Legislative Library, Parliament Bldgs... 501 Bellevilte s: Victoria, B. C. VBV 1x4 Febi 29 challenged Olympic run will be an intense course... BI Olympic fever ever Calgary as they host events throughout the’ 16-day games . A2 Olympic fever takes number was 9. The Provincial lottery draw is 2574404. 49, 50 and $4. LOTTERY NUMBERS The winning numbers in Saturday's Lotto 6/49 draw were 10, 11, 12, 24, 25 and 36. The bonus $500,000 winning number in Friday's 4 The winning numbers drawn Friday in the Lot- to West/The Pick lottery were 14, 23, 32, 36, 46, Elementary the-Olympics . Mini Olympics schools spend a day celebrating A3 Castl SuN Vol. 41, No. 13 poar News DAY CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1988 mes WEATHERC Cloudy skies with periods of light now in the morni ig 2to- 1, Monday's outlook is for cloud ond si wers with mild temperatures. 60% chance of precipitation tor Sunday and — 60 Cents 2 Sections (A & B) OLYMPICS WELCOMED TORCH . . . Calgarians were out at the crack of dawn Saturday to stake out their seats along the Games begin in earnest CALGARY — The 15th Olympic Winter Games begin today. Oh sure, the Olympics officially opened with yesterday's ceremonies when the competing athletes paraded into McMahon stadium bearing their nation’s banner in front of more than 60,000 delirious spectators. But that was all pomp and puffery. Today, the Games begin in earnest. And what a Games they promise to be. Tagged the “TV Olympics” because of the unprecedented tele- vision coverage (the largest tele- vision event in Canadian broad- casting history with more than 2,000 TV and radio rightsholders from more than 50 countries), these Winter Games will also be the most watched. But just what is their appeal? Why will an estimated 1.2 billion people around the world sit glued to their TV sets for the next two weeks? It can’t be for the individual sports themselves. Look at hockey, for instance. Arguably the most popular of the Olympic events, it won't even feature the world’s best teams. That is saved for the Canada Cup. Yet, Canadians will follow the ups and downs of their hockey Olympians over the next fortnight as avidly as they follow their favorite NHL teams during the playoffs. bay Vera! wre therak Norman And aside perhaps downhill skiing and figure skating, the rest of the Winter Olympic events are really minor sports. Just look down the list. Cross-country skiing: Sure, it's popular among weekend recreat- ional types, but do we really know who the world champions are? Quick, who was the top male cross- country skier last year? I figure I'm something of a sports enthusiast. I like pretty well any sport, but the only world-class cross-country skier I know is Canada’s Pierre Harvey. (By the way, Sweden's Torgny Mogren was the 1987 overall cross- country ski champion; not exactly a household name). But the best cross-country skiers are veritable stars compared to other obscure sports we'll see here over the next two weeks. For instance? How about luge and its cousin bobsled? The fact that we even have a Canadian team comes from hockey and. , ——e : torch route to McMahon Stadium. The temperature dropped steadily as the torch approached the city. as a bit of a surprise to me. Then there's the biathlon and nordic combined. (In the former the competitors cross-country ski then shoot with a rifle. In the latter they first fly off a 70-metre jump one day and then race around a 15-kilometre cross-country circuit the next. The start position in the cross-country portion is based on the skier's per- formance in the jump). And there’s speed skating and short track speed skating. Gaethan Boucher made these popular in Canada when he captured a pair of golds at the 1984 Games in Sara- jeve, but they can hardly be classed as the kind of mass participation sports like, say, hockey or even figure skating. So what makes these Winter Games so exciting (and there's little doubt they are exciting. The air here is electric)? Certainly, there's a certain amount of nationalistic pride within each of us, especially when CEREMONY Olympic Winter Games open By RON NORMAN Editor Governor General Jeanne Sauve officially opened the 15th Olympic Winter Games in Calgary Saturday before a crowd of 60,000 happy spec- tators in McMahon Stadium. “I declare open the Games of Calgary celebrating the 15th Winter Olympics,” Sauve said in a brief speech. Sauve's declaration was followed by the official Torch lighting ceremony in which 12-year old Robyn Perry climbed the steps leading to the giant Olympic cauldron and lit the flame which will burn in Calgary for the next 15 days. Perry is a Grade 7 student from St. Bonaventure Junior High School in Calgary. She started skating when she was nine at a local figure skating club. The two-hour opening ceremonies were marked by numbing cold. Temp- eratures dipped to minus 5 degrees Celsius by the time the i routines involving thousands of people. The routines went out without a hitch. All the athletes from a record 57 countries marched into the stadium carrying the flags of their respective countries. The loudest cheer was reserved for the Canadian team, which was the last to enter the stadium. Castlegar's Félix Belezyk wore a wide grin throughout the parade around the stadium's perimeter waving period- ically to the appreciative crowd. The Canadian team also had a bit of fun. The team started the crowd on a “wave” in which spectators stand up in large.numbers and wave their arms in the air. While slow to start, the wave soon included all the athletes and spectators. But when Frank King, chairman of the Calgary Olympic Organizing Committee, strode to the podium to speak, the wave refused to die. When King began to speak the crowd became quiet. began with wind gusts of up to 50 kmh. At times the Olympic flags flying around the stadium could be heard snapping above the crowd. However, that didn’t seem to bother the spectators, who had paid up to $25 a ticket to attend. The ceremonies were typically Canadian. They featured everything from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musi- cal Ride to a colorful fly past by the Snowbirds aerial precision team. In between, the audience was treated to smoothly choreographed King welcomed “our neighbors of the world” to Calgary. “The dream has become a reality,” he said. He later added: “Remember the Calgary Games and ali that you have inspired, the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow.” King gave way to Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the Inter. national Olympic Committee, who offi cially welcomed the athletes. Jeanne Sauve, who had entered the stadium in a horse drawn wagon, was escorted by the first members of the RCMP Musical Ride from the Games. Ken Read, former Canadain na. tional ski team member, and Cathy Priestner, silver-medal winner in speed skating in the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, ran the Olympic Torch into the stadium. Before handing the Olympic Flame to Perry, Read and Priestner took it on a single lap around the stadium. Halfway around, they stopped to allow B.C.’s man in motion Rick Hansen to hold it. The Torch lighting was the climax to the longest Torch relay in Olympic history — a total of 6,520 runners helped carry the Torch from Olympia, Greece, to Calgary. The ceremony included almost 8,000 performers, among them the Olympic choir dressed in the five colors of the Olympic rings — blue, yellow, green, black and red. Native Indians were given a prominent role in the event. They were part of the choreographed production from Alberta and also were with Read and Priestner in the stadium with the Torch. Other productions highlighted Al berta’s culture and history. One fea tured a giant inflated plastic dinosaur, while another showcased the prov ince’s multi-cultural heritage Even the spectators had a chance to take part in the ceremonies. Each seat was equipped with a plastic rain poncho. Once inside the stadium spectators were asked to wear the poncho's. Each section of the stadium then formed one of the Olympic symbols. OLYMPICS . . . The Olympic symbol decorates McMahon Stadium in Calgary where the Olympic Cauldron was lit and the 15th Olympic Winter Games opening ceremony took place before a crowd of 60,000 happy spectators Budget maintains course By BONNE MORGAN Staff Writer Finance Minister Michael Wilson's federal budget is a good one which “maintains the course” of Kootenay West MP Bob Brisco. Brisco says Wilson has maintained a steady course toward economic recovery, with a reduced deficit and reduced inflation rate. “So long as you are reducing the total amount of interest the country is paying on its debt, you are starting to get a handle on it,” Brisco says. Brisco says the course has, “turn ed the nation around in terms of un employment.” “It is difficult to pinpoint where to the cycles of the forest industry,” in this area. “In the next four to five years we're going to see signs of diversifi cation of the forest sector.” As of April 1, motorists will see an increase of one cent a litre in federal tax on gasoline and aviation fuel. There is to be a corresponding one cent-a-litre rebate for farmers and fishermen. “The diesel fuel has not gone up,” said Brisco.” You have to -balance things out.” Wilson has backed away from some proposed tax changes on con sumer goods such as toys and sporting goods which remain taxed at the lower manufacturers’ level into the higher the levels of P are,” in this area, Brisco says. Brisco says statistics cover an area which includes Castlegar, Golden, Salmon Arm, and Creston. “When they say Trail, do they mean Trail or Grand Forks, Penticton, or Vernon,” he says. Brisco says the Conservatives have, “prevented the collapse of farm ing through the i of interest rates. Logging, farming and fishing in- dustries have grown under the Con- servatives also, Brisco says. Brisco says, “We're more subject wholesales’ level as planned July 1. Wholesale taxés on goods such as microwaves, snack foods and video cassette recorders move back to the manufacturers’ level Nov. 1. The projected federal deficit of $29.3 billion in the current fiscal year ending March 31 is unchanged from previous forecasts. Wilson predicts a deficit of $28.9 billion in 1988-89 and $28.6 billion in 1989-90. The projected federal debt is $293.4 billion in the current fiscal year, or 53.1 per cent of national output. It is is go to $322.3 billion in 1988-89 and $350.9 billion in 1989-90. Wilson is predicting a decline in the federal debt of $400 million in 1988-89 and another $300 million the year after that. The federal debt is now at $293 billion and Wilson forecasts an eco- nomic growth of 2.8 per cent this year and three per cent next year. There is to be an increase in federal spending to $132.25 billion in 1988-89, up 5.5 per cent from $125.3 billion this fiscal year Revenue for 1988-89 of $103 billion is predicted, up 7.2 pér cent from ‘the $96.1 billion this year There will be unspecified cuts of $300 million in federal spending starting in 1989-90. Lyle Kristiansen former NDP MP says “Wilson's budget is full of smoke and mirrors and fortune telling.” “All the Conservatives have done with this budget is to dump more and more of their debt (up from $160 to $293 billion in four years) onto the backs of the average Canadian,” he says. Kristiansen says everybody agreed that in 1984 Canada’s Tax System wasn't fair but “Now after this budget and four years of Tory rule — only the richest two per cent of Canadians are taxed less than they were before.”