OPINION YY, December 8, 1993 wy, The Castl gar Sun is published every Wednesday by Sterling Newspapers Ltd. at 465 Columbia Ave. Castlegar, B.C. V1N 1G8. The Castlegar Sun is politically independent and a member of the Sterling News Service, Canadian Ci B.C. C y Newspapers Assocation, and the B.C, Press Council. Established 28, 1990. Mail pending PUBLISHER MARILYN STRONG SHARLENE IMHOFF CHRISTINE MOYER EDITOR PRODUCTION MANAGER TRICIA LAKTIN PRODUCTION ASSISTANT CATHERINE ROSS ADVERTISING REP. NICOLE BEETSTRA ADVERTISING REP. LISA ANDREW TELEMARKETING JOHN VAN PUTTEN SPORTS REPORTER/PHOTOGRAPHER KAREN KERKHOFF REPORTER MARGE LALONDE CIRCULATION/ACCOUNTING SHAUNA KATTLER OFFICE MANAGER/CLASSIFIEDS Direct Department Phones General Office 365-5266 Circulation 365-5266 Classified Ads 365-7848 Display Advertising 365-2278 Newsroom 365-5579 Fax 365-7762 editorial comment Masters of our own fate Did you ever consider how lucky we are to live in Canada? All a person has to do is consider the last elections. The people elected were people WE chose—not the government. We are direct masters of our fate, and never will that become more clear as we ride the never-ending roller coaster of local politics. We—yes, you too, chose to elect a mayor who is new to the political scene, and if at times he* appears green the explanation is simple—he is. He doesn’t have 17 years of experience nor the con- nections which the previous Mayor, Audrey Moore, 80 diligently and carefully cultivated. Those kind of connections come with time When times get rough, and they will, don’t for- get, we have a mayor in training What Mike O’Connor lacks in knowledge and experience is made up by his sincere commitment to serve our city well. For the next three years the choice we made on municipal election day will be affirmed by O’Connor’s and city council’s actions—good or bad. But O’Connor will never truly know how well he is doing without public input. It is up to us, the citi- zens of Castlegar, to let the Mayor know what he is doing right—and wrong. It is also up to us to be involved in what is happening in our city Just because we elected seven people to sit on city council doesn’t mean our job is done. In fact, it has only just begun. In every situation there are doers, and those who stand silently by, content to let others make their decisions and choices. But if a wrong choice is made, the silent watchers suddenly become ferocious watchdogs biting at the heels of those who dared to take a chance It’s easier, and definitely safer at times, to be a watchdog. If everyone were a watchdog this city wouldn’t grow, but instead be left to stagnate and decline. It’s those who dared to take a chance that have made a difference in Castlegar. And it’s those who dared to take a chance who are remembered the most. The names of previous Castlegar mayors such as: Robert Maddocks; Ed Mosby; and Audrey Moore will be long remembered for their service to Castlegar. Without those strong first mayors we might well have gone the way of other towns like Rock Creek or Sandon. In their own way these mayors were pioneers with the foresight and strength for which they'll be remembered. But, not everyone has to be a mayor to make a difference, nor do they have to sit on city council Those who sit on city council are simply the voice of those they represent—the citizens of Castlegar. If we want to see change in Castlegar it is up to each and everyone of us. We can do that through continued communication, either directly with council members or through The Castlegar Sun It’s you, in the end, who will make the difference ERRORS: The advertiser agrees that the publisher shall not be liable for damages arising out of errors in any advertisement beyond the amount paid for the space actually occupied by that portion of the advertisement in which the error occurred, whether such error is due to the negligence of its servants or otherwise... and there shail be no liability for non-insertion of any advertisement beyond the amount paid for such advertisement. All advertising subject to publisher's approval. Contracts must be completed within one year from contract date. No contingent orders accepted. Printed in the U.S.A Now THAT We’ReE OFFICIALLY SWORN IN oce ARE AWE READY TO BE Sworn AT Pl fey | a [CASTLEGAR CAY Cour - [IN] Session Accepting responsibility for today’s politics Politics is a dirty word in Canada. Politicians are seen as people unable to make an honest living. As a local politician, a school trustee, I would like to put some balance into this rather dis- mal view of politics. Folk wisdom says that we get the government we deserve. If this is so, then we surely are in a miserable state of affairs. From local politics to national politics. Canadian voters are in a foul mood. Witness the recent demise of the Progressive Con servative Party. The last proyin cial election is an example of a violent political swing by the B.C. voter, Locally, we witnessed the defeat of a long time, high profile mayor. What is one to make of all of this? The wisdom of the street says, throw all the bums. out and start over again. Is politics so corrupt in Canada? I believe we are for- tunate to live in Canada Watch one news hour and you will appreciate where you live We have a good standard of liv- ing. Canada has a decent legal system and an open parliamen- tary government The level of violence and general lawlessness is relatively low in Canada. People immigrate to Cana- da, few Canadians emigrate to other countries. So why the grumpiness? Canadians are in a grumpy mood not because Canada is such an awful place to live in, nor because it has a particularly cor- rupt political system -The causes for this mood are the profound economic, environ- mental, social, and cultural changes that we avoided for so long and are now forced to deal with Since the Second. World War. we have lived under an expan sionist version of life. Things will get bigger, better. and brighter. Since the 80’s our view of life has changed Today we are frightened of the future. We feel that we are vic tims of change. We lash out at anyone in authority and accuse them of creating the problems. I am not apologizing for the decisions of politicians, they have made some foolish deci sions. Realistically we must accept that parliament did not cause everything that is Wrong in our world. > The parliamentarians did not fish out the Northern Cod stocks, they did not denude our forests, they did not personally pollute all our rivers. We did. We and our vision that tomorrow does not come or if it does come, it will naturally be much better than today. Self interest has dominated our thinking. There are so many spe- cial interest groups and they expect that every decision must reflect their interest. The best example of this was the great constitution referendum/debate The new constitution had to reflect everyone's interest, so in the end we created a document that united the country by divid- ing it There is little common purpos in what we do. We are a socicty mfected with a fatal dose of NIMBY. Any politician foolish enough to not recognize this. or principled enough to be offended by it, becomes an ex-politician For some 30 to 40 years we have lived in a Disnevland vision of the world. If we had worn mouse cars, we would have know where we were Politics only works when we decide to make it work. We have to give up our personal hobby horse and share responsibility for decision-making We must stop thinking of pure personal gain and begin to look for the common good. We must stop falsehoods or creating lan guage that is designed to confuse Just tell the truth! Accepting responsibility, look ing for the common good, and speaking the truth, these are the cures for Canada’s political malaise If we want politics to work in Canada we must find people who Practice these attributes. Most important, we must support these politicians, even if their decisions sometimes do not reflect our per- sonal wishes. There is a clear link between the voter and the elected. Always remember, you get the govern- ment you deserve Mickey Kinakin works at Selkirk College and is the vice- chair for School District No. 9 Paying the price for living in the Queen Charlottes Gasoline costs 67 cents a litre, a four-litre jug of milk is more than $6, compared with $3.75 in the south, and a decent meal car- ries a price tag you find in Van- couver’s four-star restaurants. Welcome to the Queen Char- lotte Islands. Beautiful, remote, home to people who prefer a rugged lifestyle to the worldly and refined existence of southern British Columbia. It might as well be another country. Anyone with even the slightest affinity for nature cannot help but be overwhelmed by the beauty of the islands. Add to that the best steelhead fishing in the world and great hiking and canoeing oppor tunities, and you've got an out- doors enthusiast’s paradise I spent three days last week in the Queen Charlottes to take a look at a number of forestry oper ations, and I'll deal with what I found in a separate series of arti- cles. In this column, I'm-going to talk about what life is like in this most westem part of Canada As I mentioned at the outset, living here extracts a price. With the exception of housing. every thing ts horrendously expensive One woman | spoke to said she and her husband earn more than $100,000 a year between the two of them, but in spite of the fact that they live frugally, they can't save. The lifeblood of the islands is forestry. Without it the Queen Charlottes would be an economic disaster area. The largest employer, by far, is MacMillan Bloedel with about 200 direct employees and another 200 under contract. Including indirect employment, MacMillan Bloedel supports about 1,000 people on the islands. That's about 20 per cent of the total pop- ulation. The day I arrived at Tlell, a small community 40 kilometres north of Queen Charlotte City, the Chamber of Commerce's newly formed forestry committce held its inaugural meeting It soon became clear that the people of the Queen Charlottes not unlike those in other resource based communities, have a sort of love-hate relationship with the company on whom they depend so much. Much of the discussion revolved around the lack of sec- ondary manufacturing. Even though their livelihood depends on logging, many islanders don’t like to see the wholesale shipment of logs to the Lower Mainland. They would like to see at least 20 per cent of the total annual cut of 2.2 million cubic metres stay on the islands for remanufactur- ing. They point out that it takes only 5,000 cubic metres of timber to support a full-time job in the remanufacturing sector, com paredly with about 15,000 cubic metres in the primary sector. But one of the major obstacles to the creation of a viable sec ondary manufacturing sector is the remoteness of the islands Bringing secondary wood prod ucts to market is expensive Another problem is the some what unstable energy supply Exposed to frequent storms that blow down trees and cut power lines, particularly at this time of. the year, the Queen Charlottes experienced a lot of blackouts During my short stay, the power was out twice, once for more than eight hours. Like al) British Columbians in the province’s vast hinterland, the people in the Queen Char lottes feel neglected by Victoria. Aside from brief whistle stops during election campaigns, pre- miers are a rare species in these parts Ken Treusdall, old-timer, small businessman, and Chamber director, says the islands don't get their fair share from Victoria “We ship our wealth down south and it’s all swallowed up by Vancouver. They keep getting their parks and the sport facili ties, and our forests are being cut down to provide for Vancouver's amenities,” he says Paige Matthews, manager of the Chamber's Business Information centre, says she’s worried that the Queen Charlottes are the next tar: get of the environmentalists, “We may soon be faced with a strong environmental movement up here. We're already getting a lot of inquiries from Europeans They're buying land here left nght and centre. They don’t like our logging, and they don’t can whether we starve n month of the year.” she says Do you have a pear! of wisdom you would like to share with our readers? If so, you are invited to submit your Opinion to My Turn, c/o The Castlegar Sun. Submissions must be type-written and 600-800 words long. Wednesday, December 8, 1993 The Castlegar Sun Letters to the Editor | Page 7A Repentance requested from Vander Zalm bashers Dear Editor | was pleased to sec Bill Van der Zalm took out a membership in the Family Coalition Party, but disappointed in how some in the media contir to imply that our ex-Premier was guilty of wrongdoing, even after he was acquitted by the courts Perhaps they forget because his exoneration was barely men tioned by the media and even then usually with the Slur..."well, there was still the perception of wrong doing.” If we go by that standard there is no one who could quali fy, especially when the truth can be distorted so easily. In retrospect, Bill says per haps he should have done some things differently, But I know that at the e and under the circumstances, in his heart, he did the best he could for every one concerned. He even understood how the media needed to put food on their table and was generous in giving them information and respect. Then they turned on him and even used his acc bility to them to verbally harm him I believe many in the media feel ashamed now at how far they went in helping to destroy this fine man's reputation. Now is their opportunity to made amends to restore his reputation by fairly reporting how he was actually cleared of wrong doing and to remember all the good things he did I think a lot of the reporters have discovered how they were used by a very unscrupulous al ce that was more interested in accomplishing their own devious ends rather than any concern for the well being of the media, goveinment, Social Credit party or the people of our province I also believe Bill Vander Zalm’s position as Premier should be restored. He did a good job for us and he didn’t deserve the treatment he got and we didn't deserve to loose him as our Premier. (Everyone was tricked, even the people who were the perpetrators) Righttully when Bill was cleared of wrongdoing by the courts he should have immedi ately been reinstated as leader of the party and as our Premier As for the Social Credit Party....they have been given enough time to recognize what they did wrong and turn around, but they refuse to see it yet, those in control have even stooped to making the woman who worked so hard to remove our Christian principals from the party their new leader Though there are still many good people in the party, they have not been able to bring it Dear Editor: Castlegar has a new Mayor, new Council, new School Board. Castlegar has elected their governments for the next three years. ‘We saust expect that these newly empow- ered people will make changes and that some _— expressed. of these changes will be viewed as mistakes. It is my sincere wish that all the people of Castlegar will allow them these changes and will support and help these new governments to do the best job ever. I believe all the peo- ple who ran were truly interested in doing a Support and help sought for new council good job for the city and for its children. Over my last fifteen years in elected office, I have enjoyed the support of many in the Community and to those, I say thank you for your support and the confidence you have involved in the activities of our city and to make their wishes known to those who are elected to make decisions on your behalf. To our new Mayor and his Council, con- gratulations. I wish you all success that you may serve Castlegar well these next few I have found the challenges of elected years. office to be at times exciting and at times frus- trating but always interesting and stimulating. This city is worth working for and I appreciate the opportunity I have had to serve. I challenge the citizens of Castlegar to get Again, to the citizens of Castlegar, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to serve. back because the real issue has not been dealt with yet, nor repentance applied With Bill Vander Zalm being backed by a party with tradition. al family yalues there will be no problem with him believing in and and even speaking of such values, unlike a party that only advocates them when it is to their advantage politically I don’t know if Bill will run in the by-election, or if he will win if he does. But I do know that he has made the right Lh choice. We need to hear more 4 about the things that really mat ter in life—like family values, loving one another, getting out of debt, creating real jobs, and mostly...having peace and joy our hearts. When you go with the right values you can never loose Iris Bakken Salmo IMAGES BEAUTY SALON Call now for iw It’s not too early to contribute to your RRSP’s. Castlegar Savings Credit Union Castlegar Branch Slocan Park Branch: #100 - 630 - 17th St (5 3014 Hwy6 Slocan Park, B.C, VOG 2E0 226-7212 Yours troly, in Senechs Doree: Looking towards a brighter future Dear Editor: As a British Columbian who has earned a living from the forest industry and who is now the Official Opposition Critic for Forest, Lands and Parks, | want to express my serious concern over reports of big reduction in the annual allowable cuts for our forests. This is a vital public debate for all British Columbians and carries serious implications for our economy and standard of living. The Crown owns 95 per cent of the forest land base in B.C.. We can and we must avoid the catastrophic consequences of to plant and nurture through to maturity. If government would commit to taking a hard look at our system of forest licenses, offering greater security and inducing more private-sector invest- ment in the forest land base, our AAC figure need not be of the doomsday variety. Secondly, there is the manufacturing side to the a SO per cent reduction in our annual allowable har- wood More than 200 forest-dependemt communities in vest equation. Last spring, I served on an all-party com- mittee of the B.C. Legislature. Among our recom- mendation—the doubling of the qumber of jobs in the lumber re-manufacturing section by the year 2,000, and tighter ufilization standards tor salvage Fortunately, in calculating levels of sustainable B.C, deserve better public policy and with at, a better harvest in our,province, several additional factors future need to be considered. The Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) is not only a function of standing timber (inventory), but also how many trees we are willing » this Member attons. And wounds like Sincerely, Wilf Hurd Liberal MLA, Surrey-White Roch The Convenience of MemberLine. from any touch-tone fF Kootenay Savings Where You Belong Letters Policy Letters to the Editor are wel- come on any topic of local or general interest. Letters should be double-spaced, typewritten, or legibly handwritten, and no more than two pages if possible. Letters will be edited in the interests of brevity or taste if necessary. All letters must be signed, with address and tele- phone number, although names may be witheld from publication for valid reason by the approval of the editor. Send letters to: The Castlegar Sun, 465 Co.umbia Ave., Castlegar, B.C., VIN 1G8, or drop them off at the office Poetry will not be published Castlegar, B.C. ViN 4G7 365-7232 ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION Branch 170 Sundays 12 pm - 6 pm Mon. - Thurs. 2 pm- 10 pm Fri. - Sat. 1] am- 11 pm Bingo every Thursday c with bers wel 248 Columbia Ave., Castlegar 365-7017 | A Kootenay Savings Member Communicates Privately, NOTICE Information on Cutting Free Christmas Trees For Personal Use 1; Who may apply for a free ¢ Any person who is 19 years or older arul resides in British Columbia, is allowed to cut a Christmas tree free of charge from Crown Lands afler getting permission from a Forest Officer. This requirement does not pertain to persons having suitable christmas tees on their private land(s) 2. Where can I apply? Apply at your local forest district office. of a fickd office in your area ‘The Forest Officer thay issue a letter of autly jon and will provide you with the information and a sketch map of the area(s), necessary, where you can cut a tree. Cary your letfer of authorization with you as you may be asked to produce it 3. Where do I cut a tree? a. B.C. Hydro and West Kootenay Power rights-of-way (Crown land portions only) except areas where Christmas tees are being grown commercially b. Highway rights-of-way. c. Logging roads (within three metres —10 feet the road.) d. Open range land Cut your tree from dry, rocky sites on south slopes within your permitted areas. They produce better Christmas trees. of the edge of 4. / there areas where I must not cut Christmas Trees? Yes. You cannot cut a Christmas tree from a. Private Lands. b. Plantations. c. Research areas. d. Parks. e. Watersheds. f. Juvenile-spaced areas g. Any other areas alienated or reserved for a special use 5. How many trees can I cut? You are allowed to cut only one tree per family. Cutting Christmas trees free of charge is strictly for personal use. You are not allowed to sell them. Failure to comply is a trespass ou Crown lans under Section 138 (1) of the FOREST ACT. Trespass cutting be further subject to prosecution under the Criminal Code of Canada. 6. What species of trees can I cut? This depends on your location. Usually Douglas-fir on dry sites produces the best Christmas trees. However, lodgepole pine, spruce, bals and other minor specics may be designated for cutting where Douglas-fir is available. 7. What should I do before cutting a tree? a. Make sure you have chosen the best tree and size you want b. Try to leave the bottom one or two branches on the stump of the tree, which may grow into another Christmas tree for future cutting. c. Do not cut a bog tree only to use the top portion. This may be a waste of a future tree and the portion left on the area will create a fire hazard. 8. What should I do after cut a. Leave the area as clean as possible b. Do not leave lower boughs and branches of cut trees alongside roads or in ditches. Lop them close to the ground and scatter c. Do not transport your tree outside the province iB atree? An oderly cutting of Christmas trees, without unnecessary waste, growing k you for will help you to enjoy the holiday season a continuous crops of timber for future p: your cooperation Arrow Forest District R45 Columbia Avenue Castlegar, B.C. VIN 1H3 Phone: 365-8600 Kootenay Lake Forest District R.R. #1, Ridgewood Road Nelson, B.C. VIL 5P4 Phone: 825-1100 A WMinistry of Forests