80 CENTS (HOME DELIVERED: 50 CENTS A DAY)
B.C. ELECTION: POLLS OPEN 8 A.M.-8 P.M.
High today: 14 Low tonight: 3 Details page 2
TUESDAY, MAY 28,1996
PRINCE GEORGE
Serving the Central Interior since 1916
Central Interior called essential for election win
Citizen photo by Dave Milne
Election assistant Bernadette Stanyer is dwarfed by stack of ballot boxes Prince George-Omineca voters will use today.
Voters have final word
by PAUL STRICKLAND Citizen Staff
Liberal leader Gordon Campbell and NDP leader Glen Clark agree the Prince George area and Central Interior ridings are essential to an election victory for their respective parties.
“I’ve always recognized this as the critical centre of B.C.,” Campbell said Monday in an interview with local media here. “Races are close everywhere in B.C.”
Arriving from Dawson Creek, Campbell visited Prince George for two hours to speak to local media and address an enthusiastic crowd of 100 supporters at a rally at the Civic Centre. He moved on to Kamloops, Chilliwack and Vancouver.
Another reason to visit Prince George on the last day of the campaign was to persuade voters in other free-enterprise parties, such as B.C.
Reform, to support the Liberals. “You don’t win ridings with 12 per cent of the vote. That’s clearly the percentage the NDP wants to go to B.C. Reform.”
The purpose of a last-minute pitch for votes in the North is to persuade undecided voters and ensure good representation in the party from the North, as from all regions, Clark said in a telephone interview Monday.
“They’re very important, if you’re looking for a government representing each region,” he said.
“I’m cautiously optimistic.”
“We want to reach them and get them to solidify their vote.”
by DON SCHAFFER Citizen staff
Engineer Pram Kashyap got what he wanted from Prince George city council Monday night, but he didn’t earn many friends.
Kashyap appeared before council Monday night on behalf of his client, Paramjit Gill, who wants to develop a parcel of land at Knight Crescent and Wapiti Road in the Hart area.
Development services recommended against approval of the development, citing a number of changes in the proposal since it was originally presented.
Kashyap said Monday night he received notice of this recommendation only Monday morning, and needed more time than just one day to prepare an adequate rebuttal.
He also suggested the matter go to public hearing again so it could be discussed at length because of the changes made, he said, because of demands made by city administration.
“My client truly feels he is being discriminated against, your worship,” Kashyap said.
The issues a new government should tackle are job creation, medicare and education, Clark said.
“We need to get more jobs from the trees we cut, and make sure that companies that get access to government-owned timber create more jobs than they have been.”
The government must protect universal medicare, bring more health-care services to northern areas and make sure money is available for the University of Northern B.C. to grow, Clark added.
On land claims, Clark said, “We want to get some resolution. We want to make sure any agreements we make are just for native people and fair for non-native people, and make sure the process goes forward quickly.”
Campbell said he wanted to open up the treaty-making process.
“We’re going to have local representation on all the negotiating teams, we will have full public hearings where individual British Columbians get to speak to the recommendations.
“We’re going to have free votes on them in the legislature.”
Clark said a new NDP government would ensure cabinet representation for the North.
Campbell said it would be presumptuous for him to promise who would be in cabinet before voters had decided whether they wanted the Liberals in power.
Both Clark and Campbell said they had a long-term commitment to the North.
He later said Gill felt council made demands of Gill that were made of no other developers in the area.
Those assertions provoked an angry response from Peter Bloodoff, director of development services.
“I don’t normally like to get into editorializing, your worship, but I feel we have bent over backwards to accommodate Mr. Gill,” he said.
Coun. Cliff Dezell was the first councillor to say the matter should go again to public hearing. “There have been allegations made of city staff, and I’d like to find out about that and why what (development) we approved didn’t happen,” Dezell said.
“The applicant needs to be better prepared and council needs more information.”
Later, Mayor John Backhouse gave an angry speech, concluding with his recommendation that the matter go again to public hearing and saying, “Let democracy rule.”
Council will reconsider the matter at a later date.
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen Staff
Advance voting in three Prince George ridings has been busy, but not as brisk as it was five years ago during the last provincial election.
In Prince George-Mount Robson, total number of advance voters is 692.
“Last election we tallied just over 700,” said returning officer Lorraine Grant.
In Prince George-Omineca, 509 people voted during the four days from May 22 to 25. Five years ago there were 555 advance voters.
Prince George North recorded 971 voters, but doesn’t have the number from five years ago.
Across the province, voting has been heavier than in the 1991 election with about 68,000 people voting from Wednesday through Friday. The total exceeded the 1991 advance vote by 11,000.
About 2.1 million people are eligible to vote today.
When returns begin to come in after polls close at 8 p.m. today, local party candidates, campaign workers and supporters will gather for victory parties and campaign celebrations.
New Democrats will be at the Ramada Hotel, Liberals will gather at the Coast Inn of
the North and Reformers will be in the Sunset Room at Esther’s Inn.
Candidates from other parties will gather in homes or will be at their respective homes across the region.
Registered voters should have received a card in the mail telling them where to vote today.
Residents who didn’t get one can register at voting places if you’re 18 or older, lived the past six months in B.C. and are a Canadian citizen.
To register, bring two pieces of identification showing name, address and signature. If you’re at a new address, bring proof of your new address.
Main polling places in Prince George are:
■ Prince George North: Hart Highway and North Nechako elementary schools, D.P. Todd and Lakewood secondary schools and Eagles Hall on Dagg Road.
■ Prince George-Mount Robson: Central Fort George, Seymour, King George V, South Fort George, Van Bien, Pineview and Buckhorn elementary schools, Connaught Youth Centre and Blackburn Community Centre.
■ Prince George-Omineca: Columbus Community Centre, Beaverly and Vanway elementary schools and John Mclnnis and College Heights secondary schools.
Discrimination claim irks council
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MUSIC
Canadian country sensation Shania Twain continued her winning ways, picking up four Big Country Music Awards. Her mega-selling The Woman in Me was named best country album, while her hit Any Man of Mine won the song of the year. Page 17
WORKPLACE
■ Students who take out small business loans have a success rate of 85 to 90 per cent, says George Visser of the Business Development Bank of Canada in Calgary. Read about one such young entrepreneur in
Grade 11 who started small and is getting bigger. Page 7
SPORTS
■ Rookie righthander Marty Janzen was thinking about one hitter at a time for his major league debut as a starter for the Jays last night. The thinking carried him through seven strong innings to a 5-4 win over White Sox at the Skydome. Page 10
NATION
■ The federal government is prepared to allow farmers to grow pot, but it’s not the kind anyone would
want to smoke. The industrial grade of hemp that would be allowed has a tiny fraction of THC, the substance that produces a high when inhaled. Page 15
WORLD
■ The grass might look a little greener on the other side of the fence, but Canadians and Americans prefer the landscape on their own side, particularly when it comes to health care. Page 12
PARENTING
■ Parents of two boys forced to watch as their sons’ lives crumble to
COMMUNITY
This morning’s top local headlines:
Crematorium plan raises concerns/page 3 Medical staff chief criticizes ad /page 3 Molester’s sentence sparks anger /page 13 Education and health debated /page 13
a fatal illness, know they won’t be able to pay the costs of caring for them without help. Doctors who failed to warn about the risks of having children born with muscular dystrophy should have to give them that help, the couple told an Ontario court. Page 24
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