oy December 3, 1989 Tough job The New Democrats now have a new leader but, since this editorial was written before yesterday's vote, we don't know who he or she is. What we do know is that whoever the new leader is, he or she has a tough job ahead if the NDP is to make a serious challenge to either the Liberals or the Conservatives in the next federal election Despite some success \in building the New Democrats into a national party, Ed Broadbent's problem was the NDP was never as popular as he was. Perceived by the public as an honest and trust- worthy politician @ rare perception these days Mr Broadbent consistently ranked higher in popularity, according to public opinion polls, than the party he led for 14 years. Although Mr. Broadbent's efforts to build the NDP into a national party paid off with a record 43 seats in the 1988 federal election, the party failed to make long-sought breakthroughs in Quebec and Atlantic Canada. Now the New Democrats have a new leader who must tackle that and other problems facing the party. As Rossland-Trail New Democrat MLA Chris D’Arcy said last week 1990s the NDP needs a vigorous leader with fresh ideas for the One of the immediate challenges for the new leader will be to bring the New Democrats to some sort of consensus on the Meech Lake accord. How the NDP deals with the accord could determine the party's future as a national force, political observers agreed last week prior to the leadership convention where Meech Lake was ex- pected to be the hottest topic among delegates. Ontario NDP leader Bob Rae,.a staunch backer of the accord, said he thinks the party is at a crossroads and predicted that failure to support Meech Lake would mean the NDP would “only be arinteresting English Canadian party: But more than Meech Lake, as important as it is to the New Democrats’ hope for the future, the NDP is going to have to define what exactly it’s going to mean being a socialist in the 1990s. For the party which championed medicare, old-age December, 1989 Castlegar News 4s ar News 45 Dis new $50 bill is gonna be tough to counterfeit, boss. When y’look at it from dis angle d'new color chip in d’corner changes from gold t’green. Even woise! When y’look at it from Yis angle d’number 5 changes to... 45...den 40 den 35... Remember When? 40 YEARS AGO From the Dec. 1, 1949 Castle News The Castlegar Branch of the St John’s Ambulance Association is planning to Spen a First-Aid post in Castlegar, to be located*in the Fire Hall. ui tas apliae The Castlegar District School Board and representatives met with the ar- chietects last Thursday to discuss the revised plans for the new high school . The Castlegar Scouts and Guides are aiming at spreading goodwill at Christmas by providing Christmas trees for elderly people who are unable to secure them themselves. Trail’s Cominco Arena was of- ficially opened on Tuesday night, marking another milestone in the spor- tshistory of Trail . The regular annual meeting of the Letters to the editor and unemployment insurance, and which has traditionally tavored more rather than less state control of the economy, it will be a difficult issue with which to deal but one which is crucial to the party's sur vival Indications of the direction the New Democrats will take came trom the departing Mr. Broadbent in a speech earlier this year when he said We New Democrats believe in the marketplace, including Private investment decisions, reduced tariffs, private property, the free disposal of assets, the right to make a profit, decentralized decision-making. As the world evolves so must our policies.’ British Columbia NDP leader Mike Harcourt has echoed similar sentiments. Not all New Democrats agree but, hopetully, some tresh ideas will emerge from the NDP’s ideological struggles. Taxes could be better spent By CHRIS D'ARCY Rossland-Trail MLA Recently, your friendly neigh- borhood provincial government plunked $600 million of your money and mine into its budget stabilization account, also known as the ‘*B.S."’ fund or Couvelier’s kitty Times are relatively good in British Columbia and the province's taxation cash registers are ringing often and loudly. These surpluses could be used to lower taxes (possible) or reduce the debt (Are you kidding? There’s an election in the next two years). Most likely, the 1989 excesses and more will be spent in ways that have maximum political impact. No surprise there. My call is for a massive reduction in school taxes on property, This can be by Victoria a municipalities are not aware of the need for watershed protection and in- frastructure improvements. They are, and constantly petition the province to provide more cost-sharing specifically earmarked for water. Amid the belated public attention to pollution, sewage treatment, garbage and wood-waste disposal, hardly a murmur is heard about freshwater quality and supply Pity. Crying shame, in fact The province could do worse than restore the 75-per-cent capital funding on approval for local water system im- provements. Only this time, the fun- ding should be available to all licensed water systems, not just municipal and regional-district users. This is not to suggest that there should not be multiple land use in watersheds. The province approves logging, mining, larger share of the birth-to-Grade-12 child care and education bill, and by increasing the homeowner's and ren- ter’s annual tax grant. Victoria—has final say on all school board budgets so there is residual spending control there anyway. Another need that cries out for provincial attention is freshwater quality and quantity. This is essentially a land-use and public-health issue. The province’s neglect of freshwater sup- plies for use in B.C. homes is nothing short of scandalous. It is-not-that community water systems and rights-of- clearing, and domestic and recreational use of watershed land bases. Hence, the same Victoria government must provide funds to maintain the province's own domestic water-quality standards. Leaving it to the citizen to pay for cleanup of gover- mment authorized contamination is not good enough Over to you, Mr. Finance Minister The long suffering and over-taxed B.C. public will be eternally grateful for the above largesse. You can even pay for it with the very same tax dollars that you are already extracting from us daily . WKP causes concern I have just read where West Kootenay Power wants its customers to pay for the cost of the company’s failed bid to build a $33 million generating plant in the Okanagan. The company says all it wants to do is recover the costs over a five-year period Then WKP says it is going to apply again to the B.C. Utilities Commission in January fora new site. West Kootenay Power says this project is essential if the company hapes to keep electricity rates below what B.C. Hydro charges. How is WKP going to keep the rates lower than Hydro when we have already had two increases in rates and more to come to cover the company’s expenses in the Okanagan? With another application going in again in January, won’t we have to pay those expenses? Then there’s the ex- pense of building these turbines and expenses for connecting up to the tur. bines. West Kootenay Power wants to build a dam, which the company will want us to pay for. Then WKP wants to sell ¢lectricity to the United States and we will have to pay for the com- pany to set that up. We are far better off buying elec- tricity from Hydro than going off into the unknown. Here, the money stays in B.C. It’s time for the young people to sit up and take notice because they are the ones in the future who are going to be left to pay for all these expenses. Write to Energy Minister Jack Davis and tell him how you feel. Joan Roth Castlegar la EDITOR — aN, Castlégar News MEMBER OF THE B.C. PRESS COUNCH (0 LER MURKOM PUBLISHLD SEIPEMBEN 121970 ‘AUGUS! 2/1960 PUBLISHER AUGUSI 7 1447 FEBRUARY 15. 1973 PUBLISHER — Burt Campbell Simon Birch PLANT FOREMAN — Peter Harvey OFFICE MANAGER — Linda Kositsin CIRCULATION MANAGER — Heather Hodley Dams raise questions B.C. Hydro is giving presenitations on dams in the area. | have some thoughts to share with the public and some questions to ask. Dammed bodies of water are not lakes. Neither storage nor electrical generation dams have positive effects on ‘rout or land-locked salmon. Spawning systems and food supplies are severely altered. The fish that Prosper are ground fish — suckers and white fish — the fish that contain the most contaminants. The osprey are prospering because of the growing bot- tom fish population. Wildlife loses its wintering groun= ds, already in short supply in B.C. and especially low due to damming Saturation results or a mass concen tration ona very small area What is the life expectancy of a dam? They don’t last forever — Goat River in East Kootenays is already silted in. A Castlegar geologist remarked that if Murphy Creek dam goes in, heavy river-bank sloughing will occur on the west side of the river What's the projected life of the proposed Boundary dam, the Hugh Keenleyside, the Revelstoke, the Mica? What will be done with the dams after they are no longer useful? Who will be responsible for reclamation? What ‘economic feasibility studies have been done on the export of power totheU.S.? Flooded prime orchard land. in the Kootenays provided power south to the U.S. U.S. fruit from orchards using cheap suljsitiized irrigation now under- sells our Canadian fruit Great quantities of money were spent on engineering studies for the Columbia River Treaty dams but scar- cely any funds were allotted to economic feasibility studies. Will this mistake occur again? Are feasibility studies available to the public? Right now, Canadians and Americans enjoy boat traffic up and down the Columbia River. Hugh Keenleyside dam has a lock. Will the Murphy Creek dam and Boundary dam have locks for boat traffic? If not, why not? A very lucrative fishing industry was lost by the damming of the Columbia River Energy dollars spent to count for more than fish, farmland, timberland and wildlife dollars. The prevention of flooding is not a good excuse for building a dam. A more sensible ap- proach is to not build ona floodplain. What is our exported power going to do besides irreversible ecological Liberal Ass of Castlegar was held in the small hall at Coronation Hall P. Clayton Stewart spoke on the opening of the Hope-Princeton high- way. 25 YEARS AGO From the Dec. 3, 1964 Castlegar News The Trail. Ministerial Association has issued a statement strongly suppor- ting the formation of a regional college at Castlegar. * . A considerable amount of planning and investigation has been done on the conservation and recreation requirements of the Columbia River Treaty projects and further work on these is damage to the Kootenays? It is going to do more damage to the of theU.S. Are there going to be as many un- necessary lights lit as there are car- casses of fish and wildlife cost? Is the energy going to be used for weapons of warfare? Will acid rain produced by a Canadian-powered U.S. industry be blown north back on our forests? Is the energy produced from our degraded and unbalanced environ- ment going to support some facet of American economy that will undercut our own Canadian economy? I am calling for accountability on the part of B.C. Hydro and its marketing subsidiary Powerex. S. Eyre Slocan Park Discussion needed The proposed environmentally ad- vanced Celgar pulp mill would manage to cut pollutants such as dioxins and furans in half. Not much of an im provement but technically it is a step forward However, this new addition will also allow Celgar to increase its tree- munching rate to create 420,000 tonnes of pulp a year, up from 185,000 ton nes On the one hand, Celgar is halving the pollutants it generates while on the other is doubling its ability to create them. You don’t need a pocket calculator to figure out that Castlegar will just be getting more of the same. A bridge is being planned to cross the Columbia River in Robson and the folks there should be proud that their two-year battle since they lost the ferry is paying off. I think Celgar should also be given credit since part of the deal for the expansion seems to be bet ter highway access to the mill I read that the City of Castlegar an. ficipates a 180 per cent increase in truck traffic to satiate the new mill. That would mean by the 1992 completion “date there would be around 110,000 trucks a year feeding it. This works out to about one every three minutes based on a 16-hour work day, seven days a week I guess that new bridge in Robson will be getting a fair amount of that traffic. I hope they don’t start restric- ting truck traffic through Castlegar A point that should be kept in mind is that until a couple of years ago, the railroad handled the bulk of the chip business to the Celgar mill. The railroad decided there wasn't enough money in the traffic and slowly backed out of the business. So trucks picked it up and now we have quicker deterioration of our highways while a track still runs right to the mill Word from the Cape Horn Bluffs has that megaproject running 2% months behind schedule. The original Project was slated to last three months So let’s take a guess at what our con tribution to Celgar’s expansion is going to cost us shall we? Let's figure $20 million off the top for the Cape Horns Bluffs (trust me Howard, I'm playing the low-end figures). A new bridge in Robson would run around $6 million Renovations to the highway through Castlegar another $3 million. Ac- comodation, policing and so on would be supported by government funding probably to the tune of several more million dollars. Grants to the mill for construction incentives, for putting-in the new (not quite state-of-the-art) en- without one bit of public consultation. No politician has ever been elected over a proposed mill expansion. I see us having two choices. We can either put this expansion before the General Agreement on Trades and Fariffs (GATT) as an example of un- fair subsidizing under the free-trade vir tally sensible equip would probably run anywhere from $10 to $100 million (remember the Cominco bailout?) So, before the mill has even started construction, I figute we're tied into subsidizing it for anywhere from $40 to $140 million! And I haven't éven taken into account the pulp agreement Celgar is hammering out or the human cost through increased pollution ex- posure. The crunch of this is that nobody has ever asked us. All of this has been done or we can use it as leverage to make our politicians listen to our concerns In a way we should be grateful, because I can’t see any realisitic excuse that can be offered to deny our par- ticipation. With this huge contribution of our tax dollars we have all become “Partners in Enterprise,’’ right Bill? Well partner, I think there’s a lot of folks around here who would like to havea little chat Craig Lawrence Winlaw Critical attitude not Christian In my last attempt, I wanted to tell John Perepolkin he has the wrong ideas about the teachings of Jesus. Please read the Bible — Jesus was not “strung up.”” One can find wrongs in all gover- nments, in all philosophies and in all religions, and Doukhoborism is no ex- ception. But I would like to refer John to the Doukhobor declaration which states, in part, that the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ are and will be members of Christ’s church and essentially are of the law of God and the faith of Jesus. Mr. Perepolkin’s critical attitude implying hypocrisy in others is not at all Christian Regarding his criticism of the capitalist system, I would point out the whole world is watching communism and socialism in other countries falling apart. I was watching television news and a Soviet citizen was asked why there were shortages in the Soviet Union and why the Soviet system wasn’t working. The Soviet said, “Because this system taught most people not to work. Let someone else doit.”* In closing, I would like to say 1 am very respectful of and pleased with my family lineage. From both sides, they were faith-believing spiritual wrestlers, an honorable lot with no scoundrels. 1am very surprised John is attacking believers. Marie Maloff Editor's John Perepolkin and Marie Maloff have now had a chance to state their opinions in letters to the editor and each has now had one rebuttal to the other's letter. As far as the Castlegar News is concerned, their debate on this page Is now closed and we leave Mr. Perepolkin, Ms. Maloff and other in- terested parties to continue their debate in private. a ee There are now 680 more students in School District No. 9 than there were four years ago, district superintendent of schools Claude Bissel told the last meeting of the Castlegar Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Bissel said that four years ago the district's student population was 1,900. Now it is 2,580. Dates for a three-day celebration to mark the occasion of Castlegar assuming town status have been set for the weekend of Feb. 26, 27, 28. 15 YEARS AGO From the Dec. 5, 1974 Castlegar News An expenditure of $14,943 for a pumping station, to inter-connect the separate water systems of the City of Castlegar, received council’s approval. Expected to be in operation sometime in June of next year, this pumping station will allow equal distribution of water in both former towns. “ 8 An issue of considerable concern among the council of the newly amalgamated City of Castlegar is the need for-some coordinated planning for the former Town of Castlegar and Town of Kinnaird. Whereas the growth rate of the area has not been such that major problems are evident, it is the purpose of this study to anticipate) such problems and to prepare guidelines to prevent them from happening in the future. On the weekend of Nov. 23 and 24, the Kootenay Region Figure Skating Championships were héld in Fernie The Castlegar Club is proud of its only champion, Miss Nona Verigin, who won the preliminary ladies singles competition defeating 15 skaters from the East and West Kootenays. SYEARS AGO From the Dec. 2, 1984 Castlegar News Full-day kindergarten classes are the choice of 73 per cent of parents sur- veyed in Robson and Nelson, accor ding toa report released at a meeting of the Castlegar District Parents’ Com: mittee Thursday night. The newly formed Castlegar and District Fitness Centre Committee hopes to present a proposal for a new fitness centre for the Community Complex to the Regional Recreation ‘Commission in February Committee member. Lloyd Wilson told a Castlegar Chamber of Commer. ce meeting Thursday that the commit tee is investigating preliminary costs for the fitness centre, which would in: clude an indoor swimming pool The two Sons of Freedom women, charged with the arson of the Please address all Letters to the Editor to: The Castlegor News, P.O. Box 3007, Castlegar, B.C. VIN 3H4, or deliver them to our office at 197 Columbia Avenue, Castlegar Letters should be typewritten double spaced and not longer than JU words Historical Village June 29, were given suspended sentences Thur sday in Castlegar provincial court Red Mountain Ski Club's debt rose $47,000 to more than $1.1 million over the past year, the club reported at its annual meeting Thursday night 3 FINISHING TOUCHES . Dana Hickman (left) and Ron Berjin, with an Edmonton-ba: 1d po: equipment company, install an ozone filtration system at the nearly-complete Castlegar Aquatic Centre that pool officials say will eliminate much of the strong chlorine smell associated with most pools. Coser photo Mill plan criticized EDMONTON (CP) — A pulp mill proposed for the banks of the Athabasca River should not be allowed to go ahead unless it can prevent any discharge of poisonous organochlorines, a scientist with the He spoke to reporters after presenting a brief to a federal-provincial panel reviewing the Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries pulp mill planned for nor- thern Alberta. The pulp and paper industry should Joint Ci said Friday. | Jack Vallentyne, Canadian chair- man of the commission’s Great Lakes Science Advisory Board, said studies have shown toxic chemicals contained in organochlorines are harmful to most forms of life, including humans. the use of chlorine because of the serious health problems it can cause, Vallentyne told the panel. Earlier Friday the panel learned that Indian leaders are split over how to deal with the Alberta-Pacific proposal and a handful of others that would see a dozen firms harvest timber in an area Pass Creek has problems too Since the ferry has been closed, all you read in the paper is Robson wants the ferry. But what about Pass Creek with its narrow road? At least the road Robson residents travel on is good, only a little longer. The Ministry of Highways wants to do the work but Robson-Raspberry Progress is too slow on projects Mr. George Evin says it’s only a mat- ter of time before the provincial gover. nment announces the go-ahead for the Highway 23 extension between Castlegar and Fauquier, based on talks and letters from various cabinet ministers. I know this project is as dear to him as the Robson ferry is tome, sol wish him good luck However, if I were to base my predictions for the Robson ferry upon talks with and letters of support from cabinet ministers (past and present), I would expect by now to see the Queen of Tsawwassen plying the Columbia River. I hope I’m wrong. I would like nothing better than to write a letter of apology to all my Socred friends — while I’m riding the Robson ferry to Castlegar. George Stein Robson Improvement District officials are screaming no. We Pass Creek parents have all our children travelling every school day on the bus since our school was closed. When the bus meets up with logging trucks there’s inches bet- ween. This year, a logging truck dumped a load of logs and it was lucky ho one was coming down Pass Creek Road at that time or they could have been badly ‘hurt or killed. If Robson residents want support from other areas, they shouldn’t think only of themselves all the time Helen Tereposky Pass Creek Scouts give thanks to all helpers We would like to express our sincere appreciation to those who helped us through our difficulties this fall when we found the roof of our Scout Hall leaking badly, The Kiwanis Club of Castlegar responded quickly with financial sup- port, work parties of parents and boys supplied the labor to prepare the roof and to clean up afterwards and Colville Roofing supplied materials at cost. Dean Carter Castlegar Boy Scouts Parents Group “Real HOME RESTORATION Every home is o good investment. In fact, purchasers of older homes hove many advantages in the market place. Older neighbourhoods often have larger, mature lots with room for expansion of the existing home Expansion and renovation can give you all the amenities of the newer home while maintaining the charac ter of an older home Some neighbourhoods ore ripe tor revitalization. All you need is a creative outlook. When you look ot ‘an older, run-down house, what do you see? Do you see the paint peel oF can you picture a porch at the the sagging candidate for home restoration, Buying an older home to restore may e more affordable thon other Your search for the right property should begin whi values are on the upswi @ REALTOR who is familiar with the °F state WITH BARRY BROWN area and who understands market restoring o particular area Before you buy the particular proper ty you have selected, it is time to determine the amount of restoration needed. Hire a contractor to inspect the basic systems to make sure it is worth doing. Remember, restoration is a time-consuming process. Your objective should be to hold down costs without sacrificing a quality finished product. Try to arrange for low down payments on the home so that all your money will not be tied up in the purchase price; leave some for restoration worl An old home in need of restoration with @ great deal of satisfaction and personal pride. It there 1s onything | can do to help you in the field of real estate, please call or drop in at NRS NATIONAL REAL ESTATE SERVICE Phone 365- enipe 365-2757 of northern Alberta almost the size of Great Britain. Meanwhile, the Alberta Medical Association plans to condemn Alber- ta’s pulp mill projects in a highly critical report to a public review board. The report slams the provincial government for what it says is a willingness to risk public health by allowing pulp mill projects to proceed. Weekly stocks TORONTO (CP) — Sluggish economic reports in the United States sent the stock market rallying Friday as invéstors hoped the- bad economié news would advance the prospects of lower interest rates, The Toronto Stock Exchange com- posite 300 index climbed 15.88 points to 3,958.65, for a net gain of 25.17 for the week. In New York, the Dow Jones in- dustrial average jumped 41.38 points to 2,747.65, for a net weekly gain of 72.1 points. “The economic news triggered on the expectation that the Fed (U.S. Federal Reserve Board) will eventually lower rates,’’ said Joe Ismail of Moss Lawson. The thinking is that if the economy looks like it's slowing down enough, the board will lower interest rates in an attempt to prevent a recession. Then, when the spread between the price of stock futures and shares widened, program trading kicked in and helped the advance, Ismail said. In all in Toronto, advancers out- numbered decliners 343 to 293 with 353 issues unchanged in moderate trading volume of 24,288,361 shares worth $267,689,403. EIGHT GROUPS UP Among the eight subgroups that rose this’ week, communications was the biggest gainer, up 2.37 per cent, followed by management com- panies, up 1.95 percent, and consumer products, up 1.8 per cent. Pipelines was the biggest decliner; off 1.97 per cent, followed. by oil, down 1.53 per cent and gold, which slipped .64 per cent. On other Canadian markets, the Montreal Exchange’s portfolio index was up 12.83 points Friday to close at 2,012.59, and the Vancouver Stock Exchange’s index rose 6.15 points to closeat 719.50. DUTHIE BOOKS e By Mat e For all your book needs General, Technical & Trade Christmas presents for everyone Duruie Books — Matt ORDER DEPARTMENT 1701 West Third Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. 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