Editorial

Transit Has Come Back To Us!

But will the students go back to it?

By Andrea Larson

The transit strike ended this
past weekend after a three
and a half month hiatus.
Transit workers and officials
agreed to binding arbitration,
sending buses back to their
scheduled routes on Monday,
December 3rd. For most stu-
dents this has come three
months too late.

Over the last three months
students have gotten very
resourceful in their trans-

portation to and from school.
Many students have com-
bined walking with hitch-hik-
ing up the hill. Other students
have bought or reinsured
cars, or found rides with stu-
dents who have. Some stu-
dents may go back to the
Prince George Transit sys-
tem, but others will continue
on with their daily routine that
they established over the last
few months.

The Prince George Transit

Canada Loves
New York?

By Stephanie Wilson

From November 30 to
December 2, Canadians are
invited to travel to New York
in a show of Canadian soli-
darity and love towards their
“best friend,” New York. New
York City mayor Rudolph
Giuliani has _ proclaimed
December 1st to be ‘Canada
Loves New York Day,’ which
will feature a mass rally of
Canadians at the Roseland
Hotel in Manhattan.

Thank God for Jean
Chrétien and Rudolph
Giuliani. Without them, | still
might be stuck in my back-
wards way of thought.
Without them, | still might
think that “True patriot love”
meant “true patriot love”
towards Canada. But | have
seen the nerve-grating
“Canada Loves New York”
commercials, and | have
been reformed: Canadians
are supposed to direct that
“True patriot love” towards
Americans!

With the exception of
Trudeau, Canadian govern-
ments have historically tried
their hardest to kiss the a** of
the Americans, but please! At
least make ‘em work for it
once in a while.

| am Canadian. | do not
love New York in that way. |
feel for them — terrorist
attacks suck — but | do not
feel the need to further suck

up to the Americans in ways
that degrade my Canadian
nationalism. Besides, _ if
Canada were attacked, do
you think the Americans
would come running up to
Canada to kiss ass...!| mean,
revere, us? Probably not.
The chances of that ever
happening run right up there
with the Communist Party
forming government in the
US, ie. it wouldn't.

This is one Canadian who
does not love New York. If
Americans have a problem
with that, they can kiss my
softwood lumber-producing,

fresh water sovereignty-hold- °

ing, California energy con-
sumers-supporting, pro-
Canadian a$$.

system already had low rider-
ship, but now their ridership
may get even lower. This
lower ridership could trans-
late to decreased service in
the future. At which point
fewer people will be able to or
want to.use the service. In
order to promote ridership,
Prince George Transit should
offer incentives for riders to
come back to their service.
The investment in better ser-
vice to the university may be

one way to make amends
and possibly increase rider-
ship in the future.

The use of public transit by
students has been estab-
lished in many other universi-
ties. _UNBC and Prince
George should work together
in order to create better ser-
vice for students, by imple-
menting a system found in
larger universities such as
the University of Victoria or
the University of British

Columbia.

At the University of Victoria
a bus pass is included in the
student fees for a reasonable
price. As an added bonus it
is faster and cheaper to take
public transit and parking is
unneeded. If UNBC and
Prince George Transit could
work together in this manner
both students and the transit
system woild benefit.

Long Live Over the Edge

By Colleen O’Grady

| am speaking from a point
of uncertainty. This seems to
be the office motto and occa-
sionally of “Hanging onto the
edge since 1994.” We have
had a varied history and var-
ied levels of uncertainty. We
have survived cut funding,
editors on academic proba-
tion, raised printing ‘costs,
student apathy... | could go
on and on and on. Currently
we are looking at funding
being cut again from NUGSS.
Boy this sounds bad, but you
know | wouldn’t change the
past 3 years for any thing
since | first came in the door
to volunteer. So this maybe a
goodbye. In the past 3 years

| have met people that |
wouldn't have been able to if
| was just socializing in Res
or even in my own major.
These are people from a
good cross-section of weird
but very cool. I’ve improved
my english skills, learned
how to manipulate computer
publishing programs, and
made professional political
contacts that a student would
not have other wise. Maybe
with my Forestry degree
(when everyone ‘else is
unemployed) | could get a job
at a small newspaper? = ‘I’m
now engaged to someone
who also has worked here.
We are not the _ first.
Hopefully not the last. Over

an anthology of
UNBC student creative writing

the Edge has not always
been glorifying; it has been
hard work and sometimes |
feel that personal cynicism
and lack of energy has got in
the way when we have to
deal with new politics and
changes in policy without
notice. Our claim to fame we
are the only student newspa-
per that does not have a paid
position. | get to graduate
this year; if we don’t publish |
get to train a new news editor
with no paper to practice on.
Hopefully we'll see you all
next year. Please have a safe
and merry Christmas and a
happy and joyous new year.