sa I 7 ED {RP Page 16 January 1985 Cassiar Courier ERICKSON GOLD Continued from Page 1. During the current phase most of the 20 people at Mount Skukum are involved with the underground development. Project Superinten- dent is Jim Bondesen who was previously the mine superintendent at Erickson. In the future the company foresees a work force of about 65 people on site. Mount Skukum has measured ore reserves of 165,000 tons of .73 ounces of gold per ton. Mr. Ross said drilling by AGIP during the sum- mer has successfully increased the reserves and signs indicate the increases will be on-going. He said, ‘We believe we'll be mining at Skukum longer than the measured ore reserves indicate.” DYING BY THE POLL Continued from Page 2. an election campaign. In those few crucial weeks, every- thing Is on the line. To win the last election, Bennett had to know exactly what the voting public was thinking. Kinsella’s polls show- ed that B.C. wanted a “tough guy” leader. So Bennett came on like a tough guy, and won. But then he found the poll-taking habit hard to kick. If polls were good enough for creating election strategy, why not use them for creating government policy? And that’s how British Columbia got into trouble. We are not living with the results of carefully thought out government policy. We are living under a government that lives or dies by the public opinion poll. Government by poll leaves no room for leadership. The poll-addict sime ply surveys public opinion to see which way the parade is going, and then runs to get in front. But public opinion can change, drastically and quick- ly. And when the parade starts off in a new direction, .it’s hard to swing the policy-making process onto the new heading. The Bennett government is now trying to deal with the side-effects of government by pollsters, They slapped together the restraint program as an election gimmick, be- cause the pollsters said it would work, But public opinion has changed, British Columbians have had enough of the high unemployment and depressed economy that Ben- nett’s restraint measures helped create. A good election gimmick has turned into bad leader- ship. The result has been the thumping that Socred candid- ates took in the recent by-elections. Bennett has by now probably commissioned more polls to tell him what to do next, And, in the spring bud- get, we will probably see a flood of government initiatives designed to give the Socreds a new image. ~ We can only hope that the next set of pollster-cictat- ed gimmicks will do some lasting good. But don’t count on it, Once a government gets hooked on polls, real politic- al judgement withers away. And the poll-addict forgets that the duty of a politician is not to follow public opin- ion, but to lead. -_cecewerecrterrerrererecrsrcccerescoceereerereCeCreCeoeoeo ee DE&L Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Residential & Commercial For Free Estimates Call Durk McIntyre at 778-7860 CCC CC CC OCC OOOO COCO O OOOO OOO COO O COCO CoS PSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSsSSSSSsSsSSsSsSsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssey Y HOLT AGENCIES INSURANCE LTD. —BLR.S.P.’s — 10 3/42 Personal Insurance Annuities Hours: es essssssssSssSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSsSsssssssssssss 164 Elliott St. Cassiar, B.C. 778-7220 9:30-5:30 Mon. - Fri. SSSSS SSS SSS SS SSS SSS SSS SSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ‘ Discussion Paper on B.C. Schools Released Continued from Page 1. amendments to the School Act, basically unchanged since 1958. An introductory discussion session was held in Van- couver in December with more than 300 key people representing all sectors of the educational community in attendance. The Chairperson of Schoo] District No. 87, Sherry Sethen, the Principal of Snowridge Elementary School, David John, and Director of Instruction for S.D. 87, Keith Lanphear, attended the sessions. Public hearings conducted by teachers, school super- intendents and trustees will occur throughout the prov- ince during January and February. Owen Corcoran, Superintendent of Schools for District No. 87, said a timetable for meetings in the Stikine has not yet been devised. At the time this newspaper went to press, he said the district has not yet received the information packets which will be used for the meetings. Also Corcoran indicated he has not been informed who will pay for the local discussions. He said the Stikine District is short of funds for its next budget and cannot spare funds for the study. The discussion paper on British Columbia’s Schools is entitled: ““Let’s Talk About Schools”. It includes many selected questions to consider about B.C.’s schools. Some of these questions have been reproduced here to inspire local discussion about our school system: WHAT should be taught and learned in schools? HOW should it be taught? IN determining what should be taught and learned in schools, what should be the role of the Provincial auth- orities? The local school boards? The professionals? The public? Pupils? ARE our public schools capable of responding to the many and varied needs of the people of British Columbia? ARE there other forms of schooling which should be publicly supported? To what extent? SHOULD schooling be compulsory? For whom and to what extent? WHAT standards should be established for all schools, public and otherwise? SHOULD standards be established for all grades and all subjects? Who should establish these standards? SHOULD standards be monitored? How? By whom? TO what extent can schools capitalize on technological change? HOW can schools accommodate this technological change and make it part of school operations and programs? ARE there inherent dangers in accommodating technolog- ical change? TO what extent should parents and other members of the community be involved with schools, and to what extent should schools be involved in the life of the com- munity? HOW can school-community relations be strengthened? WHAT should be areas of consultation for trustees, school professionals, and the community? IS the separation of authority to govern the public schools Auto Plan Life Insurance SSS SSSSSSSSoooSSSSSSSsSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSsssssssss suitable in light of current conditions? Should school board demands for greater autonomy be met? Should school board powers be expanded, reduced, or remain the same? Would the enlargement of school board auton- omy improve the effectiveness of schools? WHAT processes and mechanisms might be devised to ensure that the Provincial Government and school boards remain accountable to society at large, and responsive to the needs of local communities? SHOULD all school board employees be covered by the same collective bargaining rules? SHOULD compulsory and binding arbitration be tre- tained for teachers? Should strikes and lockouts be permitted as an alternative to arbitration? WHO should set levels of school board spending? The Province? Local school boards? The Province and school boards together? SHOULD school boards be allowed to raise taxes above those required to sustain basic levels of school service determined’ by the Province? IS the goal of equality in schooling best served by prov- isions for basic levels of service? Should the Province be responsible for financing alternative or independent forms of schooling? SHOULD school districts be able to supplement provinc- ially defined levels of service? SHOULD funds to schools be targeted for specific pur- poses? A SHOULD parental and pupil responsibilities be specif- ically codified in law? SHOULD parents be allowed to keep their children at home and provide schooling for their youngsters them- selves? Should parents receive assistance in schooling children at home? SHOULD a period of compulsory schooling exist? Is the present period of compulsory attendance for children aged seven to fifteen satisfactory? If not, what should be the period of compulsory attendance? DO current training programs for teachers offer adequate preparation for careers in the classroom? Who should set policies for teacher education programs and certification? Are current provisions for in-service or professional devel- opment adequate? SHOULD professional development or the “upgrading” of teacher qualifications be made a condition of contin- uing employment? Should teachers be permitted to teach only in the subject and grade areas in which they trained? ; HOW can teacher professionalism be demonstrated? How can it be monitored and evaluated? Who should monitor and evaluate teacher professionalism? SHOULD school principals be granted greater authority in designing school programs? Or in administering resour- ces allocated to their schools? SHOULD individual schools have their own governance boards with powers delegated from district school boards? What would such a development mean to the role and responsibilities of principals? SHOULD. school principals be part of an employee bargaining unit? If so, should this bargaining unit be the same one that represents teachers? su Usitish Cofurnt.e SW tuntaings Comoranon TENDERS INVITED Sealed Tenders Marked “JANITORIAL SERVICES” for Provincial Government Office Building, 94 Con- nell Avenue, Cassiar, B.C. for a period of one (1) year will be received up to 3:00 p.m. February 13th, 1985, and those available at that time will be opened in public at 4825 Keith Avenue, Terrace, B.C. V8G 1K7. An on site tour will be conducted on January 30th, 1985, at 10:00 a.m. at the Provincial Government Office Building, 94 Connell Avenue, Cassiar, B.C. Tendering documents will be handed out at the tour and all bidding contractors must attend. For further information, enquiries may be directed to Grant McDaniel, 638-1191.