Saturday, August 1, 1992 @

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OurWiEWS

Adrian RAESIDE

3
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Op

Dave McCullough
Publisher

Scott David
Harrison
Editor

Mickey Read
Composing Room
Foreman

Warren Chernoff
Accountant

Heather Hadley
Circulation Manager
Burt Campbell
Publisher Emeritus
L.V. Campbell

Aug. 7, 1947-
Feb. 15, 1973

Shattering
the dream

he Regional District of
Central Kootenay’s Solid
Waste Management Plan is a

lid waste of time.

* The plan, which is designed to help
our vast region contain the growing
problem of garbage’ disposal is
carelessly short-shorted and lacks an
inspired vision for recycling into the
21st Century.

Much to the chagrin of local
residents, the RDCK appears to be
tossing out public opinion while
adopting a consultant’s report as the

1 truth. :

One needs to look no further than
the RDCK’s plans for Ootischenia to
discover that the plan is flawed. The
Stage 2 report sees Ootischenia as
the most desirable landfill site in the
RDCK. For that reason, the RDCK
appears hellbent on making
Ootischenia pick up the proverbial
slack.

Under the residual management
section of the commissioned report,
Ootischenia could be the only landfill
site in the district. In fact, of the five
options being explored under residual
management, Ootischenia appears
five times. i

Is it little wonder local politicians
are up in arms at the prospect of
Ootischenia becoming a wasteland
for unwanted garbage?

As ironic as it sounds, the
Ootischenia site is a district’s dream.
Well managed and well maintained.

That dream will turn into to
nightmare, however, if the RDCK
implements this Stage 2 plan.

een en
i

rm fed up with

Is it me, or is the constant

doctors debate

office every time I ask my

whining of the B.C. Medical
Association becoming
nauseating?
I can’t flip open a
newspaper, turn on a radio
or watch TV without seeing
some well-to-do physician
crying poor. Heck, if it
wasn’t for the diligent work
of News reporter Glen
Freeman or the public’s
right to know, I'd sooner run
Playboy’s dirty joke list.
Okay, so were a

- sp HARRISON

Harrison
Comparison

publisher for a raise. I
huff, I puff and I storm
into his office only to walk
away with a little less
dignity and no extra cash.

Let’s face it, the
province is in an economic
tail spin and I’m taking a
parachute along for the
ride. I suggest the doctors
assume a crash position,
because there’s no pot of
gold at the end of this
rainbow.

I won’t pretend to know

‘community paper’ and that
kind of thing wouldn’t wash ;
with head office, but I’m tired of hearing
about the decay of our medical system
because of a lack of funding. Boo hoo.

Here’s an idea: Take the keys to your
BMW, drive to the nearest resort and drown
your sorrows in a bottle of Dom Perignon. A
little Perrier for those non-drinkers, of
course.

The lack-of-funding logic is a popular one
in B.C. — heck, it’s even popular in this

Streef TALK

the facts in the BCMA-
NDP box-off. All I know is what I hear and
those sounds should be left in the maternity
ward. ; :
Perhaps I’m being unfair with our
medical professionals. Maybe they deserve
everything they are asking for and-more...
nah, they’re being babies. ; .
These wild childs have had help in their
regression towards Annoyingville, however.
please see HARRISON page 7

oe
*«

‘Question: Do the emissions from our pulp mill con

cern you at all?

t%

Christal Duckworth
Castlegar

“Yes, because my
husband works
there.”

Tracey Saver
Castlegar

Janet Littlejohn
Blueberry
“Not so much as it “Yes.”
bothers the people in
Castlegar.”

Sam Arabia
Castlegar

Amelia John
Castlegar

“Of course.” “No, not really.”

* Tast names,

@ Saturday, August 1, 1992

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and taste.

Letters toWHE

EDITOR

The future of the B.C. forest industry lies
in small-scale community forestry,
competitive bidding and secondary
manufacturing.

A recently released report by the
Ministry of Forests confirms this and points
to companies like Canadian Woodworks
Ltd. of Prince George.

Using skilled labor and high technology,
they produce casement windows, door jams
and moulding stock, patio doors, rails and
stiles for markets around the world.

On the road again!

We have now made our way to the
birthplace of confederation _
Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Thanks to the dedicated efforts of a
member of a local Kiwanis club, we are
actually writing this report on the Plaza of
Confederation Centre in downtown
Charlottetown, collecting signatures of
Canadians from all over the country as
they walk across the plaza from “Province
House”, where the fathers of confederation
met in 1864 to create a new country —
Canada.

On the way to the Maritimes, we spent
more than a week in Quebec. For some time
we have been carefully reading the Quebec
press and were most interested to monitor
their reaction to the latest constitutional
agreement of July 7 which included the
Triple-E Senate.

What emerges very clearly is that the
feeling of betrayal surrounding the
constitutional crisis is extremely deep-
seated and long-standing, dating really
from the early 80’s when Trudeau
repatriated the constitution without the
agreement of the Quebec government.

There are very few real separatists in
Quebec but an awful lot of preservationists.

Those who consider it imperative that
Quebec has the means to protect and
preserve what it has painstakingly built
over 350 years — a homeland for its
language, its culture and its way of life.

It seems that we in English-speaking

/-Canada have not been well served by our

media in explaining the Quebec side of the
issue.

This has lead to stereotyping and
hardened’ positions that make

“The company harvests 100,000 cubic
metres of timber per year... to keep 68
people working for 12 months a year. This
is in stark contrast to Carrier Lumber Ltd.
located adjacent to CWL.

“Carrier harvests 480,000 cubic metres
per year and employs under 20 people in
their mill for less than six months of the
year.” Bid Proposal Program Review (P.49)

Forestry’s timber allocations to
secondary manufacturers should be
increased, while the multinational forest

Kiwanis Canada
Unity Tour

The KETCHUMS

constitutional solutions even more difficult.
As New Brunswick Premier Frank
McKenna said to us whén we met with him
last Friday: “It’s like trying to change the
tires on a car as it hurtles down the
highway at 100 kilometres an hour”.

‘(McKeena’s) mood when
discussing the constitution could
only be described as sombre and

somewhat pessimistic. His last
words were “all we can do now is
pray for the country.”

Our meeting with McKenna took place in
Douglastown. The occasion was a caucus
meeting of all the Liberal MLAs and
cabinet ministers chaired by the premier.

On his arrival, McKenna took time to
review constitutional issues with us as well
as pose for TV and still cameras recording
the event.

His mood when discussing the
constitution could only be described as

Making the most out of smaller harvests

companies should have their quotas sharply
reduced.

Forestry will need more staff to monitor
the increase in companies, but the benefits
are obvious.

More value from less timber and
increased employment lead to stable
workforces, sustainable economies and
stable communities.

Small is indeed beautiful.

Jim Pine
Victoria

Ketchums journey continues with Maritimes appeal

sombre and somewhat pessimistic.
His last words were “all we can do now is

| pray for the country”.

Our meeting with Prince Edward Island
Premier Joe Ghiz took place Tuesday, in the
cabinet room in downtown Charlottetown.

We had frequently been told that Ghiz
was extremely personable and this proved
to be the case.

In short sleeves and tieless, he slipped
into the cabinet room by a side door with
little of the “grand entrance” we have come
to associate with high office.

His analysis of current events was
especially refreshing.

Ghiz’s apparent
constitution crisis?

“Put the whole thing off for another
generation”.

Not our preferred approach, but an
interesting position nevertheless.

So far we have travelled over 10,000
kilometres on this trip and we’re only at
the half-way point.

From P.E.I. we move on later this week
to Halifax for a meeting with Premier
Donald Cameron of Nova Scotia, the last of
the nine provincial leaders to endorse our
project.

We will then return to Quebec to present
the signed “Premiers” banner to Premier
Robert Bourassa in Quebec City.

We then expect to spend the month of
August and part of September travelling
throughout Quebec with our message of
Canadian unity, including visits to Kiwanis
clubs where possible.

Naturally, we shall carry with us the
banner signed by ordinary Canadians from
across the country.

Wish us luck.

solution to the

Harrison

continued from page 7

B.C. Health Minister
Elizabeth Cull has allowed the
debate to escalate to ridiculous
proportions because she refuses
to lay down the fiscal law.

On Monday, it’s no... on
Tuesday, it’s maybe... on
Wednesday, it’s yes.

Come on, weather vain
politics hardly garnishes the
respect of an association as
powerful and well-financed as
the BCMA.

I say sack Cull. Put her in
the back benches where she

obviously belongs.

Replace her with some tough
nut like Social Services
Minister Joan Smallwood who,
pleasant demeanor and all, can
rattle a cage with a
jackhammer and think nothing
of it.

If Smallwood can’t do it, and
she can, perhaps the NDP can
borrow the Progressive
Conservatives’ John Crosbie for
a day. After all, if he can ban
cod fishing in his own province
of Newfoundland for two years,
he can certainly place a tiny
little thing like salary caps on

medical expenditures.

T have little sympathy for the
government with this one. The
NDP promised to negotiate and
didn’t. Instead, the NDP used

the last sitting of its coming-out

party to pass Bill 71.

They were naive to think the
BCMA would take two aspirin
and call them in the morning.

Even still, this public feud
has stretched well beyond my —
excuse the pun — patience.

Why, all the name-calling and
back-stabbing reminds me of
the seven years I spent sharing

a room with my two older
brothers. I may not have liked
seven years on the top bunk,
but I was forced to live with it
until it became economically
feasible for my parents to dump
the three-bedroom apartment
for a five-bedroom home.

Sorry for oversimplifying the
problem, but I have to. It’s the
only way I can avoid the splash
of those tears rolling down the
cheeks of our thespian-like .
doctors and acknowledge the
economic realities that we, as
British Columbians, are facing.

~