y. October 19, 1991

Letters toWHE EDITOR

— er esponane park Put personal grudges aside and
opportunity to thank the
pag A arene ae srt get Rebels coverage in The News
the effor that Regarding the Castlegar News’s lack of Rebel
tifal. in grown men Sct 0 child and selhans em
é can act 80
RE ycarnoiinen ae rap of Castlegar in the 1940s, I Don Joice and Ed Mills had a personal clash
om e Opp y of me ng Mr. and when Don first becamie manager of the Rebels. This
his family through the friendship my father had clash has fe d to b idicul Ed printed
Tis: ier i something Don didn't like and “Boom!”
ent & Fieesure to cnce agtiat Wthe Bruce Fuhr, sports editor of the Nelson Daily
yp, 09 be ak ver haben pk News, has printed many KIJHL statements that
aches frre ans fora memories of have made me furious. But I didn't stop my
Castl peed pat onghinid a 9 paces. For SR aoe association with the paper.
people of Castlegar, hald on to this Little gern of With this personal vendetts, the two
park and take good care of it. B participants don't suffer, but the Rebels do and so
For the guide who was most cordial and rather rane Hy daca ogee
must stock Castlegar Sun.

informative, many thanks for your hospitality. I
hope I did not talk your ear off with us rambling of , Don Joice and Ea Milla, or those people involved,
please, put your

A7a

Vanderpol

continued from page A6
But, Indonesia’s economy has
also to overcome the country’s own.
cultural heritage, explained
Vanderpol, citing a widespread
to tedhinal

Saturday, October 19, 1991 @

(altlegar Now! Pia
Ife

AdrianRAESIDE

THE OLD POSTAL SERVICE...

Death by
own hand

Simon Birch
EDITOR

Expect to hear and read volumes of
analysis over the next few days and weeks
about Thursday's decimation of the Social
Credit party in the provincial election.

Some will try to blame the sudden
resurgence of the provincial Liberal party
for splitting the “free-enterprise vote” and
handing the election on a platter to the
New Democrats.

Nonsense.

continue to harvest their main
staple, rice, by hand, in a ritual
way proscribed by their ancient
re

custom.

_ Vanderpol described a typical
rice harvest by women going in the
field with a “little knife hidden in
the palm of her hand,” cutting the
stalks one at a time.

“It's a sneaky thing so the

spirits don't see and flee because
the rice is spoiled.”

A remnant of old beliefs, the

PAGE

InNtON

Op

Dave McCullough
Publisher

Simon Birch
Editor

Peter Harvey
Plant Foreman

Mark Davis
Advertising Manager

Warren Chernoff
Accountant

Heather Hadiey
Circulation Manager

Burt Campbell
Publisher Emeritus

L.V. Campbelt
‘Aug. 7, 1947
Feb. 15, 1973

Yes, the Liberals did cut into the
Socreds’ support but even if the election
had been a one-on-one dust up between the
NDP and the Socreds, the results would
have been just as lopsided in favor of the
New Democrats in terms of-seats in the
legislature. Just look at the local results.

In Rossland-Trail there was no Liberal
candidate but independent Chris D’Arcy
was endorsed by the party and was about
as close to a Liberal during the campaign
as butter gets to bread.

He was, quite simply, trounced by Ed
Conroy of the NDP, along with Socred
Walter Siemens. In fact, if you add up all
the votes which went to D’Arcy, Siemens
and Angela Price of the Green party, they
still fall short of Conroy by 565 votes.

In Nelson-Creston, where Barry Neufeld
ran for the Liberals, 81 per cent of
Neufeld’s support would have had to go to
Socred Howard Dirks for him to pull even
with Corky Evans of the NDP.

It isn’t likely Neufeld drew that much
support away from Dirks.

The undeniable conclusion from
Thursday’s vote is the Socreds have no one
but themselves to blame for their demise.

eee

On a personal note, Friday was my last
day as editor of The News. I'd just like to
express my thanks to all the readers who
understand and appreciate what the role of
an editor should be on a community
newspaper and for their support of me
during the last three years.

I like Castlegar (I wouldn’t have come

1

End of an era in B.C. politics

B.C. politics — locally and
provincially.

Thursday's provincial elec-
tion was the demise of the So-
cial Credit party in B.C. when
the Socreds were relegated to
a third-place finish behind the
New Democrats and Liberals.

Locally, we saw Chris D’Ar-
cy defeated after 19 years as
the representative for Ross-
land-Trail.

Political life is not easy. It
takes its toll, particularly on

E the end of an era in

Comments
from the
Crossroads

I reckoned D’Arcy’s per-
sonal popularity would carry
him higher than any Liberal
affiliation.

Then came the Great De-
bate and Liberal fortunes.
soared. All those previously
unknown Liberal candidates
piggybacked on the new pop-

ularity.

D'Arcy didn’t have that
chance. Perhaps by riding
some of that Liberal wave
D'Arcy could have improved

family. Through it all D'Arcy
maintained a positive approach to everyone
and everything.

I better begin by owning up that I was wrong
in some of my earlier columns about the elec-
tion. (Yes, that happens sometimes when you
try to look into the future; looking back is al-
ways so much more accurate.)

I was wrong when I wrote — prior to the
leaders’ debate — that if D’Arcy ran as Liber-
al he wouldn't get near the support he would as
an independent.

At the time it made sense. The Liberals had

back if I didn’t) and I hope to stay around.
Call me. I’m in the book. We can chat.

a profile so low a caterpillar looked tall to them.

‘t was an election you will tell

your grandchildren about. On

Oct. 17,1991, an era in British
Columbia ended. The Social Cred-
it party, which had ruled the
province for 37 of the past 40
years, faded into oblivion.

The trend became obvious soon
after the polls closed. The NDP
was headed for a decisive victory,
which didn’t surprise the pundits.
What did surprise them, however,
was the Liberal i

For the Socreds, it wasn't just a
defeat, it was a rout. As the results

from
Victoria

f| Hubert BEYER

year

i
E

Premier Rita J
own seat.

Bill Vander Zalm and his five-

i roller-coaster

the biggest upset.
johnston lost her

scandal-ridden,
government pro-ved too big an ob-

marks for the best speech I have
ever heard her give. Her conces-
sion speech was gracious, eloquent

Still, I doubt whether it
would have been enough.

D’Arcy’s second-place finish makes it diffi-
cult to settle the issue of whether the NDP car-
ried D’Arcy in those previous elections or D’Ar-
cy carried the NDP. He still managed more
than 3,500 votes and beat Socred Walter

He did it without the structure or financial
support of an established political party. And
he did it with a campaign that only got off the
ground several days after the election had al-
ready started.

please see NORMAN page A7

Number of Liberal seats surprises experts

proved them wrong.

A lot of British Columbians
were obviously looking for an al-
ternative to Social Credit. Wilson
offered them that alternative, and
voters didn’t much care whether
he or his candidates had any par-
liamentary experience.

Wilson admitted that he and his
team were short on experience,
but he rnp that one —

OtherVIEWS }

Please address
all letters to:

Letters to the
Editor
Castlegar News
P.O. Box 3007
B.c.

VIN3H4 |
or deliver them to
197 Columbia

Castl

days gone by. I'm looking forward to returning to

pleasures of your park.

and the

Wesley Shafonsky
Placentia, Calif.

5 Personal
with the job you should be

grudges aside and get on
doing.

Dorothy Martini
A die-hard Rebels fan

that spirits resides in all

belief of the Indonesian people is
things.
And although the modern

Beyer

continued from page A6

Who would have predicted this
outcome five years ago when the
Socreds were taken to one of its
biggest victories ever?

Few people would ever have
suspected that five years later,
Social Credit would draw its last
gasp. Even fewer people would
have predicted that the Liberals
would be the next official
Opposition.

Wilson will now face the task of
forging his untried band of newly
elected MLAs into Her Majesty’s
Loyal Opposition, which will be a
little more difficult than
haranguing opponents on TV.
Our system of parli

I suspect that we'll also know
fairly soon what the pitiful
remnant of the defeated Social
Credit party will do. It is highly
doubtful that the few Socreds who
managed to escape the voters’
wrath will be able to rebuild the
party.

If they are true to their own
philosophy, they will now have to
lay the foundations for a united
free-enterprise slate to contest the
next election.

And that means they will have
toallow themselves to be absorbed
by the Liberals.

.The NDP sweep will make
some segments of the business

y
democracy depends not only on
good government, but on an
effective opposition. We'll soon
find out whether Wilson can
deliver.

nervous, but only
some. Captains of industry,
officer Adam Zimmerman have
stated publicly that they don't fear
the NDP.

Harcourt is no stranger to
people like Zimmerman. For the
past four years, he has met with
business leaders all over the
province to allay fears that a

government would
repeat some of the mistakes the
Dave Barrett government made.

Some other traditionally
conservative quarters also seem to
be convinced that Harcourt will
not experiment with matters
economic.

The staid Globe and Mail, the
Vancouver Sun and the Provi

nesia is officially 95 per cent
Muslim and five per cent
Christian, the people never
completely abandoned the various
older native religions, mainly
Buddhism, Hinduism and
os =
t’s a cultural pro! ”
Vanderpol said. »

“The Javanese (inhabitants of
the Java Islands group) is a firm
believer in spirits.”

France Vanderpol added: “Only
cace pave I seen a tractor in a

Despite all this, Vanderpol said
he’s seen much progress since his
first sojourn in Indonesia as a
soldier 40 years earlier.

“They have done the basic
things,” he said. “They have lifted
the People up so that
d lization can begin. I

endorsed the NDP, the first time
in each of the papers’ history.

And finally, I’d like to say that
after all these years of often
having to lambaste the Socreds, I
am ing forward to a new
target.

foresee 2 great future for the

country.

And in the final analysis,
Vanderpol says he’s become
infected with the simple charm of
the native spirit: “Isn't it
interesting that there’s so much
spirit?”

Norman

continued from page AG
The case for the NDP is just as

strong.

The New Democrats and Ed
Conroy put on an unheard-of-
display in Rossland-Trail. Conroy
won every poll in the riding — the
first time that’s ever been done.
That makes me wrong again. I
had written in an earlier column

Rossland-Trail? Well, for the first
time in 16 years we have a
member on the government side of
the House. That will be an
advantage, but not much of an
advantage as it may appear. There
are another 50 or so New
Democrat MLAs on_ the
government side. Like Conroy,
they will all be looking for
preferred treatment for their
ridings.

And Conroy's chances of being
named to Premier-elect Mike
Harcourt’s first cabinet appear
slim. The NDP has a number of
experienced MLAs who have sat
in the legislative trenches for

years.
They will be given the cabi

provincial government. That’s
probably how it should be.
That doesn't mean he might not
bi material i

it wasn’t with anything near what
he showed during the campaign.
That comes with time and

down the road. After all, former
Nelson-Creston MLA Howard
Dirks was named to cabinet in his
first term.

Like D’Arcy and other

rookie politicians before him,

Conroy will have to grow into his
new position.

Finally, I was wrong when I

d in i that

The New Democrats and
Ed Conroy put on an
unheard-of-display in

Rossland-Trail. Conroy
won every poll in the riding
— the first time that’s ever

been done.

Conroy's name would be first on
the ballot. Iris Bakken didn't have
to adopt D’Arcy after all to get his
name first —the names aren't
in alphabetical order.

Instead, the candidate for the
governing party at the time of
dissolution is listed first on the

ballot,
the official Opposition, then the
other iti i i

and the seats on the front

feet wet and to give him a
to learn about the workings of the

One thing Conroy will have to
work on is his speaking; he is not a
polished speaker. But then I
wonder what D’Arcy must spoken
like when he first ran in 1972. I bet

Oh yes,
thing: I