BC Politics with Hubert Beyer

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Hubert Beyer, Biography

Hubert Beyer was widely known as one of Canada's most read journalists. His columns were published regularly in most BC Community Newspapers, and his perspective sought on the Federal level as well as by NORAD in the US, Beyer lived up to his reputation as the "Fairest of them All."

Born in a small village in West Germany, Beyer immigrated to Canada in his 20s where he married and had 4 children.

A German Language publication in Winnipeg was Beyer's first foray into writing in Canada, it was soon followed with work at the Winnipeg Free Press as a Reporter covering many different beats. more

Click to read the Eulogy for Hubert Beyer

Top Search: Forestry

Find out what Beyer had to say about Forestry in BC through the years. With the forestry industry supporting a large segment of employment and opportunity in British Columbia, it's no surprise that it's a top search.

Top Search: Elections

Election are always a hot topic. Anytime the faintest hint of a provincial or federal election announcement draws near, the search for quotes and history on past British Columbia elections starts to climb.

Top Search: Budget Release

When is the Budget not a hot search. Provincial Bugets are introduced with fanfare and fraught with talk from pundits, experts and critics. Take a few minutes to see how BC Budgets of the past were often projections of the future. 

TIMBER TROUBLE ON VANCOUVER ISLAND

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VICTORIA -- The New Zealand forestry giant Fletcher Challenge isn't the only company wanting to expand its British Columbia empire. It also isn't the only company running into stiff opposition.

CIP Inc. has an application before the government to increase the size of its Tree Farm Licence on Vancouver Island to 152,000 hectares, which would roughly double the existing TFL area. But if the company expected smooth and expeditious approval, it didn't reckon with the towns of Tahsis, Zeballos and Gold River.

The three communities have combined forces to wrestle some major concessions and commitments from the company in return for their support of the application.

To fully appreciate the battle between the northern Vancouver Island communities and the company you have to understand that CIP is a subsidiary of Canadian Pacific Forest Products which, in turn, is owned by Canadian Pacific, the company Canadians have loved to hate ever since it finagled huge land tracts out of the government in return for building a coast©to©coast railroad more than 100 years ago.

The three communities, which are located within the TFL in question, want more from CIP than vague promises. They want a form commitment from CIP to take an active part in the future of their towns.

Representatives from Gold River, Zeballos and Tahsis recently met with government and company officials to discuss their concerns. According to the minutes of the meeting, a copy of which I obtained, the towns' representatives left no doubt in Forest

Minister Dave Parker's mind where they stood on the application if the company fails to make some firm commitment to them. "We are opposed to the application, until commitments are made. It's a matter of how the communities are treated," said Tom McCrae, mayor of Tahsis.

McCrae said CIP's development must go hand in hand with the development of the communities. He said the company had, for example, received assistance from the government and the towns for some subdivisions which are now lying vacant. He didn't want past mistakes repeated.

CIP's Sandy Fulton replied that the company wasn't in the real estate business, which I find rather amusing. Canadian Pacific is among the biggest real estate developers in the country. They still haven't disposed of all the land they got for next to nothing a century ago.

What exactly is it the communities want from CIP, the child of a parent which has had its way for so long and isn't used to some small town running interference?

To start with, the three communities want the company to draw its work force mostly from the area. The timber harvest, they say, should be managed to benefit the local economy.

To that end, the towns want CIP to operate out of Zeballos, which is accessible by either road or water. They want all silviculture work to be done by a contractor based in Zeballos. Engineering and forestry crews, they say, should be based in Zeballos.

"The financial responsibilities that have been taken on by the village to accommodate this corporation are in jeopardy if this operation and community suffer any more down-sizing," states a brief that is to be submitted to a February 2 public hearing on the company's application.

The towns also insist that they have input into the allocation of five per cent of the annual harvest, which is to go to open bidding. They want the company to assist them in encouraging workers to move their families into Zeballos. And they want the company to participate in the completion of a road, linking  Zeballos to Tahsis.

"We would also like to encourage the corporation to take a larger role in community events and projects," the brief states. And finally, the towns want a written commitment from the company that it will maintain a stable operation in the area.

I talked to McCrae and he wasn't very impressed with the company's track record. His town, Tahsis, he said, had lost about 700 people in the past few years as a result of the company's down-sizing.

"We are saying to the company, 'make a long©term commitment to the communities.' We are saying to the government, 'make a long-term commitment to environmental protection.'"

McCrae doesn't mince words. When Parker told him that his job wasn't an easy one either, considering that some 130 pieces of legislation impacted on his ministry, McCrae replied: "That doesn't impress me Dick."

Well, the way it looks from here, CIP would be well©advised to comply with the demands of the three communities. The days when big multi©national companies could lord it over small towns seem to be over. The towns are fighting back. They want more than just temporary jobs. They want an assured and stable future.

SURPLUS BODES WELL FOR PROVINCIAL FINANCES

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VICTORIA -- Let's give credit where credit is due. Provincial finances have never been in better shape since we got hammered by the 1982 recession.

According to Finance Minister Mel Couvelier's second quarterly financial report, covering the first six months of the current fiscal year, provincial coffers show a healthy surplus of $129 million. At the same time last year, we were already $351 million in the hole.

In terms of squeezing tax dollars out of us and spending them, the picture looks this way: six months into the fiscal year, the government collected $5.7 billion and spent $ 5.6 billion. That's $607 million more in revenue than the previous year, while spending was up by only $127 million.

But that isn't all. After selling everything that isn't nailed down, the government has $776 million in its Budget Stabilization Fund. About $33 million in interest, earned on that fund during the first six months, have already been transferred to general revenue.

Even Couvelier is surprised by the results of the government's privatization drive. He says the revenue from selling government property and services is much higher than expected and he wants to cap the B.S. Fund at $500 million.

Couvelier says he believes the government can achieve its goal of keeping the deficit for the current fiscal year to $395 million. That's nice but hardly a daring prediction. After all, if the B.S. Fund were scrapped and all the privatization proceeds rolled into general revenue, the government would have a fat surplus.

Still, British Columbia's economic health has greatly improved since the recession ushered in billion©dollar deficits. Prospects for a balanced budget are no longer utopian.

Most economic indicators look promising and point to an overall economic growth of 3.5 per cent for 1988. That's a range economists like because it's healthy but not inflationary.

One of the most important economic indicators is retail spending. It is the first to drop when the public loses confidence in the economy. Instead of spending their money on consumer goods, which keeps the wheels of the economy grinding happily away, they put it in the bank where it doesn't do anyone any good.

At an increase of 8.5 per cent for the eight months of this year, compared with 1987, retail sales were strong. Exports, another significant contributor to economic well-being, rose by 14.4 per cent during the first seven months of this year, and manufacturing shipments were up by 7.2 per cent during the first eight months.

Two economic sectors performed less than satisfactory than employment and housing starts. Although down two percentage points from the previous year, unemployment still stood at 10.4 per cent by the end of October. And housing starts were up by only 1.1 per cent.

The overall economic performance places British Columbia well ahead of the United States which expects a growth rate of about 2 per cent this year.

Couvelier's report also mentions West Germany's strong growth,

attributing it to the better-than-expected economic performance of its European trading partners. Perhaps, there's a lesson here about the benefits of free trade, enjoyed by the European Economic Community.

Health care remains the most expensive budget item. Six months into the fiscal year, the health ministry spent $1.85 billion, up $128 million from the previous year. That increase is the result of hectic spending on hospital construction initiated by the government after mounting criticism over its tight-fisted health care policy.

Word is, by the way, that in next year's budget, health will crash through the $4 billion mark. To think that I covered the goings on here when the entire provincial budget was under $3 billion.

The education ministry pretty well kept a lid on its budget. Total expenditures were $1.1 billion during the first six months, only $10 million more than during the corresponding period last year.

Transportation and highways spent $296 million the first six months, a decrease of 27 per cent from last year's $410 million, but Couvelier says there will probably be an increase in spending during the second half of the fiscal year.

You may disagree with the philosophy that guides this government's policies on how it collects and spends our money, but you can't accuse the Vander Zalm administration of overall fiscal irresponsibility.

Reducing welfare benefits for socalled employable clients by $50 may be ill-advised at best or callous at worst, but it's perfectly in line with what the government perceives as its mandate ©© to keep down spending. And Couvelier's report shows that the government is living up to that mandate.

LOOKING BACK ON 1988

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VICTORIA -- British Columbians have come to expect some pretty good entertainment value from their politicians, and the year 1988 did not disappoint them.

Premier Vander Zalm was on a perpetual roller coaster ride, dragging his party's fortunes up and down behind him, mostly down actually. And while there were no juicy sex scandals like in previous years, there was no shortage of political embarrassment.

There was the socalled Toigo affair, the Knight Street Pub scandal, the resignation of two cabinet ministers and, of course, there was David Poole, responsible to a great extent for all the other misfortunes that befell the premier and the Social Credit government during these past 12 months.

In early summer, Brian Smith resigned from his post as attorney general, claiming the premier's office was interfering in the affairs of his ministry to such an extent that he could no longer guarantee its traditional independence.

Shortly thereafter, Grace McCarthy refused to be part of Vander Zalm's new cabinet, also citing undue interference from the premier's office. In McCarthy's case, the interference had come mostly from Poole, the premier's principal secretary.

During the bidding process for the former Expo lands in Vancouver, Poole tried to get special consideration from McCarthy's ministry for Peter Toigo, a friend of the premier's. In the end, the government struck a deal with Hong Kong investor Li Ka Shing, but Poole's interference had done the damage.

Poole's incessant meddling got the government in trouble again with the Knight Street Pub controversy. It turned out Poole had put pressure on the chief of the government's Liquor Control and Licensing Branch to let an old buddy of the premier's do the referendum, necessary by law before approval of a neighborhood pub licence. It also turned out that this old buddy of the premier's fudged the referendum.

If all that wasn't enough, the premier repeatedly got himself into the limelight over his stand on abortion and his attempts to make the government toe the line in accordance with his own beliefs.

As the year dragged on, Vander Zalm's leadership became more and more shaky. His cabinet and caucus members began to openly criticize the premier's leadership. Socred constituency officials refused to express their unqualified support for Vander Zalm.

At long last, the premier took the hints, offered no resistance to the firing of Poole by cabinet and promised to change his style of leadership. He also promised to involve caucus members in the day-to-day affairs of government.

By the time the Socred caucus retreat in Courtenay came around, the premier had begun to mend some fences. The crucial test was now the Socred convention at Whistler. There were rumors of a leadership review, and some observers didn't rule out the possibility that he might not survive such a review.

But the premier had done his homework. The rebels never got off first base, and the convention gave Vander Zalm a solid show of support.

For a while, his troubles appeared to be over. He seemed to be listening to his new advisers and managed to stay out of major trouble, until news of Poole's golden handshake leaked out. Few British Columbians were amused when they heard that Poole got a farewell gift of $100,000.

And then, towards the end of the year, the premier put his foot in his mouth once again. He addressed a Vancouver meeting of Christian businessmen and waxed poetic about the need for "pure Christian ethics" in government.

At first, his advisers must have thought he got away with that one, until it was revealed that a tape of his speech had been sent to churches throughout the province. The permier had given his permission for the distribution of the tapes. Once again, he was accused of trying to force his religious beliefs on the government and on all British Columbians.

Against this backdrop of seemingly perpetual controversy, the government, nevertheless, gave a fairly good account if itself. The economy did well during 1988. For the first time, the sceptre of the recession which had hit the province so hard began lift.

As 1988 draws to a close, all economic indicators bode well for the coming year. The manufacturing sector is doing well. Exports are up. Inflation is in check, and the coffers are full. In fact, if the government decided to roll its privatization fund into general revenue, it would show a healthy budget surplus.

All in all, the premier and his government are in better shape at the end of 1988 than they were at the start. But they aren't out of the woods yet. The next 12 months will determine whether the Socreds can scrape another victory out of the voters.

If Vander Zalm avoids past mistakes, he may have a good shot at another term. If he continues acting like a preacher instead of a premier, he could be in trouble at the next election.

FLETCHER CHALLENGE DEFENDS ITS TFL APPLICATION

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VICTORIA -- The other day, I had coffee with Jack Toovey. Toovey is the kind of guy who makes me feel guilty for writing nasty things about multi-nationals, like Fletcher Challenge. That's because he's a genuinely nice guy.

But Toovey isn't only a nice guy; he's also very knowledgeable and competent in his field. He's vice president in charge of timberlands and forestry for Fletcher Challenge.

Fletcher Challenge is the New Zealand-based company that has applied for the Mackenzie tree farm licence, covering about six million hectares, nearly twice the size of Switzerland.

A hearing on the application had originally been scheduled for November 21, but in the wake of growing opposition to the proposal, the government went on damage control alert and postponed the hearing until March 7.

Toovey was going to be in Victoria on business and phoned me ahead of time to say he wanted to discuss the Fletcher Challenge application with me. He had read my previous column on the issue and wanted to make sure that I really had all the facts. It was Toovey's typically gentlemanly way of saying that, in his opinion, I was talking out of a cocked hat.

Toovey seemed genuinely surprised by the negative reaction to the tree farm licence application by the media and the public in general. He wanted to know what the company did wrong. He also wanted to give me the company's side of the story.

I told him why I thought the reaction was so negative. The application labors under a number of handicaps. First, Fletcher is a huge company; what's more it's foreign-owned. The public tends to distrust both. Second, the sheer size of the area to be managed by the company. Third, the public's scepticism about the government's ability or, indeed, willingness to monitor the company's stewardship of the land.

Toovey offered a sincere defence of the application. He said there wasn't much the company could do about public distrust of the government, but as for Fletcher Challenge, he'd like to say a few things.

He said Fletcher doesn't have a heavy-handed headquarters approach. The Mackenzie operation, he said, has maximum autonomy. He also stressed that B.C. Forest Products had been working in the Mackenzie area for 20 years prior to the Fletcher takeover, and had a reputation for being responsible land managers.

Fletcher Challenge, Toovey said, had shown its good intentions by agreeing to invest some $500 million in the area over the next 10 years. That was hardly the modus operandi of a company which plans to move in, skim off the cream and get the hell out.

Toovey said the public was, for some reason, under the false impression that once the TFL application is approved, the company can do whatever it pleases in the area. Not so, he said.

"We don't just go in and cut every tree in sight. The government has to approve out management plan. We have to replant the trees we cut down. Right now, we're planting nine million seedling a year and will continue to do so.

Under the terms of a tree farm licence, Toovey said, the company must assume responsibility for total management of the area covered, including fire protection, wildlife protection and recreational uses.

"And there has never been any disagreement in the past that TFL land is the best-managed forest land, better than private land and better than land looked after by the government. Even Peter Pierce acknowledged that in his Royal Commission report 14 years ago."

Toovey said he dares anyone to inspect the company's Mackenzie operations and form their own conclusions about the company's role as responsible land managers. Even now, he added, the company did nothing without consulting numerous branches of government and organizations such as the B.C. Wildlife Federation.

The people of Mackenzie, he said, are solidly behind the application, and they resented the interference from people whose jobs and future aren't at stake. "It's almost as if people in the Lower Mainland don't care about the 5,000 residents of Mackenzie,"Toovey said.

And there it is. I can't say that Toovey made a Fletcher torchbearer out of me, but his views are compelling and deserve airing and consideration. Some points make a great deal of sense but have, so far, been lost on the public. And that gets me to Fletcher's information package sent to the media and to interested members of the public. It just didn't cut it.

The colored booklet, prepared by two well©meaning company foresters was too slick, too lovely to believe, and the rest too dry and legalistic. Something straight©forward and informative is needed if the company hopes to get its case across to the public.

If Fletcher could sent an army of Tooveys on the road to talk to people, it might just have a chance of making it past the reef of opposition to the safe harbor of its coveted tree farm licence

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