The Prince &eorge
Citizen
MONDAY, JULY 22,1991	51	CENTS
(Plus GST)
JOHNSTON WINS NARROW LEADERSHIP VICTORY
election alert
Low tonight: 10 High tomorrow: 30
Phone:562-2441 Classified: 562-6666 Circulation: 562-3301
Cell doors open early___________5
Mila wows London	7
Knights eliminated	11
No time for laughs	14
Couvelier explains his move
VANCOUVER (CP) — Social Credit leadership candidate Mel Couvelier said he threw his support behind Premier Rita Johnston at the party’s convention Saturday because he wanted a united party.
But when Couvelier approached the podium to congratulate Johnston on her victory, there was a chorus of boos from Grace McCarthy supporters who blamed Couvelier for their candidate’s narrow loss.
Johnston defeated McCarthy by 60 votes on the second ballot.
Third-place finisher Couvelier played an important role in deciding the leadership when, after the first ballot, he walked over to Rita Johnston’s red, white and blue stage and embraced the premier.
The support for Johnston came as a surprise to many delegates because the premier fired Couvelier from the cabinet in May.
Johnston said the former finance minister had breached confidentiality rules by passing on information to then-premier Bill Vander Zalm’s office about an investigation into the sale of Vander Zalm’s Fantasy Gardens theme park.
“I thought that there would have been about one chance in a billion that he would have moved over to Rita’s camp,” said Brad Newell, a floor worker for Couvelier.
“Let’s face it, she fired him not very long ago. To move back over to Rita’s camp really shocked me.”
But Couvelier, asked at the convention if the rift between he and Johnston had healed, said simply: “Oh sure.”
Calling it the most difficult decision of his political career, Couvelier, 60, said he supported Johnston because she was the best candidate to unite the party.
“I think Rita Johnston has done a good job of pulling the party back together again,” he said. “I wanted to indicate to Rita my appreciation of that.”
“There was a better mood than we originally anticipated,” said Ketchum. “Now whether that lasts or not is going to be hard to say. ”
From a strategic view, there arc good reasons for the Socreds to avoid summer elections.
B.C. teachers, who traditionally support the NDP, have launched provincewide protests over the past few months about provincial legislation that allows the government to roll back negotiated public sector wage settlements.
Ketchum said Socreds would also benefit by waiting for a Saskatchewan election — which must also be called this fall — so NDP workers who help out in other provinces would be spread thinner.
City visit by cabinet confirmed
Defeated Social Credit leadership hopeful Norm Jacobsen is back in cabinet in his former position of minister of social services and housing, Health Minister Bruce Strachan said Sunday.
Cabinet made the decision during a brief meeting in Vancouver around noon Sunday to give him back his portfolio.
Jacobsen, MLA from the Dewd-ney riding, had voluntarily resigned from cabinet when he began his leadership campaign last month.
“I don’t know what arrangement he made with the premier (Rita Johnston), but he is back in today, obviously,” Strachan said from his home shortly after returning to Prince George.
“Maybe it was a resignation she didn’t accept, after three or four weeks,” Strachan joked.
“I don’t know how it was done, but he is back in as minister of social services and housing.”
However, there was no general cabinet shuffle as a result of Sunday’s meeting, Strachan added.
“We simply discussed unity and coming together,” he said. “I guess the premier made the best comment by saying, ‘Yesterday was yesterday, and today’s today, so let’s carry on.’ ”
A cabinet tour visit to Prince George is still on for Thursday morning, Strachan confirmed. Cabinet members will meet with representatives of the Prince George Chamber of Commerce and Dr. T.E. Abraham, proponent of a cancer clinic in Prince George.
Abraham also sees a role for the University of Northern B.C. in the area of cancer research, Strachan said.
“Dr. Abraham has a real host of good ideas he wants lo put in place, and he and I have talked about it before. He wanted to share his comments with cabinet and particularly the premier.”
Party got out of hand
Bulletin
VICTORIA (CP) — Two ships collided in the Pacific Ocean this morning, sinking a Japanese factory fishing ship, said an official with the Rescue Co-ordination Centre.
About 40 people were in the water and accounted for, said Richard Hendrickson.
One person is missing in the collision. The accident took place northwest of Cape Flattery, about 120 kilometres west of Victoria, he said.
by Canadian Press
NELSON — Nicole Balfour is far away from her southeastern B.C. home these days for a reason — a good one.
She presided over a teenage party in her parent’s home July 12 that turned into a demolition derby.
“My nerves were shot,” say Nicole, 16, who high-tailed it to an aunt’s home hundreds of kilometres away in Prince George when her mom saw the 510,000
worth of damage to her newly remodelled home.
The trouble began when Mickey and Doug Balfour and their two youngest daughters took a week-long camping trip, leaving Nicole staying with a friend.
No parties, said the Balfours.
But five days after her 16th birthday, Nicole invited a few friends over for a small party.
Then 50 teenage gategrashers arrived.
“It started with a food fight,”
says a friend of Nicole’s. “They emptied the fridge, cupboards, freezer, and poured salsa, oil and syrup on the floor.”
Within 30 minutes, the phone was glued to the wall, the ceiling fan wrecked, carpets ruined, bedrooms trashed and obscenities smeared on the windows with ketchup.
Then the teenagers mowed an obscenity in the lawn and set the words on fire.
Some Socreds think she should try to capitalize on the momentum of her remarkable victory at the leadership convention and call a snap election. Others believe drained party workers and coffers need the rest of the summer to rejuvenate.
Jess Ketchum, the Socred campaign manager, said it may be too much to “expect our people — hundreds and thousands of volunteers — to come out and fight an election now after what they’ve just been through.”
Harcourt said he didn’t really care who his opponent would be.
“The Socrcds have now finally made a decision and we can get on with what most British Columbians want, which is an election,”
“An awful lot of times politicians react on instinct and sometimes they’re better than the polls,” Ketchum said, adding that in the end it will be Johnston’s call.
Before the leadership convention, few expected Johnston would be around to make that decision.
Grace McCarthy, regarded by many as the heart and soul of the Socred party, was favored to win. But the street-smart, straight-talk-
In her victory speech, Johnston made a plea for unity. McCarthy too urged “not one word of disunity — no lip service to unity.” But McCarthy supporters who stayed in the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre after the final ballot results were announced loudly booed third-place finisher Mel Couvelier, who unexpectedly went over to Johnston’s side.
Party president Hope Rust said Sunday that despite the hard feelings on the convention floor Satur-
Citizen photo by Brock Gable
The sounds of Scouts singing songs are ringing through the wilderness at Camp Hughes on West Scout sinaalona	Lake’ where 2*300 young people and their leaders are participating in the sixth B.C.-Yukon Scout
y y	Jamboree. The jamboree officially opened Sunday and runs until Friday. Visitors are welcome at the
site daily between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.
CARIBOO LOGGERS FEAR LOSS OF JOBS
Wilderness proposal sparks protest
About 300 people attended a rally Saturday in Williams Lake to oppose proposals that would set aside a huge area of commercial forest for parks and wilderness use.
The rally is part of a different response by industry to calls for wilderness and parks than has been taken elsewhere in the province.
“The people who worked in the Queen Charlottes sat around for 10 years, then discovered they had no jobs,” Mike Skellett of
Lignum Ltd. said today from Williams Lake. “We don’t want that to happen here.”
To help prevent the possibility, workers in Williams Lake area sawmills organized the rally, with provincial NDP leader Mike Harcourt and IWA president Jack Munro as featured speakers.
“It’s preventive medicine,” said Marlie Beets of the Cariboo Lumber Manufacturers Association. “Just because there isn’t a crisis doesn’t mean it’s not a real issue.”
At issue are proposals by the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, the Chilcotin nation, and the Valhalla Wilderness Society to set aside about 40,000 square kilometres of land for other uses than commercial forest. The area is from Chilko Lake west of Williams Lake, on a line toward Lillooet, including part of the Coast Mountains.
Although the entire area is part of the provincial forest, some of it isn’t suitable for harvest, according to Ken Brahniuk, opera-
tions manager for the Williams Lake Forest District.
That means some of the land could be dedicated to parks, wilderness or other uses without affecting the timber supply for area sawmills, he said.
This is just one part of the in-dustiy strategy to educate the public in Williams Lake. Mill tours are held every day, with almost all school children visiting a sawmill each year. The industry sponsors forest tours every Friday and Saturday as well.
Socreds put on
by SCOTT WHITE Canadian Press VANCOUVER — Fresh from one fight few people thought she could win, B.C. Premier Rita Johnston appears to be itching for a bigger battle.
Moments after her hard-earned victory over Grace McCarthy at the Social Credit leadership convention Saturday, Johnston put the party on notice for a possible quick election call.
She carried that same message to a meeting Sunday with her cabinet and the party’s executive.
“We’ll have to do some serious thinking because we don’t have much time,” said Johnston, who received a hero’s welcome at the meeting. “We have to ensure the party is completely organized and ready to go.”
But Johnston played coy about just when she will square off against NDP Leader Mike Har-
court in the provincial election that must come this year.
“One never knows,” Johnston said with a smile.
THE CONVENTION, PAGE 2 LOCAL REACTION, PAGE 3 EDITORIAL, PAGE 4
Harcourt said moments after Johnston’s leadership win.
Ketchum suggested the party may be five to eight percentage points behind the NDP after trailing by as much as 20 points for most of the last three years under Bill Vander Zalm.
ing Johnston put in a solid performance at the three-day convention and managed a 60-vote margin of victory over McCarthy.
Johnston boasted she had done a good job since becoming interim premier in April and would unite the party. McCarthy said the Socreds needed a leader who could win the next election and “save” the provincial economy from the New Democrats.
Premier Rita Johnston,
day night, the party will unite in time for the election.
“The split is not severe,” said Rust. “We’ll come together. You cannot break up this party.”
INDEX
"I recommend 8-ounce gloves and protective headgear."
Ann Landers .	. . . 9
Bridge		
Business ....	, , , 8
City, B.C. . . .	. .2,3
Classified . . .	16-19
Comic		14
Commentary .	, , , 5
Crossword . . .	. , 16
Editorial ....	. . 4
Entertainment	. . 14
Family		. . .9
Horoscope . . .	. . . 18
International .	. . . . 7
Lotteries ....	. . 13
Movies		
National ....	. . . . 6
Sports		11-13
Television . . .	. . . 17
058307001008