THE DECISION (to appoint Mr. Justice Peter Seaton to head a public inquiry into whether there was a conflict of interest when the NDP government bought shares in MacMillan Blocdel is, of course, to be applauded. But even if the terms of refer- ence are wide enough, | fear that Justice Seaton won't be able to get to the roots of the dilermna over Clayoquot Sound. The problem is that, after set- ting up the very sensible Commis- sion on Resources and Environ- ment (CORE), Mike Harcourt's boys and girls then side-swiped their own land-use planning pro- cess, hung Commissioner Stephen Owen out to dry, making it look like he agreed with the Clayoquot ripoff, and marched off smartly into infamy. Far be it from me to pretend to know what has been going on in the minds of Mikey Harcourt and his cabinet, but it seems incredibles that they have thrown Clayoquot Sound's last three undisturbed watersheds to the wolves, My impressions, from examin- ing material sent to me by the Forest Alliance, is that within government, as within industry, the language of short-term ac- commodation has utterly swamped the language of long-term value, including global ecological values. “You can't eat goddam global ecological valucs,’* I can hear Jack Munro saying with a snort. No, you can't. But I do remember a priest ina little. northern Newfoundiand village warning me, as hie introduced me to his small parish, that “if the last whooping crane was flying over and this man and his family were starving, he'd shoct it.’ Understood! A logger in Tofino. with a family and a mortgage has a set of priorities that are entirely human and casily sympathized with, What is harder to sympathize with is a much more abstract con- cept: the idea of the forest as a kind of bioregional erdity unto itself, that is, a single ecosystem. Something with intrinsic value the ob way it is. The literature on watersheds and their significance is vast. Alas, the number of intact water- sheds left on the planet is dwindl- ing at an unnerving rate, and on Vancouver Island, we are close to gouging the last corner .. What is really infuriating about the NDP's refusal to accept re- sponsibility for the preservation of such an endangered space is that so many individual New Demo- crats seem to fully grasp the seriousness of the eco-crisis, yet they make policy, in the end, ac- cording to the old rules of provin- cial realpolitik; I scratch your back, you scratch mine. This is, of course, the great tragedy of modern environmen- talism: there is always some local political reason for not doing the right ecological thing. And that local reason is in- variably economic, j.c., jobs and shares, getting re-elected. From a global point of view it is easy (o see that Clayoquot has a unique value in itself. it is something that the world SATURDAY ONLY MAY 8 9 AM.-5 PM. e past should be willing to pay B.C. nov to log. The world, alas, is in no shape to be paying British Columbia loggers to sit around swilling beer, even though God knows what deals might be struck in the future to profit from preservation. One thing's clear: if you gut the watersheds now, the possibilities in the future narrow down to zip. The issue that Justice Seaton won't be able to grasp, I'm afraid, has to do with the fact that the green faction fost the bat- ile within the NDP back at the convention in 1990, aad we are seeing the results now, Harcourt's cabinet today isa delicate balance between the old- style New Democrats who say reward your own bays, don’t forget whose side you're on, and the neo-conservatives, who just vant to slash — not a huppy place for tree-huggers. Does Mikey deserve to be called all those awful names (he Clayo- quot-lovers are calling him? It depends, to some extent, on which set of numbers you accept as be- ing relatively true. As IT understand it, once you remove the bogs ane little lakes where it’s not economical to log anyway, Mikey is talking about trashing 70% of the remaining ancient Clayoquot forest. To gain some sort of perspec- tive, you have to ask: is this an improvement over Bill Vander Zalm’s decision in the Carmanah? Under the Socreds, the idea was to chop the watershed in half: | ug 50%, preserve 50%. it was, as I said at the time, like only half a rape. , Still, in retrospect, maybe jit looks good. If it is true that; under the NDP, only 30% of Clayoquot is going to be saved, then we have gone backwards from Vander Zalm, not forwards. The NDP is revealing itself, under pressure, as being the party of B.C.’s past, not the party of B.C.’s future, CRRELETRETED REE ESFRME SRE I S OD ¢ DIAMOND BANGLE r= $9500 Reg. $425.00 Importers of gemmtones, manufacturers of fine jewellery JEWELLERS 984-2040 Capilano Mall, North Vancouver 430-2040 Eaton Centre — 1130-4700 Kingsway, Vanc. Tt brings out the best inallofus. i United Way of the’ ower Mainland Come rain or shine Norburn is having its 2nd Annual Sidewalk Sale DON'T DRIVE ON BY... THE SAVINGS ARE INCREDIBLE!