OPINION

ESTABLISHED AUGUST 7, 1947

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—_—
Castlegar News
PAGE A4, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1991
MEMBER OF THE B.C. PRESS COUNCK

TWICE WEEKLY MAY 4, 1980
12, 19)

LV. CAMPBELL — PUBLISHER, AUGUST 7, 1947-FEBRUARY 16, 1075
PUBLISHER — Burt Campbell
EDITOR — Simon Birch
PLANT FOREMAN — Peter Harvey
ADVERTISING MANAGER — Wayne Stoiz
OFFICE MANAGER — Linda Kositsin
CIRCULATION MANAGER — Heather Hadley

——————

EDITORIAL

Panel listened

The Celgar Expansion Review Panel’s final recommendations to
the federal and provincial governments will likely prove that you
can’t please all of the people all of the time.

But the panel members knew going in their job wouldn’t be easy

and they’ve done a good job listening to everybody's

~-YO) GOT A DEAL PAL!

opinions and, yes, even fears about Celgar’s $650 million project to
clean up and expand its Castlegar pulp mill.

The panel members have even strayed beyond their mandate in
one or two of the 50 recommendations.

In its first recommendation dealing with the supply of wood
chips to the new mill, the panel notes “‘that there may be goyernmen-
tal decisions regarding harvesting which pertain to the supply of wood

chips for Celgar and which have undesirable

)
4

I effects.’”

The panel says such decisions may include Pulpwood Agreement
No. 9 which would allow the harvesting of up to 500,000 cubic metres
of pulp-quality timber in southeastern B.C. Celgar has bid on the
agreement and that has some people worried the mill expansion will
lead to increased harvesting in this area, although Celgar says it
wouldn’t need to cut trees unless its supply of wood chips from local

sawmills is cut off.

the panel r ds that

Despite being outside its

any government decisions regarding harvesting which pertain to
Celgar’s supply of wood chips ‘‘take into consideration the protection
of high elevation forests, community watersheds, fish and wildlife
habitat, soil quality and recreational and aesthetic use of the forests

in southeastern British Columbia.”’

The panel also recommends a task force ‘‘undertake a study of
the public and private costs and benefits of barge, rail, and private
and public road alternatives in comparison with the truck transpor-
tation alternative proposed by Celgar’’ to haul wood chips to the mill.

Whether the provincial and federal governments heed any or all
of these recommendations remains to be seen, of course.

The point is, the panel listened and deserves a measure of respect

for that.

VIEWPOINTS

Conduct of allies
raises concern

OTTAWA (CP) — There’s
growing concern about the way the
U.S.-led coalition is conducting -the
Persian Gulf War.

Critics deplore what they say is a
complete lack of United Nations
supervision of the conflict.

And instead of concentrating on
the stated intention — the expulsion
of Iraqi troops from Kuwait — the
coalition is engaged in the destruc-
tion of Iraq’s economic infrastruc-
ture, perhaps at the cost of thousan-
ds of Iraqi lives, they say.

Canada’s longstanding support for
the UN is a major reason for its par-
ticipation in the conflict, Ottawa
says.

External Affairs Minister Joe
Clark made the point again in a
speech Monday, saying the coalition
is simply doing what the UN
authorized it to do.

“This is not a war in search of
total victory or the destruction of a
nation or its leader,’’ Clark told a
Rotary Club luncheon in Ottawa.

“This is a war to uphold a prin-
cipleMind fulfil an objective which
the United Nations has declared to
be necessary for the maintenance of
international peace and security . . .
the withdrawal of Saddam Hussein
from Kuwait.""

But Douglas Ross, director of

Simon Fraser University’s Centre for
International Studies in Burnaby,
B.C., says the real objective has gone
well beyond thay,

He points to the systematic bom-
bing of any target that could be used
to rebuild Iraq’s military after the
war — petrochemical plants, oil
refineries and pumping stations.

“*The U.S. argues that they have
to destroy Iraq’s capacity to make
arms,’’ Ross says. ‘‘Well and good.

“But that doesn’t equate to
destroying a large part of Iraq’s in-
dustrial infrastructure, their oil-
exporting capacity and leaving their
economy in absolute ruins. This is
more than punishment. It’s a
Strategy to so weaken Iraq that it
can’t constitute a threat to Israel for

was not in the UN
resolution and, as far as I know, was
never agreed to by the Security
Council.’

While the UN was designed to
exercise restraint in critical times, the
war is now being waged at a furious
pace with ‘“‘uni

EEE,

AFFPFFFI TEL

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Time to speak up

I have patiently tried for some time to ignore
several and mi: i
regarding myself and the Celgar pulp mill cleanup
and modernization project.

First, allow me to correct those who have said
that Colleen McCrory works for me. She is not
and has not been employed by me — not in
Ottawa and not here in Kootenay West-
Revelstoke.

I do, however, have great respect for Ms.
McCrory and her abilities. She is an able and
dedicated fighter for the causes in which she
believes, and we have shared many. But we do not
agree on the merits of Celgar pulp’s proposal. 1 ~~
support it. She does not. ie

I have also made it clear that the project had
to meet the requirements of the law, both as to
Process and established standards. To that end I
urged the establishment of a joint B.C.-Ottawa
review. I, along with many others, have been.
upéet that both the B.C. Socred and Ottawa Tory
governments dragged their asses for so long.

Since this project was proposed, I have
supported a cleanup project that meets federal
environmental standards. Beyond saying so in a
mailing to every home in the entire riding, dealing
with the federal ministers involved an tervening
to preserve rail lines to haul wood chips, I wonder
what more I can do to make clear my support.

I have not joined in or aided anyone's holy
war against either pro- or anti-project activisits. I
see my job as an MP as helping to resolve
conflicts between my constituents — not to create
them or inflame them.

There is no great reason why we can’t have
an expanded, cleaner pulp mill operation that
provides jobs here — rather than outside the West
Kootenay — with minimal impact on local
transportation corridors if the B.C, government
does its job.

But we won’t get that by encouraging our
neighbors to bash each other or outshout each
other. That’s the Socred-Tory game, and while
some may fall for it 1, for one, won’t play.

Got the message?

Lyle Kristiansen
Kootenay West-Revelstoke MP

Writer welcome

I am pleased to learn that the Castlegar News
has hired a local resident to do a column,
especially a writer with the wide experience and
impressive credentials of Catherine

from Washington about what is and
what isn’t acceptable,”’ he says.

The absence of UN supervision is
dangerous, Ross says, and amounts
to the subordination of the Security
Council to U.S. foreign policy.

Economic woes
blamed on unions

By DAVID SOMERVILLE

Across most of the western world,
the era of big, powerful labor unions
is ling.
Once mighty labor unions are
dwindling in size and i

Unfortunately, all of this makes it
more difficult for Canada to adjust
and compete in today’s global
market. It’s a tough,
world out there but our economy

As she settles into her new community, gets
to know the people, learns that mountain
huckleberries really are superior to their pale
cousin, the Ontario blueberry, and are worth the
trouble and effort it takes to find and pick them,
Shapcott will soon become as much at ease in her
new home as I did when I moved into Silverton
and New Denver many years ago. She will find
that the kind of help she needs will come naturally
and graciously from her neighbors, at no cost, and
will be as profound as, and more helpful than, the
professionally dispensed solace she is now
receiving.

May I make a suggestion that I believe will be
of value to Shapcott while she makes her
adjustment, as well as to the Castlegar News and
to its readers? One who has been reading as long
as I have cannot help but be aware that English
today needs all the nelp it can get. With distressing

They are becoming, in effect, in-
dustrial dinosaurs.

In places like Britain and the
United States, for instance, union
membership has dropped
dramatically. Unions in Canada,
however, are hanging tough. Indeed,
‘Canada’s private sector unionization
rate of approximately 30 per cent is
about twice as high as the U.S. rate.

Moreover, Canadian unions are
protected by an array of provincial
and federal laws and structures and

to be by the
inefficiencies and artifically high cost
structures imposed by militant,
Powerful nations. Part of the
Problem is that unions frequently
demand wage hikes that are not
justified by increases in productivity.
The negative consequences 01
union demands was emphasized
recently in a report by economists at
Wood Gundy, a major Canadian
brokerage house.

According to the report, Canadian
have lost the com-

wield and
power.

cto RRR ~

Ce

please see UNIONS page AS

we find “‘moral’’ used when ‘‘morale’’
is meant, ‘‘mitigate’’ used in place of ‘‘militate,””
and even “‘loose”’ in place of “‘lose,"” or
“‘momentarily’’ when it is clear that the speaker
or writer wishes to let us know that something or
other will take place within a moment or two, and
not for a moment or two. One could go on . . .
and on. 7

As for figures of spéech, well, here there is @
whole new field. How many today know how
“‘brownie point’’ has suffered a 180 degree shift in
meaning in the past few years, and so far as

that ‘to shoot one’s self 'in the foot” is not at all
the same thing as “putting one’s foot in his

mouth,” or making a faux pas? Or wonder why
we accept so complacently, or perhaps

ministry in Castlegar. They went into that meeting
with a spirit of cooperation and a hope that their
would be and perhaps some

thoughtlessly is a better word, that ing or
other is ‘‘the exception that proves the rule,"”
when clearly, this makes no sense?

We haven't yet even touched upon formal
grammar, and here I must confess to taking a
somewhat casual attitude myself to the splitting of
infinitives, the dangling of participles, and to
putting prepositions where they ought not to be
put. But at the same time I believe that those
working with the media — even with radio and
television where allowance must be made for the
exigencies of the moment — should know that a
verb should agree in number with its subject,
which is very often not the noun immediately
preceding it, and should understand why ‘“‘did you
get any yet?’’ is not an i

could be resolved. Unfortunately, this was not to

The committee members who attended the
meeting found themselves in rather hostile «
territory. They were told by a representative from
the ministry that they had had a chance to have
input into the system when Westar held its open
house on its five-year plan. They were told by
Westar that the trouble some of the users had had
in the spring battling dirty water arid fouled
intakes had little to do with Westar’s logging
operation and practices. s

In the end, they were left with the distinct
impresion that their concerns about the
came a distant second to the harvesting

‘When you have on your staff a writer with
such broad experience, with a diploma in
journalism, an arts degree in English, and so vast
a reservoir of material to work with, why don’t
you prevail upon Shapcott to do a column on the
proper use of English?

Fred G. Marsh
Castlegar

Contributions help

As we watch TV and listen to commentators
and military experts talk about the Gulf War,
we're forced to ask ourselves, “‘How can we
help?’’ It’s still too early to know what the needs
will be but it’s become evident that the damage,
suffering and numbers of innocent victims will be
greater than the resources available.

The government of Canada itself recognizes
the potential for massive suffering. The Canadian

: D ‘Agtacy’s i ‘
humanitarian assistance division has already
channelled $2.55 million through the Canadian
Red Cross Society for its itarian work.

of the trees in these watersheds.

The committee members had hoped to go
through their list of concerns and proposals at the
meeting and discuss each point with Westar and
the ministry. This did not happen, but they were
promised a written reply by both of these parties.
The meeting was held Nov. 3, 1990. The
committee is still waiting for the promised replies.
They had asked for a response to their concerns
before Westar began logging in Little Cayuse
watershed. These logging activities began the week
of Jan. 9.

It is well known that Westar Timber has a
poor reputation concerning its logging activities in
the West Kootenay area. For this reason the
company is trying to improve its image. | would
suggest that Westar could accomplish this much
faster if it would abandon its slick answers and
facile promises and show that it is truly i

PERSPECTIVES

Clear message goes unheard

Canadians gather ‘to prevent scourge of war’

“*No Blood for Oil." ‘Troops Out.
of the Gulf.”” ‘‘Let’s Grow Up and
Make Our Own Decisions,"’ ‘‘War is
Not the Solution."’ ‘*No to the Gulf
War.”

“Bring the Troops Home."’ ‘Peace
is Possible Now!"’

These were some of the things that
I saw in Canada’s national capital

during the. recent demonstrations on

Parliament Hill, in front of the
American Embassy, and in front of
the National Defence headquarters in
Ottawa. The carriers of these
messages were young people, high
school and university students, ~civil
servants, mothers and fathers with

Purpose:
Prevent the scourge of war,"’ which
the United Nations was set up to do.

They spoke to those who listened.
But no one from the government in
power had the courtesy. to come,
listen and speak to their concerns.
The exception was Opposition NDP
member Svend Robinson.

They held vigils. They pointed
theit fingers in the familiar ‘Vv’
symbol of peace. As they walked,
they sang, ‘‘All We Are Saying is
Give Peace a Chance.”"

They spoke about economic san-
ctions and criticized the leaders of
the world for being trigger-happy
Rambos. They called for a Middle
East peace conference including the
i of the Arab-Israeli
Instead of being preoc-

conflict.

-tupied with war, they spoke of the

urgent need to rediscover civilized
behavior and become actively in-
volved in making peace. Several
people called for Canadian
parliamentary leaders to listen to the
Canadian people and then work to
restore Canada’s role as a
er.

Unions

continued from page AS
petitive edge, which they once en-
joyed over their U.S. counterparts,
because of sharply rising labor costs:

The report also points out that
Canada’s loss of competitiveness has
had a profound impact on our trade
balance. Since 1986, the report says,
Canada’s overall merchandise trade
surplus has dropped by $4.4 billion,
to the lowest level since 1979.

Obviously, for the sake of
Canada’s future prosperity
something has to be done to free up
the Canadian labor market.

In Britain, former prime minister

to change by taking action about people’s
concerns.

Times are changing. People are no longer
willing to sit by and let the forests be managed for
industry first, with all other forest uses and

This amount, welcome as it is, will not be

coming a poor second. Perhaps that is
why the Ministry of Forests and Westar get so

enough. On Jan. 16, the ii
of the Red Cross launched a worldwide appeal for
the equivalent of $125 million Cdn. As the
situation in the gulf intensifies, this figure will
surely rise.

In times of conflict, the Red Cross works to
protect prisoners of war and wounded on both
sides. It provides protection to civilians and
refugees caught up in the hostilities, without
regard to race, religion, nationality or political
beliefs.

1 urge your readers, whatever their own
beliefs are, to contribute generously to the
Canadian Red Cross Society’s Persian Guif
Appeal now, so that lives can be saved and
assistance brought to those directly affected by the
conflict as soon as possible.

‘Canadians have always been a generous
people. It is time for that generosity to show once
again. Donations can be made at any Red Cross
branch or at any major chartered bank. Cheques
and money orders should be made payable to
“The Canadian Red Cross — Persian Guif
Appeal.”

Denise Reed

Regional President — Kootenay Region
Canadian Red Cross Society

Castlegar

Concerns ignored

This past summer, the water users of Cayuse
and Little Cayuse Creeks on Lower Arrow Lake
formed a watershed committee. They were 2
concerned with how their water quality and
quantity was being affected by the logging
activities being carried out by Westar Timber in
these creek drainages.

As individuals, some of the water users had
previously been frustrated in their attempts to
have their concerns about the logging taken into

and act in such an authoritarian manner
when a group such as the Cayuse Creeks
Watershed Committee comes to them with
legitimate concerns about logging activities in their
watersheds.

If they wish to avoid future confrontation,
they would do well to learn that the responsibility
for cooperation lies with all the parties involved.

Libby Raljancich

Spokesman

Cayuse Creeks Watershed Committee
Castlegar

Column appreciated

It is gratifying to have your generous
contribution to the community in printing the
Recycling and You column. Hopefully it could be
continued.

On behalf of the Recycling Advisory Group
for the city of Castlegar, Areas I, J and south
portion of H, I thank you very much.

(Chairman

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

Letters should be
spaced and not longer

account by Westar and the Ministry of Forests.
‘The. water users hoped that, as a they
would garner more respect for their position
the logging activities in the watersheds.
To this end, they drew up a list of concerns
and proposals about the logging activities, and
they scheduled a meeting with Westar and the

Thatcher showed that it is
possible to, challenge the militant
union elite and win. Thatcher curbed
its power and made it more accoun-
table to those. workers who com-
pelled top pay union dues. In so
doing, she helped make British in-
dustry competitive. .

Here in Canada, Prime’ Minister
Brian Mulroney and the provincial
premiers have yet to fundamentally
address the problem of militant,
powerful unions.

Canada's competitiveness and
future job prospects shall continue to
suffer until they do.

David Somerville is president of
The National Citizens’ Coalition.

EET
its Q
Childs World

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j
ww

“No Blood for Oil” was one of many signs carried by about 2,000
Canadians last month during @ march from Parliament Hill to the

Department of J

Many spoke from the heart and
from their conscience.

in Ottawa. by

J. Toresolf

“Turn that portion of taxes that
go to the military to a peace tax fund

established by Conscience Canada,"’
was the view of one concerned
parent. Another parent suggested the
civil disobedience route if that was

i to achieve ’
goal in a non-violent manner.

As a photographer, I am often
Privileged to travel and see people,
men and women, young and old,
coping with their own conditions.
I've seen poverty and violence. I've
seen people sleeping on the streets,
because they did not have the money
to find shelter, I have seen sick
People, including those who drank
their sorrows away. And on
Parliament Hill | recently saw tears
coming down the face of a teenager
who, with a heavy voice, said that
her father was in the army and she
was fearful of what might happen to
him because too many people. have
allied themselves with the military
solution.

They have set up a ‘‘we-they’”’
dichotomy. The ‘good’? and the
“bad” guys. Yet, deep in my heart, I
am sure that the people in the Per-
sian Gulf are people like you and me
with human needs and similar
feelings. We are all part of the
human family!

With the coming of the 21st cen-
tury, let us begin planning now for a
new civilized order in human
relations, As a first step, let us work
to get rid of the institution of war
once and for all. As parents and
teachers, let us emphasize the role of
cooperation over competition. Let us
instill the notion that we are all
children of one planet. As learned
Peoples, let us develop new social in-
ventions that can peacefully deal
with misunderstanding, conflict and
narrow thinking. Let us nuture the
spark of love in each of us — for the
hope of our civilization depends on
it.

_— is running out in this tur-
bulent century. We have much work
to do. Let’s begin now to build the
foundation for this new civilized era
of humanity.

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