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Vol. 41, No. 56 \

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News

CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 1988

WEATHERCAST

Showers Thursday, with afternoon
sun. Highs neor 23 with a 30 per
cent chance of precipitation. Friday
will be, mainly sunny, with

3 Sections (A, B& C)

Protesters

By BRENDAN NAGLE
Staff Writer

About 15 people gathered out in
front of Nelson-Creston MLA How-
ard Dirks’ office yesterday to protest
his “lack of interest” concering the
Castlegar-Robson ferry closure.

Derek Todd, of the Robson-Rasp-
berry Ferry Users Ad Hoc Commit-
tee, said the _ protesters
demonstrated at Dirks’ constituency
headquarters to express their
concern over the MLA's apparent
disinterest in the ferry closure.

Contract
settlement

near

VANCOUVER (CP) — Contract
talks between the British Columbia
pulp industry and its two unions
were adjourned until today amidst
signs an agreement is near.

Negotiators for the Pulp and Paper
Industrial Relations Bur the
Canadian Paperworkers Union and
the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of
Canada met for almost 12 hours

,“Tuesday, shuttling back and forth

—between separate caucus meetings
‘before meeting together briefly sev
eral times.

A news blackout is in effect, but a
source close to the talks said most of
the discussion Tuesday focused on
clarifying certain points in the wage

and benefits package — the maipl

stumbling block in, reaching the
three-year agreement.

Union membets had set a Friday
strike deadline after earlier/ arming
themselves with an 89 per cént strike
vote. The’ unions, howgver, have
agreed Aot to issue 72‘hour strike
notice as long as the talks are pro-
gressing.

The unions have been seeking
wage increases of $1.05 an hour in
the first year, 6.5 per cent in the
second and six per ¢éht in the final
year of a three-year pact. The cur-
rent base rate is $14.48 an hour.

When talks broke off in June, the
companies had offered 70 cents, 4.5
per cent_and five per cent respec-
tively.

“It's escaped him that people are
upset about the ferry closure,” Todd
told the Castlegar News today. “We
found it’s clear that he doesn’t speak
for us.”

The ferry was shut down April 26
because of low water levels on the
Columbia River. The ferry service
had not re-started when the water
levels rose as former Highways
Minister Stephen Rogers said the
ferry was unsafe because of a small
hole in the hull of the vessel.

On May 10, the Robson-Raspberry

gather at Dirks' office

Ferry Users Ad Hock Committee
started its occupation of the ferry.
The next day the Highways Ministry
officially announced it had ceased
operation of the service. The
committee has maintained its 24-hour
vigil on the ferry ever. since.

Todd said Dirks appeared upset at
the presence of the protesters but
remained ambivalent to the point
they were trying to get across.

“I don't know whether we
managed to get through to Mr. Dirks

or not,” Todd said. “He wasn't
particularly happy that people
showed up at his office. But -he did
say he was not going to be opposing
our views at the cabinet meeting
today.”

Margaret Mason, Howard Dirks’
assistant, said the arrival of the
protesters took Dirks by surprise but
didn’t create any problems.

“It was quite a surprise, they just
arrived here,” she told the Castlegar
News today. “But we encourage

ARR OT irre ra cots mancaeny

WALK FOR LIFE. .

. Area residents participate in
the Canadians For Life walk through Castlegar

this afternoon. Canadians For Life are working

towards an anti-abortion law in Canada and will
hold a rally in Ottawa this September

CosNews Photo

Federal ridings redrawn

(CP)
enjoy Canada’s great national pas-
time — Ottawa bashing — will soon
have 13 new reasons to grumble.
That's because federal redistribu

OTTAWA

People who

tion — which redraws electoral
boundaries across the country and
creates 13 new ridings — comes irito
effect for any general election called
after today.

So when the votes are counted
after the election expected this fall or
in the spring, there'll be 295 MPs in
Ottawa instead of the current 282.

Four more seats in Ontario ups its
total to 99 — the most of any
Canadian province. Alberta will get
five new MPs, bringing its total to 26,
while the addition of four seats will
give British Columbia 32 MPs.

And the sweeping update of the
electoral map — constitutionally re-
quired every 10 years to reflect pop
ulation shifts — leaves the bound-
aries of only 13 ridings unchanged.

Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's
hometown of Baie-Comeau is shaved
out of his northern Quebec riding of
Manicouagan and added to neigh-
boring Charlevoix. He has not an
nounced where he will run,

But redistribution is good news for
the government.

If the 1984 election results are
applied to the new map, the Tories
would pick up 17 more seats, for a
total of 228, says Andree Lortie, the
Elections Canada manager over-

cluding New Democrat Ian Waddell,
who took his battle to save his riding
of Vancouver-Kingsway all the way
to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The court decided in May not to
hear Waddell, who argued that the
entire map should be dumped be-
cause independent commissions in
each province draft maps based on
different standards, creating an un-
fair checkerboard system.

“It is a bit of a wrenching thing,
but you have to go on,” said Waddell,
who will run in the nearby riding of
Port Moody-Coquitlam. He continues
to represent his riding until the elec
tion.

And Quebec Libera! Andre Ouellet
says redistribution favors the Tories,
particularly in Montreal.

“They shave tried to arrange dis-
tribution to favor them, but I don't
think it will make a big difference,”
he said. “I think by and large the
people are fed up with the gov-
ernment.”

Liberal Leader John Turner, who
gets a third of Waddell’s riding in
Vancouver Quadra, said his majority
would have doubled if the 1984 elec.
tion had been held under the. new
boundaries.

And the removal of some rural
areas from the Oshawa, Ont., riding
of NDP Leader Ed Broadbent a
pears to work slightly in his favor, a
spokesman said.

AIM FOR FAIRNESS
Canada jh that,

seeing the $5.6-million
A handful of sitting MPs will lose
their seats under redistribution, in-

the redistribution is aimed at in-
creasing fairness in the electoral

system.

“The new map, every time it comes
into effect, we all hope it’s better for
everybody in the way that is a little
more equal and it balances off all the
votes,” Lortie said in a recent inter
view.

While the ideal is for each MP to
represent about 87,000 voters — so
each vote is roughly worth the same
amount wherever it's cast — that’s
impossible to achieve.

For instance, a vote in the tiny
province of Prince Edward Island
carries almost three times the weight
of a vote in Ontario.

That's because the Constitution

states no. province can have fewer
MPs than it has senators. The island
has four senators, and thus four seats
in the Commons, although it is en.
titled to only 1.4 MPs based on its
population.

This is the second redistribution of
the decade. The first, done for $5.7
million in 1982, was based on a 1974
formula that would have expanded
the Commons to 310 seats.

But when the Tories won the 1984
election, they felt the formula pro-
viding for an ever-growing Commons
after each redistribution would be
too costly, so a new formula was de
vised for this redistribution.

BCGEU contract

talks

VICTORIA (CP) — The B.C. Gov
ernment Employees Union, concern
ed at the slow pace of contract
negotiations with the gorvernment,
wants to lengthen the bargaining
sessions.

“The union is pushing to have
negotiating sessions daily and night
ly if necessary to complete the bar
gaining by July 31 (when the con
tract for 30,000 > tehwend workers
expires),” wi Sheila

slow

The two sides met only two days
last week, although four days of talks
had been scheduled for this week.

Fruman said during Tuesday's
meeting, negotiators reviewed union
propsdals to give employees the right
to choose their employer if their job
is privatized. The grievance arbi-
tration procedure was also discussed,
Fruman said.

The next round of discussions were
scheduled for today. Government

i S were not il for

Fruman eld te Tuesday.

comment.

people to come in rather than hinder
people in th® mall.”

The committee's lawyer, Terry
Dalton, said at one point during the
demonstration confused shoppers in
the mall wouldn't cross the line of
protesters — to get to the stores
because the group was mistaken for a
group of labor protesters.

The demonstration came two days
before the group will challenge the
provincial government in court on its
closure of the ferry

Cana

The committee believes the
closure is suspect because the
government did not issue any
warning or offer a public hearing on
the ferry before closing it down.
Somaitce member Martin Vander-
pol said in the provincial Highways
Act there is a need to gazette and
consult on a highways elosure before
closing down operations, Neither was
done by the ministry and Vanderpol
said the challenge will focus on those
points. A decision may come as early
as Thursday.

ians

wal

for

life here

By BONNE MORGAN
Staff Writer

About 20 Castlegar residents
walked through town this afternoon,
participating in the Canadians For
Life campaign to have anti-abortion
laws established in Canada.

“We want to see the unborn child
represented by law and protected by
law right from the start,” June
Lepsoe, the Castlegar group's organ-
izer told the Castlegar News.

The group strolled along Columbia
Avenue from the Castleaird Plaza to
the junction with Second Street.
There were no placards or signs
except for. the pro-life sign, Lifeline
Walk, on Lepsoe'’s car as she drove
behind the group. The age of partici
pants varied from a toddler in a
stroller to two women in their 70s.
Several people were wearing pro-life
t-shirts.

The walk was part of a nation-wide
campaign which will see similar
community groups marching from St.
Johns, Newfoundland to Ottawa and
Prince Rupert to Ottawa in peaceful
protest. Besides the community
walks there is a Canadians For Life
group walking the Trans Canada
highway, says Lepsoe.

“What we're doing is covering all
the kilometres across Canada,” she
said.

“The purpose of going through this
is that people in small communities
have a chance to express their
concern,” Lepsoe said.

Pointing to the number of men
participating in the group, Lepsoe
said, “Men are really concerned, it's
not just a women's issue.”

The cross-country trek will cul
minate in what the groups hope will
be a giant rally in front of the
Parliament buildings in Ottawa Sep-
tember 17.

Appeal for
unborn
postponed

OTTAWA (CP) — The govern
ment will ask the Supreme Court of
Canada to postpone an appeal to
determine the constitutional rights of
the unborn until a new abortion law
is in place.

Federal lawyers are to go before
Chief Justice Brian Dickson on Tues-
day to ask that the appeal by anti
abortion activist Joe Borowski be
postponed indefinitely. The appeal is
scheduled to be heard Oct. 3.

Canada hasn't had an abortion law
since Jan. 28, when the Supreme
Court invalidated Criminal Code
provisions regulating abortion as un
constitutional.

Debate on a government resolu-
tion to set the stage for a new

Canadians For Life will then
present community letters suppor-
ting anti-abortion legislationin Can-
ada. It also hopes to present 65.000
dolls donated along the way which
represent the number of Canadian
abortions each year.

Canadians For Life are walking in
five-kilometre segments. The Castle-
gar group will walk another segment
this evening at 6 p.m. on Broadwater
Road, near the Pass Creek bridge
and will walk through Brilliant to
South Sloecan. Another group will
walk starting at 5 a.m. to Nelson
from South Slocan.

INSIDE

B.C. Lions
win
opener

page B1

Lottery
numbers

The winning numbers drawn
Tuesday in The Pick lottery
were: 5,6, 10, 11, 26, 32, 33
and 56.

Greek ship
attacked by
terrorists

page A2

Moresby
agreement
finalized

page A4

abortion law was abruptly lied
this week. A decision on when it will
take place has not been announced.

Borowski, a former Manitoba
highways minister, contends that
Section 7 of the Charter of Rights
and Freedoms guarantees everyone,
including the fetus, the right to life,
liberty and security of the person
and, under Section 15, the right to
equal protection under the law.

The government, in documents
filed with the court, says such issues
should not be dealt with when no
abortion law exists.

Daycare
funding
increased

page A2