OPINION

r SS

PAGE A4, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1990

(MEMBER OF THE B.C. PRESS COUNCR,
ESTABLISHED AUGUST 7. 1947 Zones wenaon v can 6 wee

LV. CAMPBELL — puBUsien. AMGUST 7, 1947-FEBRUARY 15, 1873

EDITORIAL

Meetings needed

Ald. Terry Rogers’ description of Monday night’s public mecting
on the Celgar pulp mill expansion proposal was to the point: “‘Not ex-

citing but informative.”
But was it too little, too late?

On Nov. 26, 1989, almost 10 months ago, we commented in this
space on a meeting between Mayor Audrey Moore, her council, and
representatives of local boards, agencies and businesses, held to discuss
the possible impacts of the proposed new mill on the area. The meeting
was not open to the public or the media but we agreed with Mayor
Moore that council and other civic leaders should thoroughly discuss
the issues before attempting a public meeting.

Such a meeting, we felt, should be a “*good old-fashioned, town-
hall-type meeting’’ to give local residents a chance to have their

questions answered.

Two months later, on Jan. 2h, 1990, we

meeting be held to discuss the issues.

Eight months later we’ve had a meeting — less than two weeks
before public hearings are scheduled to start on the expansion proposal
— and Mayor Moore correctly called it ‘‘a good exchange of infor-

mation.””

We're of the opinion that the exchange of information should have
taken place months ago and continued at other Public meetings such as
Monday’s right up until the public hearings.

Had such meetings occurred,

Perhaps some of the fear, anger,

name-calling and intolerance of others’ beliefs which have been
displayed by both sides of the expansion issue could have been averted.
Castlegar council’s Celgar Expansion Advisory Group, which we
think has done an outstanding job gathering inf. i and
questioning experts about the Celgar project, i M "s
meeting. If the reason for waiting until such a late date to hold the
meeting was to give the advisory group a chance to delve further into

Celgar’s second stage

LS)

LETTERS TO

THE EDITOR

ECA won't play

The Kootenay-O} Electric Ci

* Saving costs may be a good idea, but not at
the expense of public information and public

Association has refused to endorse West Kootenay
Power’s plan to include a rate increase for 1992 in
its upcoming rate hearing. The 1990-91 rate
hearing, to be conducted by the B.C. Utilities
Commission in Rossland starting Oct. 22, will deal
with the company’s 5.5 per cent interim rate

. increase effective Jan. 1, 1990, as well as.an increase

for next year. WKP recently contacted the ECA
and other intervenors from past hearings to
persuade them that 1992 rates should be included in
this hearing as well.

The ECA that today’s

in WKP policies. Rate hearings deal

Canada is going to allow B.C. Hydro to continue to
use PCP on utility poles. If Agriculture Canada
sees fit to ban PCP in one situation, why is it

not only with rate but also
and maintenance policy, rate design and’
conservation programs.

* WKP’s concern about the need to reduce
costs could be much more convincing if WKP had
not previously squandered $1.4 million (which
ratepayers must pay) in attempting to install‘an
uneconomical and unnecessary gas/oil turbine
plant in Oliver. Skepticism about WKP’s concern
about reducing costs is heightened even more as the

i to spend money in
ing for a new gas/oil turbine site.

climate is too uncertain to allow accurate
forecasting beyond 1991.

“With economists predicting a major recession
and energy prices skyrocketing because of the
Persian Gulf crisis, West Kootenay Power will be
wasting everyone’s time and money if it tries to
guess what rates should be more than two years
from now,”’ stated ECA president Bill Campbell.
“The company may claim that including 1992 now
will postpone a future hearing and save money. But
forecasting prices is risky at any time and when
forecasting is obviously unusually difficult for 1992
it is not prudent to even attempt to do so.""

ECA directors from all over the WKP service
area who participated in the decision made these

The ECA has sent letters announcing its
decision to both WKP and the B.C. Utilities
Commission.

Donald Scarlett
Kaslo

Ban PCP

Agriculture Canada, has just registered new
pesticides for use as a wood preservative or
antisapstain for the B.C, lumber market. The new

icides replace Pp (PCP) which
will be deregistered as an antisapstain at the end of
1990.

PCP is being banned because it is a potential
human carcinogen and because of its high dioxin

to allow its use in another?

In Canada, studies have shown that over 60 per
cent of poultry and pork samples tested contained
PCP. Also, PCP is frequently detected in drinking
water. Burning PCP-contaminated wood waste
Poses a significant problem because the burning
creates dioxins.

In Merritt, ground water is found to be
contaminated by PCP near mill sites. In the
Merritt school district, the Cancer Control Agency
Of B.C. study cites significantly elevated
mortalilties for five different types of cancers, in
particular non-Hodgkins lymphgma.

P wood éhip.

was found at the Kamloops pulp mill in the 1980s.
A report states elevated chlorophenols from the
Kamloops pulp mill effluent have been detected in
Ashcroft’s and Savona’s water supply in parts per
billion, yet no one has ever informed the residents
of either city.

The Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada
believe that PCP should be banned completely and
therefore have decided to appeal B.C. Hydro’s
pesticide permits.

Safety Officer

CRisi

S

HELP Line

rowenta mie LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Agenda revealed

It appears the Valhalla Society’s real agenda is
now public. The group is running out of issucs
because Ceigar has answered them alll. It appears
Valhalla Society members now are reduced to

this they are calling for “‘imtervenor funding.”’
In a press release Sept. 2, two Vathalla

directors boasted that the Alberta and Northwest

Territori $306,000 in

impact then we're

puzzled because the panel of experts on stage Monday were all officials

from p who

some good answers.

So we see no reason why these officials couldn’t have been invited
to participate at public meetings much earlier on. Had they done so, t
emotional level of the public debate may have been i

abated.

J

VIEWPOINT

Premier keeps
experts guessing

By GORDON GRANT

VANCOUVER — Talk at the
greasy spoon is about the lousy state
of the British Columbia Lions, the
chances of the Toronto Blue Jays and
this fall’s election in British Colum-
bia.

Premier Bill Vander Zalm hasn't
called an election, but if the chatter
over morning coffee is accurate,
that’s a technicality.

At least it was until the New
Democrats battered the Liberals in
Ontario on Sept. 6, perhaps giving
Vander Zalm second thoughts.

A guy with his belly obscuring his
belt buckle says the election will be in
October. His listeners agree, either
because of his political savvy or
because of his bulging biceps.

Whatever, specuiatior is that Van-
der Zalm is on the campaign trail.

The Social Credit premier, though,
has fooled people before, especial:
so-called experts.

In January he went on television to
announce his future and the smart
money said he was about to quit.

Instead he gave a speech about the
good his government had done and
said he was staying as leader, leaving
viewers to speculate on why he had
bothered using the air time.

And he’s got those experts baffled
again.

He has sold Fantasy Gardens — a
biblical theme part he owned with his
wife — and, with that millstone gone,
will be in a better position to free his
mind for an election.

Or, they say, he’ll take the millions
of dollars from the sale and quit
Politics. Or the sale will give his op-
Ponénts ammunition for charges that
he was in a conflict of interest because
he feted the Fantasy Gardens buyer at
his office in Victoria and at Gover-
nment House.

The government has endured
repeated scandals and constant inter-
nal fighting, but the ever-smiling
Premier has recently had his cabinet
on the road and he has been attending
town-hall meetings away from the
major centres.

Socred TV advertisements take pot-
shots at the Opposition New
Democrats. A sad aside was that a
chameleon used to illustrate the

Socred view of the NDP’s
changeability died after one day of
filming.

The NEw Democrats are ready for
a fall vote. They’ve nominated 71
candidates with only four more to be
mamed, and leader Mike Harcourt
says the party is buoyed by the On-
tario victory.

Harcourt, who beat Vander Zalm
in a Vancouver mayoral race in 1984,
has been virtually invisible in recent
months.

Socreds say he fears putting his
foot in his mouth. Others, also
Socreds, say he hasn't anything to say
and even if he did he’s an uninspiring
orator.

Meanwhile, Gordon Wilson, ever
the optimist, says he is ready to lead
the Liberals from obscurity.

. a 41-year-old father of

three years ago to become unpaid
leader of the Liberals. Instead of
making $50,000 a year he is doing
substitute teaching and preparing for
the election.

“Yes, it’s a fairly significant finan-
cial sacrifice, but I thought. it was
worth the chance,"" Wilson says.

Some say he has a better chance of
“winning a lottery. The last time
Liberals were in power in British
Columbia was in 1941, and the party
is poverty-stricken_

Additionally, there isn’t a com-
pelling issue for a third party to ex-
ploit, says Edward McWhinney, a
constitutional law expert at Simon
Fraser University

Wilson, however, sees some good
for the B.C. Liberals im the recent
slaughter of the Ontario Liberals.

The Ontario vote, he says, showed
@ voter willingness to reject the status
quo. He sees the same thing hap-
Pening in British Columbia and is
convinced his chance will come before
the end of October

As Wilson sees it, Vander Zaim is
facing public-sector bargaining and a
recession in 1991 and will want to
have an election first

One thing is sure, the guy in the
restaurant and Wilson are on the
same waveiength

Gordon Grant writes for The
(Canadian Press.

funding in the recent hearings on the
Proposed $1.2 billion Alberta-Pacific mill in
Alberta. Now isn’t that a mice prize for protesting?

residents travelling
Appledale, especiallly since she came from New
Denver. | also note that when the mecting was in
New Denver, Ceigar supporters were
that the mecting_

Perhaps it is time these self-proclaimed
“environmental activists” listened to what other
working people have to say. We must not be fooled
by these people into believing they are the only
environmentalists in this area.

I know many who have taken the time to study
the issues, inform themselves and, after much
reflection, now support Céigar’s i

At the same meeting, Conroy suggested the EEC
Economic Community) might boycott
the pulp mill “because we're ing our

others too) were left at the bus stop. My daughter
had to walk home from Kinnaird elementary to

forests or our environment.”

Does anyone remember May 2 when the
Castlegar News reported Conroy warning of a
federal or joint U_S.-Canadian review might be
initiated following the provincial review process?

it must hurt to have a leg on both sides of the
fence, Ed.

If it was only one issuc it might not be so bad.
Consider, however, trucks.

On June 13, Nancy Rode of the Trail Times
reported Conroy saying *“CPR is being farsighted
in its decision when it allows trucking to become the
carrier of availability for logging trucks.”” He was
addressing Rossland city council.

But on June 25, Conroy stated the cheap way
of doing business is often not the smart way . . . and
Proposed that rail traffic might be more
appropriate even if more costly im dollars and cents.

Read another Castlegar News and Conroy
says, Castlegar must “‘gear up" to deal with more
chip trucks driving through the community if the
mill project goes ahead.

What can you expect from a candidate who
Slates to the press that he docs not have the time or
the resources to research all his ideas?

‘The Castlegar News reported Conroy said
People expect a politician to support positions that
are right for everyone in the constituency, not in the
Politician’s own interest. This is not as easy as it
appears to be, however, when trying to ascertain
Conroy’s position. The NDP’s relationship to the

The Vathalla newsletter states, “Your heip is
urgently needed to stop Ceigar’s proposed $630
million expansion to its Castiegar pulp mill.””

It is clear from that statement that the Valhalla
directors want only to stop the mill and want to use
our tax dollars to do it.

John Coyle
Robson

Fence sitting

A famous statesman once said, “You can fool
some of the people alll of the time, and some of the
People some of the time, but you can’t fool all of
the people alll of the time.””

With this in mind, I would like to present some
facts to the local electorate to aid them when it
comes time to make a decision.

On May 6, Castlegar News reporter Claudette
Sandecki covered the NDP nomination mecting
where Ed Conroy won by a 2-1 margin. She
reported that “Conroy wants public hearings on
the issue (Celgar expansion) and says the major
Project review process Ceigar is undergoing should
take as long as necessary to address all the concerns
raised over the project.”

On June 26, according to Trail Times

the audience was the chamber of commerce.

is once again this time
locally.

No wonder Chris D’ Arcy warned in the Trail
Times on May 7 of dire consequences in the next
election for the NDP should the vote go against
him.

Pasi Jobasioa
Trt

Bus problems

1 am writing this letter to inform you of a
Problem in regards to the bus transportation from
Blueberry to Kinnaird elementary school

There is a very dangerous situation happening
on the Blueberry bus going to and coming from
Kinnaird elementary. On the bus, four students are
required to share a seat and students are also
required to stand while the bus is travelling
Legally, there should not be more than two
Students to a seat (some seats will hold three) on the
bus and no standing permitted.

Furthermore, students of all ages are being left
behind at Kinnaird elementary, having to walk
home and fend for themscives. I shudder to think
what could happen to one of these children having
to walk along Columbia Avenue and Highway 22

y as she was not permitted fo go back to
the school to use the telephone to call me.

I find this very outrageous and dangerous. It
really angers me that the responsibility this school
board has is for us to write a letter and then we'll
deal with the problem. This should not be the
approach taken.

This should have been dealt with prior to
school opening. The school board and the principal
of Kinnaird elementary knew last year in May and
June of the overcrowding on the Blueberry bus.
Why wasn’t anything done prior to school
opening?

I feel that the school board should be

lying safe and il ion for
our children — they are our future and-yours. I
would like to see at least one or more additional
buses added to the bus route from Blueberry to
Kinnaird elementary and from Kinnaird elementary
to Blueberry. If any child is left behind again, the
school board should be supplying alternate
tramsportation for these children to their homes.

My daughter is one of many in a class of 30 i
and more in Grade 6 attending Kinnaird af
elementary. Other classes in Kinnaird
are just as large. Class sizes of this size do not offer
the students a quality education as in other schools.
This situation could be alleviated if the Blueberry
school was opened. I would like to know what the
school board intends to do about the class sizes at
Kinnaird elementary. Haven't the school board
trustees been promising us “‘quality education?”’
How can large classes of 30 and more offer
“quality education?’”

If the Blueberry school was open, the Problem
of transporting the students from Blueberry to
K rd el 'y would be i and the
school board would save “‘money”’ from hiring
more bus drivers and buying more buses.
Louise Scott
Blueberry

additional points:

content. For some strange reason, Agriculture

Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada
Kamloops

REMEMBER WHEN

4 YEARS AGO
From the Sept. 21, 1950
Castle News

The Village Commissioners have
accepted a tender for the naming and
numbering of the streets.

Four-by-four posts, one at each in-
tersection, painted white with the
name or number in red, will be in-

“stalled.
*“ 8 «

The announcement was made
yesterday that the Sons of Freedom
will be released from jail in a few
days, and will be allowed to return to
their homes.

* 6 6

Mr. O. Walker, superintendent in
charge of the water system, stated in a
brief interview Tuesday that the
system is completely connected up
and water is flowing in all mains and
household lines.

He said that there was still some
back-filling and regrading to be done
and that there was a pump yet to be
installed.

25 YEARS AGO
From the Sept. 9, 1965
Castlegar News

Tenders will be called on Monday
for phase one of construction of West
Kootenay Regional College here.

Grits

continued from page A4
contributing to Carstairs”
seats.

But really, the Liberals didn’t do
that badly. :

Though they lost 14 seats and were
left with seven, they held 28 per cent
of the popular vote, just one per cent
less than the NDP. Problem was,
their vote was distributed across all
geographical and economic lines, not
like the NDP’s.

loss of

Please address all letters to the editor
to: Letters to the Editor, News,
P.O. Box 3007, , B.C. VIN 3H4,
or deliver them to our office at 197
Columbia Ave. in Castlegar.

Letters should be typewritten, double-
Spaced and not longer than 300 words.

Letters MUST be signed and include
the writer's first and last names, address
and a t number at which the
writer can be reached between 9 a.m. and
5 p.m. The writer's name and city or town
of i only will be Only
in exceptional cases will letters be
published without the writer's name.

on their way home from Kinnaird yto
Blueberry. These students are five year olds up to
12 year olds. On Sept. 7, one little boy age six was
left standing at the bus stop waiting to go home.
Imagine how frightened this little one feit. Last

. the name, address and

t number of the writer MUST be
disclosed to the editor.

The Castlegar News reserves the right

to edit letters for brevity, clarity, legality,

Twenty eight per cent is less than
the 35 per cent they won in 1988, but a
lot more than the six per cent they had
in 1981, a few years before Carstairs
came on the scene.

Carstairs, who accepted the loss
gracefully but shed tears for her fallen
colleagues, reminded supporters of
that fact Tuesday night

“Let us not forget that if this was
two years ago, we would be absolutely
delighted with the results tonight,”
she said.

The day after, Carstaiis assured
everyone she had no immediate plans
to quit and would wait and see what
the party decided next March, when it
holds its annual meeting.

“I'm not retiring between now and
the next leadership review,”’ she said.

Directors of the Hi Arrow Arms
Motor Hotel asked Kinnaird council
at its meeting Tuesday night to rezone
the adjacent lots seven and eight to
general business.

Director Leo Bosse said purchase
of the lots owned by another hotel
proposal have given the Hi Arrow
Arms more property than it requires.

so ee

i council
from the twin villages of Castlegar
and Kinnaird are to meet with
Municipal Affairs Minister Dan
Campbell in Victoria on Tuesday to
discuss ‘‘big policy’’ affecting
establishment of a district
municipality here.
se oe

A tongue-in-cheek suggestion that

Castlegar lawyer M.E. Moran run for

auspices of the provincial
nment.

gover-

* 6 .
in B.C.’s p rT
forest dispute were to resume in Vic-
toria yesterday afternoon following
two hours of meetings on Tuesday.
ery .

Fall cleanup for the City of
Castlegar wiil take place Sept. 29 to
Oct. 10.

Residents will be informed of exact
dates for pickup in the various sec-
tions and be given guidelines as to
what type of refuse may be set out for
collection.

5 YEARS AGO
From the Sept. 11, 1985
Castlegar News

An independent study recommends
a $1 million expansion-and-tenovation
for the West Kootenay National

council in Di was

made at the village’s council meeting.
15 YEARS AGO
From the Sept. 18, 1975
Castlegar News

Approval of 78 housing units worth
in excess of $2 million are to be built
in Trail and Castlegar under the

Centre.
The proposed expansion would
take place in two phases and more
than double the size of the NEC
building, from 5,900 square feet to

9,750 square feet.
. .

Selkirk College is facing more

budget cuts in the next fiscal year.
College information officer Joe
Lintz said the college is in for a four
per cent cut.in operating capital, while
reflects about a $4 million reduction.
oe
A Castlegar business had an unex-
pected visitor Tuesday afternoon
when a car crashed through its front
door.
- 8 6
More than 60 Castlegar residents
turned out Sunday morning for the
fifth annual Terry Fox Run for cancer
research.

40-30-30
Coming Soon!

“We Make

Buying
Insurance

Eosy” vote
Cohoe Insurance
Agency Ltd.

1127-4th St., Castlegar

1335 Columbia Avenue

365-7111

“I wouldn't mind secing it sped up.””

Monday after school, my daughter (and several

grammar and taste.

Manitoba Grit runs out of fuel

By NELLE OOSTEROM

WINNIPEG —

Carstairs pulled her Manitoba Liberal
Party out of oblivion in 1988, she was
like a fresh wind blowing across a
stale political landscape.

She was Wonder Woman then, a
fiery premicr-in-waiting, Canada’s
first female leader of an official Op-
Position party. She was the woman
who would kill Meech Lake.

Two and a half years later, her dark
ha is streaked with many more
strands of grey. Now, perhaps un-
fairly, she is seen as the woman who
just couldn't take the heat

Tuesday night, her party threatened
to slip back into the shadows as
Liberals lost two-thirds of their seats
and fell to No. 3 im the legislature
while Tories took command.

What happened im those 21 years?
Where do Carstairs and her party go

from bere? Perhaps no one, including
(Carstairs herself, is sure.

History, some ill-timed comments,
the fall of David Peterson in Ontario

economic

The NDP have the north and the
poor immer-city ridings, the Conser-
vatives have the wealthy suburbs and
the prosperous farming areas of the

geographical and
lines.

Tobias Crawford Norris from 1915-
1922.

His government was hailed as a
focus for reform activity in Canada in
forerunner to the NDP, even existed.

tranquilizers after the Meech Lake
meetings in Ottawa in June did
nothing to rev up the Grit machine.
Neither did het public doubts about
staying in politics.
Running a campaign that attacked
the Tories on their strong points —

combined with distrust of the Conser-
vatives and hostility towards the then-
governing NDP. was the engine that
drove her party im 1988.

But with the Meech Lake issue
purloined by Premier Gary Filmon,
Carstairs, 48, ran out of fuei.

As someone who prided herself on
being open, the former school
teacher’s admission she took mild

ke ip and the iy — Car-
Stairs sounded increasingly on the
defensive as the 35-day race drew toa
close.

In the end, she was accusing Filmon
and NDP Leader Gary Doer of
sexism, saying they discredited her by
rolling their eyes when she made a
point during debates, something they
didn’t do to each other.

The fall of Peterson's Liberals in
Ontario and NDP Leader Bob Rae’s

Gilles Roch, a former Tory member
who crossed the floor to sit with the
Liberals but did not run in this elec-
tion, says Carstairs leadership is not
in question.

“If it wasn’t for Sharon Carstairs,
the Liberal party wouldn't even have
this many seats to lose."”

Nelle Oosterom writes for The
Canadian Press.

KUWAHARA
MOUNTAIN BIKE

* DRAW TO BE HELD WED., OCT. 31, 1990

7,341

People can’t
be wrong!

Let's get on
with the Celgar
Modernization!

CASTLEGAR

NAME:

ADDRESS:
PHONE:

AGE:

ED
se
Ws & DisTRICT~ »
i =

Bring this entry form to us for a lucky chance to win!

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