2 Castlegar News September 5, 1990 POLITICS Greens sow seeds in Alberta EDMONTON (CP) — For more than seven years, the seed of the Alberta Green party has germinated beneath the surface of the political landscape It sprouted this spring, barely breaking the surface, with little color or drami Alberta Green as yet has no office, no staff and no money, Its first tract reads like a rhetorical collision bet- ween a jargon-crazed political scien. tist and a New Age guru. “Green philosophy upholds a vision of reality based on love of life, respect for nature and. awareness of the interdependent co-operative nature of the world,’’ says the one. Page pamphlet, printed on recycled Paper dotted with sketches of fir trees. Roger Gibbins, a University of Calgary political science professor, says the party faces tough com Petition to seize stewardship of the environment — the key issue of the “The Green party is going to be outgunned as it tries to grab leader ship of that issue,’” predicts Gibbins. “There is a very strong ecology movement, but it’s going to be very difficult to try to capture leadership of that movement."’ Norman Conrad, interim Green leader, says the party supports the principles of disarmament and feminism, although formal policies haven't been set But its main focus is the environ. ment. Conrad has demanded that the Alberta government tighten environ mental laws and strictly control nor- thern pulp mills and oil mega-projects to minimize their environmental im- pact “The policies that we will develop Alberta to Social Credit to the Reform party, all have demanded a redistribution of political power and a renewed emphasis on grassroots organization. ight-wing roots run deep in Alber- ta, a fact reflected by 55 conséciitive years of conservative governments — from William Aberhart’s first Socred victory in 1935 to the P Conservative dynasty that began in 1971, Green candidates garnered less than oné per cent of the popular vote — about 47,000 ballots — in the 1988 federal election, up from the 30,000 votes the party claimed in 1984. Federal party, leader Kathryn Cholette estimates national membership — not new Alberta bers — more than 2,000. Canadian Green parties have not been endorsed by any major en- vironmental up. Greenpeace, the Canadian Wildlife Federation, Pollution Probe and Friends of the Earth have refused to align them- selves with any party. The reason is partly technical. Most of those groups are registered charities with special tax advantages they could lose if they indulge in par tisan polities, But some activists privately accuse Green parties, which have also sprung up in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec, of amateurish methods, poorly defined positions and lack of organization. 7,341 People can’t be wrong! Let's get on with the Celgar Modernization! CASTLEGAR & DISTRICT 56,1990 C News Castlegar News SECTION Talk to us today. Kootenay Savin Where You Belong BUSINESS DIRECTORY TELEPHONE 365- 9210 and we Bi will be sacciaod bes i. Sp.m. Teeedey. nope 25 a pri pace of seBanden Brian L. Brown CERTIFIED GENERAL ACCOUNTANT 270 Columbia Avenue Castlegar © 365-2151 Gordon A. Read & Co. Certified General Accountant Office 368-6471 Residence 365-2339 1250 Bay Ave., Trail would make Alberta as ible as Possible, so we leave a world that is as viable as the one we got.”” The party was officially registered in Alberta in April when it obtained 5,000 signatures on registration documents. Conrad, a Calgary lawyer, owns and manages Trilobite, a private oilpatch consulting firm named for a tiny fossilized marine creature. His southern Alberta roots and professional background suggest Political conservatism, but Conrad has spent more than seven years sowing Green seeds in the province. He insists the Alberta party will ap- peal to voters of every political stripe, although the national Green Party of Canada — like European Green par ties — is solidly left of centre. “*We're not screaming state plan- ners,"’ he says. ‘‘We’re into in- dividual responsibility. You start in your community and with your in- dividual lifestyle."” Alberta New Democrat John McInnis doesn’t believe the Green party has a broad enough platform to attract the NDP’s traditional left- wing constituency “*I would say the conditions are not particularly ripe for a Green party sweep in Alberta,’’ says McInnis, the environment critic for the New Democrats. “IT don’t feel we have a tremendous amount to fear from them. And when the time comes to ask who has done the job on the environmental issues, our record will look pretty good.”” Alberta Green shares many of the traditional themes of other parties — mostly right of centre — that have sprung up in the province. From the Depression-era. United Farmers of Facts and e figures By the Canadian Press Here are some facts and figures on the Green political movement in Canada Membership in the Green Party of Canada: More than 2,000 Provincial Green parties: Registered in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec National leader: Cholette of Vancouver Party philosophy: Emphasis on social and ecological respon sibility, decentralization of decision-making, feminisim, non. violence. “It's not just a utopian vision," says Cholette. ‘‘The Green party has to be very pragmatic. The problem is we have an (environ- mental (crisis) so we can’t get lost in policy."" National contributions: $35,000 in 1989, $42,500 in 1988. Support in general election: 47,000 votes (0.4 of one per cent) in 1988, 30,000 votes in 1984. ternational links: Ties with Euro-Green Parliament and World Green Movement Kathryn BUY or SELL by AUCTION kruptcies * Estotes * Consign UsseLL UCTION Carpet Cleaning * Outright Purchose OPEN MON. 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Paw liG HOMEGOODS FURNITURE WAREHOUSE Genelle — Phone 693-2227 Open 9:30-5:30 Tues. to Sat Window Coverings LEVOLOR VERTICALS HORIZONTALS PLEATED SHADES Our policy ——— FURNITURE WAREHOUSE Genelle — Phone 693-2227 Open 9:30-5:30 Tues. to Sot Industry on road to deregulation Editor’s note: Expect bigger trucks on Canada’s highways over the next few years. They will be the visible result of deregulation and more intense competition in Canad: industry, which is the bulk of the country’s goods. By RON SUDLOW VANCOUVER (CP) — Diesel exhaust and fumes snort from twin blackened stacks with each gear change. Tractor-trailer combinations roar and whine as they manoeuvre through mountain passes like ponderous circus elephants linked tail to trunk. Then they accelerate to the speed limit just when you reach the passing lane. When it’s wet, grey spray from 18-wheelers washes over your windshields, momentarily blanking out the highway ahead. But other than being irritants — or worse — on the road, the $24-billion trucking industry is taken for granted by most Canadians, despite its pervasive role in their lives. The 150,000 freight trucks on Canadian highways haul everything from lettuce to lampshades. “There isn’t a thing that you're wearing, the supper you had last night . . . somewhere along the piece, if you’ ve got it, a truck brought it,"’ says George Lloyd, general manager of CP Bulk Systems. But the Canadian trucking business is encountering headwinds. The industry, with 185,000 employees, is on a five-year haul to deregulation that began Jan. 1, 1988, although most barriers to competition for freight have gone. While there are varying degrees of regulation within provinces — starting at virtually none — deregulation gives truckers the freedom to decide what services they will offer and at what price. Most routes are no longer exclusive to a specific company. Only Manitoba and New Brunswick rigidly regulate trucking within their boundaries. Yet to be resolved is a national safety code which, among other things, controls drivers’ hours. While 80 per cent of trucking is federally regulated, not all provinces observe the federal limit of 60 hours at the wheel over a period of seven days. "The last five years — with deregulation either in effect or companies preparing for it — has seen more small operators entering trucking and increased mergers among the big players An equal number of independent truckers have left the business and more companies have turned off their diesels for good in the face of arn beatae ‘*We’ve had some spectacular failufes,’’ says Ken McLaren, spokesman for the Ottawa-based Canadian Trucking Association, which protests that deregulation has created instant free trade for U.S. Editor’s note: Truck drivers have a poor safety image, due in part to the often spectacular nature of accidents involving big rigs. Even those in the industry admit there are poor drivers on the roads. Part of the problem is the lack of training standards. By HELEN BRANSWELL OTTAWA (CP) — The whine of grinding metal makes the students wince. Instructor Andre Aube whacks Roch Cayen on the arm with a baseball cap, Cayen double-clutches correctly and the 18-wheeler lurches into gear. “Gently, gently, gently,’” Aube barks at Cayen, a good-natured 22-year-old from Sudbury, Ont. Three fellow students bounce on the back seat of the 10- tonne tractor trailer’s cab as Cayen manoeuvres jerkily along the grid-like roads on the southern outskirts of Ottawa. It’s the second day of clas: es at Merv Orr Transport Driver Training School, which proposes — in three short weeks — to transform this green foursome into skilled knights of the blacktop. Aube, a wily guy in his early 40s who still drives commercially part of the year, combines classroom instruction and driving practice to teach prospective truck drivers the rules of the road in 80 working hours. How to manoeuvre and maintain rigs. How to share the road with car drivers — four-wheelers, in trucker talk. Most importantly, how to stay alive. “I'm trying to help you keep out of the statistics,’’ Aube tells them. ‘‘Drivers are a dime a dozen. Good drivers are hard to come by."” That’s not too surprising when you consider there is no standard for truck-driving schools in Canada. All anyone needs to drive professionally is to get a Class | licence (Class A in Ontario). That entitles the licensee to drive tractor trailers of any size — including the massive ones nicknamed monster trucks. Some provinces, like Ontario, also require a ‘‘Z endorsement”’ — a certificate that indicates the driver passed an examination on air brakes Would-be truckers don’t even need to go to a school. They can get a learner’s permit and apprentice with a trucking company. Or they can learn from anyone with a valid trucking licence Truckers have an image problem, caused in part because of the number and nature of accidents they are in, says Leo Laviolette, spokesman for the Ontario branch of the C dian Automobile Association- * The cause isn’t helped by horrific accounts of the bloody results when tractor trailers run amok, like the crash that killed five people in Kamloops last October. which The Canadian trucking industry is on af expect will lead to greater among carriers. Deregulation of U.S. trucking began in 1980. Lloyd, a 57-year-old executive with a shock of wavy white hair, beean as a P and D (pickup and delivery) driver for — P Rail in 1951. Today, he directs the movement of millions of tonnes of bulk goods from an office overlooking British Columbia's busiest strip of freeway. He says small companies should survive by remaining small. Large ones will consolidate, ‘‘but the ones in the middle are really in a bloodbath and they're being eaten up."” Consultant Garland Chow says the elimination of CosNews file photc regulatory shackles has not brought lower rates for shippers. But tariffs have not risen for two years while truckers have been squeezed by increased costs and intense competition. Chow, a University of British Columbia associate professor speciatizing in transportation, also says there aren't more trucks on the road. But they're on the road more often, hauling longer distances. “It seems like there are more companies there, but it’s only more companies going into your territory than before,’’ adds John Pringle of the policy and Lack of training standards hurt In 1987, trucks accounted for 18 per cent of the traffic on Ontario highways but were involved‘in 26 per cent of the accidents, Laviolette points out. And if anyone dies in those collisions, it’s generally not the truck driver. A study done by the American A A ion’s Fi d for Traffic Safety found that when cars and trucks collide, 32 car occupants are killed forevery one truck driver. Rolf Lockwood, editor of Today's Trucking, argues that figures don’t tell the whole story. Truckers rack up considerably more mileage than an average driver and actually have better safety records, he says. “But there is a perception among the general public that truck-driver training must be bad,"” Lockwood admits. ‘*But there is a perception among the general public that truck-driver training must be bad,"* Lockwood admits. He insists there have been marked improvements in trucker training over the past 10 years, largely because of the escalating cost of insurance Insurance for tractor trailers is steep. An industry average for rigs that do trips of more than 200 miles (320 kilometres) is about $5,000 a year, says Norm programs branch of Transport Canada He says the industry as a whole “‘is still quite profitable’’ but can be seasonal and generally mirrors the Canadian economy. When the former CN subsidiary Route Canada closed after being sold to private interests, there was a feeding frenzy for its business. “The traffic volume was just swallowed . . . eaten by the others with no visible impact,”’ says Lloyd. Chow says trucks and their trailer combinations will get bigger in the '90s as companies seek economies of scale. The trend, vigorously opposed by auto clubs, is already developing in the United States. But Chow expects large rigs to be eased out of traffic-choked cities or to enter only at night on designated routes. Noxious diesel fuel could be replaced by cleaner methanol. That's down the road. What's around the corner is concern over safety. Truckers made front-page headlines in two spectacular accidents in 1989. Twelve people died in Cormier Village, N.B., when a log-laden tractor trailer hit a haywagon and two pickup trucks crowded with people on a family outing. Five died in Kamloops, when a runaway flatbed truck carrying steel rods crunched a dozen cars. A loaded semi with a total weight of 63,500 * kilograms has a decided survival advantage in an accident One survey showed that the chance of an automobile occupant being killed in a collision between a sub-compact car and a large truck is about 50 times greater than in a collision between two sub- compacts. “*You can trace (serious accidents) back to deregulation where virtually anybody can get a truck and pass minimal standards and be in the business,”” says Lloyd, who is also president of the B.C. Trucking Association. ‘‘The small guys want to cut corners.’" Lloyd partly blames the romance of trucking, the CB slang, the knight-of-the-road image for attracting the wrong people — the guy who quits a sawmill job, puts a down payment on a tractor and has his wife do the bookkeeping on the kitchen table. “They bring some poor driving habits and bad attitudes and a loose, carefree way of doing what is a very serious business.’” Chow also says near-bunkrupt trucking companies have no incentive to operate safely and those just entering the business don’t know how to meet all the regulations. “There's a learning curve to safety.’ But for Canadian truckers, the major worry is economic. McLaren of the Canadian Trucking Association looks at the open border and says U.S. truckers have cost advantages of nine to 12 cents a kilometre through lower taxes and more generous depreciation allowances. It’s especially tough in Ontario where 70 per cent of Canada’s trans-border truck traffic originates. “They're beating us on our own highways.”” Truck drivers fight poor safety i image McIntryre. MclIntryre is underwriting manager forTransit Insurance, a Toronto company that specializes in insuring trucks. He says trucking operations earn lower rates if they have good safety programs and records. Despite the influence of insurance rates, Lockwood admits some problems with truck-driver training remain. Good driving schools aren't cheap. The Merv Orr course — designed by Orr, a former longtime trucker — costs $3,800. «:They’ re competing with $50-an-hour guys who will meet you in the corner of the local mall and teach you to drive with no manuals, no nothing.”’ Lockwood says. please see DRIVERS page C4 Overturned semi-trailers — os well as more serious accidents such as the one host October in Kamloops that killed truck drivers hav: five people — point out that tru: create a perception among the public thot truckers rack Somere miles than average drivers and in fact hove @ better safety record @ bed safety record. But industry insiders