Late

IN1ON

AdrianRAESIDE

sam

Dave McCullough
Publisher

Peter Harvey
Plant Foreman

Mark Davis
Advertising Manager

Feb. 15, 1973

Conroy falls
short

New Rossland-Trail MLA Ed Conroy got
off to a good start when he announced on
election night that compromise and co-
operation would be his preferred tactics in
solving local problems. That’s exactly
what's needed under the circumstances, we
thought.

But Conroy veered draniatically — and
disappointingly — off onto an inauspicious
new direction when he expressed his
opinion about the vote’s two referendum
questions.

Voters had been asked whether they
wanted the power to remove their MLA
from office and whether they wanted to be
able to propose referendum questions.
Predictably, given the cynicism with which
Canadians view the political process these
days, the answer to both questions was a
resounding yes.

That’s when our new MLA revealed a

surprising degree of naivete about politics;

he dismissed the referenda as a Social
Credit election ploy. In so doing, Conroy
thumbed his- nose at a huge majority of
voters who had supported the two
concepts.

In fairness to Conroy, he did
acknowledge that Premier-elect Mike
Harcourt has said he will honor the voters’
decisions. He also paid lip service to the
idea of increased voter involvement in the

political process.

But our rookie MLA’s remarks sounded
suspiciously like the first volley in a subtle
public relations campaign whose goal will
be to explain away the new government's
failure to do as voters wish. When he said
the questions were so vague that they
would be difficult to act on, Conroy was
attempting to seed doubt about the wisdom
of acting according to the results.

We doubt voters will be fooled by this

approach. British Columbia’s New
Democrats have been given a very clear
mandate not only to govern, but also to
give ordinary people a better opportunity
to participate in the political process.

If they want a similar mandate in
future, they should entertain no doubts
about the seriousness with which voters
view the referendum results.

Quick fix doesn't do the trick

I don't know about you, but
the more I drive on Columbia
Avenue, the more I feel like
T'm driving in the Indy 500.

Certainly the resurfacing
of Columbia Avenue south
from the Highway 3 inter-
change is welcome. But it’s
going to take more than fresh
blacktop to solve the street’ s
myriad of problems.

Like many of the larger dif-
ficulties the city is
ing as it grows, Columbia Av-
enue’s problems stem from

Comments
from the
Crossroads

two lanes and-# ¢enfre turn-
ing lane, and reduced the
speed limit from 60 km-h to
50 km-h.

The idea was to improve
the traffic flow, es: uly
with the anticipated i
in cars and trucks because e of
the Celgar Pulp Mill expan-
sion.

I hate to be the one to
break it to the brain trust at
city hall, but the traffic flow
isn't any better. If anything,
it’s worse; a lot worse.

poor planning, and from the
natural surroundings: the river on one side and
the mountains on the other.

We have a single, arterial route that weaves
its way from north to south. It doesn’t make
getting around easy.

(It takes me almost as much time to drive
to Trail from my home in the south end as it
does to travel to d n C:

Mind you, not everyone at
city hall supported the changes to Columbia
Avenue. Ald. Bob Pakula, for instance, said you
don’t speed up the traffic flow by slowingdown
the cars. That makes sense, but Columbia’s
prohlenss ae a lot bigger than a drop in the
speed limit

ri na you an example, though T’'m sure
who has driven the street in the last

But Columbia Avenue has gone : from bad to
worse in the last few months. It may be coin-
cidence, but'the problems started when the city

d the lane alig: t to allow for only

month could provide one just as good.
It was about 4:30 the Lic cliewrps of the
pr i ion. I was northb
please see HOPMAN oigt Av

Harcourt’s delay reveals disturbing trait

VICTORIA — Let it be noted
that Premier-elect Mike Har-
court’s first item of business was
to mock the rights and duties of
parliament.

© Seturday, October 26 1901

to finance government operations,
Harcourt is continuing the odious
precedent established by Bill Ben-
nett in the early 80s and continued
by Bill Vander Zalm and Rita

lic good.” The need for a special
warrant could, for instance, arise
if a sudden recession caused a
huge swelling of welfare rolls, ex-
hausting the funds provided for

The same man who used to lec-
ture the Socreds on the sanctity of
parliamentary tradition has de-
cided to thumb his nose at the
supremacy of parliament.

He will not call a session until
spring, Harcourt said the day after
his NDP was swept to power in
one of the most dramatic elections
in British Columbia history.

Instead, his government will
use special warrants to spend its
way through the next few months.
Anew budget will be ready for the
spring session.

Harcourt’s flimsy excuse is that
British Columbia hasn't really had
a government for the last six

Report
from...
Victoria

Hubert BEYER

months, ever since Bill Vander.

Zalm resigned as premier. A pre-
i look at the books, he said,

that purpose in a budget that has
oy been approved by the leg-

~ That dearly isn't the case here.
The Socreds introduced their bud-
last spring, but the legislature
lidn't approve all expenditures
proposed in the budget before the
session fo!
For a while, the government
Hay the poraaneig to bo enend, money

showed that the province's fi-

Saini Bill which wea delpipeoced
legislature.

hind on the budget pr
have to catch up on 1 that. We will
take time to do it right,” he said.

ey ng iP

dhe News

aoa

fishin

Letters toWHE

EDITOR

Explanation wanted

The following is an open letter to Ken Wylli
After reading your letter to the Editor I won:

der pond gee you please write her letter ex-

well cared for, affectionate and loving anima]
who is afraid of his own shadow and loves to
play with children.

The cat you shot wears a collar and identi-

It has been nigh on two years since five
cent of the populace of Area J dictated and fax.
posed their will on the rest of us. Please do not
Eesincr See cb vine We dobaee se

fus' us when. We do
right to know. “
John H. Coyle
Robson

Unnecessary suffering

This is an open letter to the person who
my anos 18

‘ou py to know that
black cat Hobbs has to Soke teeneand sone
vive, with the help of Dave Williams, our con-
cerned and veterinarian.

he has.
a hoe
can ever look at himself in the mirror again :
beyond my comprehension. You are the lowest

Shella s bites bile coh eining ts
Zuckerberg Island area. He is to my

knowledge a stray. He is obnoxious, mean,

nasty and be fights with my ents, Hobe i'r

chaded, and eats their food whenever he > gets

the opportunity. You may have been to

eliminate that cat. Instead you have shot a

fication. If he was bl. a simple
phone call would have been the answer. My
cat spends his nights in our house. It is not he
who is howling outside your windows at

night.

I would like to remind and all th ff
dents of Castlegar, tha: that discharging a fire “tae
arm — and this includes pellet guns, and 22's

— is illegal.

In the unlike ly event that you would like to
apologize or pay the vet's bills, please give me
a

Castl a

tioned in the article. If my mathematics are
correct and if five trips per month were taken
over a 10-month period, this would allow a
budget of $1,000 per trip for the driver. Allow.
ing $50 for overnight accommodation and $50
for meals, are we to assume that a driver's

eu peso etd enieimeedes ae
ways be a viable means for resolving a
bp, emule h: would be

Figures don't add up

I am writing in response to Ed Mill’s edito-
rial and article in the Oct. 19th issue regard-
extracurricular

Sot herd 0 Sas San sae ae suns on
ey in the budget.”
_ We gave them 14 months notice but noth-
ing has changed. The neighboring school dis-
trict of Nelson has somehow solved the prob-
lem and has Canadian Union of Public Em-
ployees drivers for all of their buses.

I am puzzled by the $50,000 price tag men-

4

always expected to do more until they quit
completely and people who feel that their jobs

lar activities may only be a very desirable

If this issue of bus driving is not resolved. i
it is my fear that our schools may well be be-
hind CUPE picket lines after their contract
expires in December.

Bill Gorkoff
President

Editor’s Note: The busing issue has since
been d. Hi , we felt Mr. Gorkoff's
comments were still timely and warranted
publication.

continued from page
Columbia. I aatived th the lineup of

Funny thing is, these li
never happened before there were hbound

ps northb d land, b

the drivers’ faces — the ones who see

Sandi

ic Was

cars starting about 17th Street.
One car after another. Bumper to
bumper. Past Mike's Mobile
Homes, Past the Blue Top. Past
Avenues. Past Mohawk. Down
Sherbiko Hill. Past the hospital.
Past the RCMP station.

Welcome to gridlock Castlegar-
style.
_ Now, some might blame elec-
tion activity for the traffic jam.
And they might have a case — the
lineup was certainly longer than
anything I'd seen before — if the
lineup was the first of its kind. But
it wasn't. Cars lined bumper to
bumper from 17th Street to the
Mohawk is as common as ants at a
picnic.

just two lanes and the centre turn
lane.

And the looks on the
other drivers’ faces — the
ones who seé this fellow
driving straight at them
— they’re priceless.

Of course, the traffic jam that
afternoon wasn't without its
advantages. Turning’ left into
the southbound lane was a
whole lot easier. I énly had to
worry about cars from the

traffi
still. That isn’t the case when
traffic in both lanes is moving
— even at only 50 km-h. I have
waited and waited and waited
for an opening.

Mind you, others are braver.
They wait only for an opening in
the traffic in the near lane and
then bolt across into the centre
turn lane, where they sit and wait
for an opening in the other lane
and then jump in.

I’m not one of those drivers. I
find it more than a little risky
rushing out into the oncoming
traffic and trying to get my car
turned sideways fast enough so I
don't broadside anybody.

And the looks on the other

this fellow driving straight at
them — they’re priceless. You
don't need to read their minds; you
can read their lips (what they say
about the guy in unprintable in a
family newspaper).

Still, the fellow who's just pulled
oe — t see any of it because

’s too busy just trying to bring
his vehicle under control in that
skinny centre lane, traffic
whizzing by on both sides.

Surely with all the technical ex-
pertise in highway design avail-
able nowadays, we can come up
with something better than what
big have now. If not, by the time

e expansion hits its peak,
we could see traffic backed up to
the Keenleyside dam.

Beyer

continued from page AS
with special

ih vatgatent ne he Xie.
: how

operations 1
bgp vires for shnmaargent
now, Harcourt proposes to
do the same thing. He wants to use
special warrants until his govern-
ment introdu: ices its first budget in
a

“Fis net good enough, not b
en
long Saews

] pee “money ag government

spends.

Harcourt’s excuse doesn't hold
up to even the most cursory exam-
ination. Just because the books
are in a mess, if indeed they are,
doesn’t mean the legislature

Goesiid ail io ten ank.af too
cial warrants constitutes a cir-

houldn't debate the spending of

this government during the next
four or five months.

doesn’t need to have his own bud-
get ready to call a session as early
as December.

All he has to do is appoint a
Speaker who will all
newly-elected MLAs to Victoria.
The Throne Speech, a pre-requi-
site for a new session, can consist
of one line read by the Lieutenant

make a big fuss over the budget
they introduced before they were
reduced to the Magnificent Séven.
Neither will the Liberals.
Approving the remainder of the
budget also doesn't mean the mon-
ey will have to be spent, but at
peomaip hier tai dh ar reve
we ee financial matters
has been reaffirmed.

: By sn pee 2 session alenet

budget.’
patos ake tiki

asad disdain for parliament, a dis
aes Sent a soon: in, Mis eee