there is much to learn about genetics, biology or any science. Only the very egotistical or very foolish thinks he knows all there is to know. However, the puzzling part of this statement is the allusion given that an approach other than a conservative one has been taken in the harvest plans for Hasty Creek. To my knowledge, neither I nor any member of the Arrow forest district staff was contacted by Dr. Suzuki ing the data collection and analysis that occurred over a seven-year period. This data and analysis were key to the resource plans for the area. The resultant plan for timber harvest involves small openings over 118 hectares of the approximately 1,250-hectare watershed. Of the 118h that are idered for harvesting, approximately 40 per cent of the timber volume will be removed. ‘The result will be the removal of about four per cent of the watershed volume if it is all considered to be of equal timber value. I should hope this plan is an indication of our objectives to harvest in a very conservative manner. I believe Dr. Suzuki's statement was made in ignorance of the relevant facts. * “What we need are more examples of ities that are dealing with land use issues that face them.” Are road blockades really the way for truly interested parties to “deal with land use issues?” We have been attempting — Had they taken the time to participate they may have discovered that some of their reported unresolved issues have been addressed. Such as: small openings rather than conventional clearcuts will be created; level of harvest; there is no broadcast (slash) burning planned; and there is no intention to use pesticides. It is unfortunate the spokesman for the residents association could not inform Dr. Suzuki of these relevant facts. The next time someone of Dr. Suzuki’s prominence visits a resource activity in the Arrow forest district, I would hope he or she could spend a few moments to visit us and learn how we are trying to improve upon how we work in a forest. I am of the opinion it is of importance to learn more of how to work in a forest, as well as to learn more about how a forest works. - 2 Ken E. Arnett letters, admail, parcels and special services (registers, certified mail, Intelpost, and so on). As well as an increase in mail volumes, the operating efficiency has improved up to six per cent in the last year. Canada Post has shown a profit in each of the last three years and has hopes of increasing it greatly in the next few years. There has been increase in part-time work and a decrease of more than 3,000 full-time em ki There is no doubt that Canada Post will have to keep abreast of the continually changing patterns of service requirements of Canadi and hopefully it will i to thrive. However, I believe that the current policy of manpower utilization should not be llowed to ‘ hall, a Once the desired level of profit has been hed, the federal gov will dismantle the post office. The profitable parts in the largest cities will be sold and the District M: Arrow Forest District Open house scheduled The Castlegar and District Heritage Society will be holding an open house Sept. 14 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the CP Rail Station M d Admiaai in be free. Anyone interested in renting tables sat $2.50 each for flea market garden sale outside on station platform, should call the heritage office at 365-6440 as soon as possible. Members may book tables at no e. Our staff has spent the summer getting many more items out on display. Dosie Crawford's paintings are being featured upstairs and we hope to have a few surprise exhibits as well. John H. Coyle President, Castlegar and District Heritage Society Beyer off the mark In response to the column by Hubert Beyer about the impending demise of the postal service due to the rapidly changing (with a ‘able degree of ) to logy, I would like to have local resource users partici in the total planning process. In the Hasty Creek i ion, the Red M in Resid A iation has advised the Forest Service on ions it is not willing to participate until certain demands of the Slocan Valley Watershed Alliance are met. So by rejecting the opportunity to icip in the process, with all par interested resource users, is the community actually “dealing with land use issues?” presént a few facts about Canada Post Corp.'s recent history. Mr. Beyer seems to be saying that the introduction of new electronic technology has caused a decline in the number of items of mail delivered to our households and businesses. This is far from true. In each of the last three years there has been an increase in mail volumes of 5.9 per cent, 10.3 per cent, and 5.9 per cent ively. This inchades it in ining bits (; ted by the taxpayer) will limp along until the protests sound loud enough to cause the severing of the final thread of another national institution. The main issue in the current labor dispute is that of putting the profit into the creation of more and improved services and putting more people into jobs that have a decent rate of pay and benefits. The opposite is happening now with reduction of knowledgeable staff and closing of corporate outlets. Isn't it time we used some of our resources to give work to more of our citizens instead of slashing jobs? This can be done by converting some of the casual and part-time positions info full-time workers. President, legar Canadian Union of Postal Workers Coordination needed A recent newspaper article quoted Howard Dirks as stating that, in most serious motor vehicle accidents, time is critical. This revelation had evidently not d his mind when he declared the Robson ferry to be a convenience only, and not essential to the resid of Rob Raspberry. Perhaps Mr. Dirks was unaware that the ferry was their direct route to both the ambulance service and the hospital. With an election on the horizon, some politicians may wish to refrain from ing chewing gum and thinking out loud at the same time. George Stein Robson More letters, Page B5 (reply. after the rot question) Why forcement officer of the province plead in favor of relaxing the laws that keep politicians on the straight and narrow? Here's his “Obviously, the most bl people achieve the most during their lifetime and are more likely to accumulate assets. We want bright, hard-working, capable people to serve and to lead, and to exclude them by definition seems to me to be "The statement can only. come from an obtuse person or an arrogant one. Knowing Fraser, I can safely rule out obtuse, which leaves arrogance, not exactly a desirable trait either. Fraser’s logic misses the point by a-mile. Conflict of interest laws are not designed to keep anyone out of politics. They are to keep politics clean. I’m sure Fraser will pay for his ill-advised remarks, if not with this seat, then at least with a lot of problems along the election trail. And so he should. It was bad enough for Mercier to say he felt that the ict of interest laws were too stringent. For the attorney general to express those sentiments is inexcusable. All of which leads me to suspect that Fraser may be better at poker than he is at grasping an idea whose time has come — ing politics the honorable endeavor it should be.