6 www.pgcitizen.ca | Wednesday, March 16, 2011 opinion PUBLISHER: Hugh Nicholson MANAGING EDITOR: Sylvie Paillard ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Mick Kearns www.pgcitizen.ca Member of the B.C. Press Council E-mail: letters@pgcitizen.ca EDITORIALS There’s a lesson to be learned from Japan crisis These are days of horror, privation and fear for millions of Japanese. Officials in the hard-hit port city of Sendai report that 10,000 may have died in that flattened region alone, as a grisly tide casts up thousands of bodies along the coast. Tokyo and other cities are still being shaken by aftershocks, as is Japan’s $5-trillion economy. Much of the nation is devastated. Millions are without food, water or heating in nearfreezing temperatures. “It’s a scene from hell, absolutely nightmarish,” said Patrick Fuller of the Red Cross. Prime Minister Naoto Kan called it “the worst crisis ... since the war.” “It’s like a horror movie,” Kyoko Nambu said of her flattened hometown of Soma. If that weren’t epic tragedy enough, the spectre of a nuclear meltdown now haunts Japan, stoking fears of another Chornobyl-style catastrophe. That has prompted much soul-searching about the safety of nuclear reactors everywhere. While no country in Asia is better placed to cope with this multiple calamity, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has rightly offered Canadian help as part of a global relief effort. He has put military strategic airlift and engineers on offer, along with radiological and nuclear expertise, disaster relief teams, and emergency food and medical supplies. And individuals are contributing to the Red Cross and other relief agencies. This help will be needed. Yet for now, an anxious world can only hope that engineers manage to regain control of ... damaged reactors at the aging Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station ... Engineers say Friday’s massive earthquake knocked out the electric grid that normally powers the reactor cooling systems. Then the tsunami apparently swamped poorly-located backup diesel generators, with frightening results. All this leaves Canadians wondering about the safety of our own five CANDU nuclear power plant sites. In the United States, traumatized by the 1979 Three Mile Island accident, the crisis has cast a shadow over 20 proposed reactors. European lawmakers, burned by Chornobyl in 1986, are demanding assurances that their reactors are safe. Some of these anxieties are most likely unfounded. Japan is in a notorious earthquake- and tsunami-prone region, while reactors in Canada and many elsewhere are in more stable areas. Indeed, the Fukushima pressure chambers and containment vessels appear to have withstood the quake, one of the biggest ever recorded, as they were designed to do. It was the tsunami that caused the problem. And happily, Fukushima differs radically from Chornobyl, where graphite technology caught fire and sent a radioactive smoke plume around the world. Canadian reactors, too, feature vacuum containment buildings and two shutdown systems. Whatever the differences, there will be lessons to be learned from the emergency. The power supply to the Fukushima station was supposed to be redundant, but failed when it was needed. That turned a problem into a crisis. Staff have also struggled with machinery, including gauges, valves and vents as they tried to depressurize and flood the reactors. Certainly, this disaster should prompt regulators in Canada and elsewhere to review their operations from a “What if” perspective. What if a worse accident than expected happens? What if emergency power supplies are disrupted? What if shutdown systems fail? What then? At the Fukushima power plant, engineers are finding out on the job. It’s a worrisome sight. Letters welcome The Prince George Citizen welcomes letters to the editor from our readers. Submission should be sent by e-mail to: let-ters@princegeorgecitizen.com. No attachments, please. They can also be faxed to 562-7453, or mailed to Box 5700, 150 Brunswick St., Prince George V2L 5K9. Maximum length is 400 words and writers are limited to one submission every three weeks. We will edit letters only to ensure clarity, good taste, for legal reasons, and occasionally for length. Although we will not include your address and telephone number in the paper, we need both for verification purposes. Unsigned letters will not be published. Christy Clark passes her first makeover test, choosing cabinet Premier Christy Clark met the first test of a makeover Monday, dropping nine ministers who sat at the cabinet table under the outgoing premier and reassigning most of the others. Coupled with her own relentlessly cheery presence - she took the oath as “Christy,” not “Christina Joan” - it signalled a change of style at the top after 10 years of the serious, controlling presence of Gordon Campbell. Clark followed through by cleaning out the premier’s office and replacing the political staff with a dozen of her own appointees. The most telling was Dimitri Panta-zopoulos, named principal secretary, putting him in charge of long-term political strategy and planning. He’s a pollster with roots 20 years deep in the federal Reform, Canadian Alliance and Conservative parties. He’ll work alongside previously named chief of staff Mike McDonald, the day-to-day manager on the political side. McDonald is an old friend of Clark, with equally deep roots in the Liberal party. Together, he and Pantazopoulos personify the delicate political balancing act that is the B.C. Liberal coalition. Clark paid homage to that theme by appointing Kevin Falcon, the conservative secondplace finisher in the leadership race, as deputy premier. But she didn’t give him everything he’d wanted. Falcon had signalled publicly that he wasn’t interested in the finance ministry, perhaps believing that as runner up he had leverage. Clark set him straight (she was “very persuasive,” he told reporters), as did the business community (via “threats on my life,” he joked) which wanted his reassuring presence in finance. Falcon’s first assignment as minister of finance: preparing for the coming referendum on the harmonized sales tax. “We want to win,” his boss, the premier, emphasized. She slotted third-place finisher George Abbott into education. He seemed a little down Monday, perhaps not having got over the leadership loss. Or perhaps it was the prospect of this being a bargaining year with the always-formidable teachers’ union. Mike de Jong, who finished fourth, she appointed minister of health. The biggest ministry demands unusual attention to detail, more so in the midst of the current series of major reforms. De Jong has never been known as a workaholic. To succeed, he may have to become one. Clark named Pat Bell to a new ministry of jobs, tourism and innovation and promptly announced it was the highest priority of her new, family-focused government. “Today we must renew our focus on job creation in our province,” she declared. “Good jobs are the foundation of strong families and this government will be tireless in looking for ways to strengthen every aspect of our economy in every corner of our province. “ She’s right to attach high importance to the job file. The provincial economy, having outperformed other parts of the country, has been lagging seriously of late. For a government that has touted its job-creation record, the latest numbers are nothing to boast about. Bell emerged as a solid second-rank minister in the forests portfolio under Campbell, thanks to the much improved prospects for lumber sales to China. But job creation is a more elusive assignment, and failure carries broad penalties for the economy and the government alike. Clark showed an uncertain touch in her handling of Campbell’s latter-day reorganization of the so-called “dirt ministries,” those dealing with Crown land, resources and the environment. Rather than reverse direction, and re-reorganize a half dozen ministries in a state of organizational disarray, she ordered a review. Overseeing the process is a new minister of forests, Steve Thomson, who remains in charge of natural resource operations, the ministry at the centre of the controversy. Assisted by Randy Hawes, the former minister of state for mines, Thomson will have to decide which parts of the reorganization should be preserved, which put back the way they were. Might work, but I have my doubts. Better call: Mary McNeil, appointed to make a fresh start in the ministry of children and families, with a new deputy minister, Clark having fired Campbell appointee Lesley du Toit. Dubious call: Forced to reward Harry Bloy, the one member of caucus who supported her for the leadership, Clark named him minister of social development. In a fatuous performance at the followup press conference, Bloy promptly demonstrated why Campbell had never come close to appointing him to cabinet. Worst call: Clark’s failure to give a cabinet post to Moira Stilwell, a physician trained in nuclear medicine who distinguished herself with thoughtful pronouncements in the Liberal leadership race, before dropping out to support Abbott. One has to wonder if Clark was intimidated by her resume. But there were no signs of self-doubt on the part of the new premier at Monday’s ceremony, notwithstanding her claim to be “truly humbled to be taking office as your premier.” As any former premier could tell her, the first day in office is the happiest. The real humbling comes later. vpalmer@vancouversun.com mailbox... your letters Japan needs help now To the Citizens of Prince George: I am a former Prince George resident. I grew up in the Hart and I attended the University of Northern British Columbia for two years, before leaving for UVic. Since graduating from university, I have moved to Okinawa, Japan, where I currently work as an assistant language teacher. I know you have all seen the terrible footage on the news and heard the statistics about the damage caused by the earthquake, its aftershocks, and the horrible tsunami that hit the coast of northern Japan on March 11. While attempting to rescue survivors of this tragedy, Japanese authorities are also working to prevent a possible nuclear crisis, as there has been damage done to the nuclear reactors in the area. With evacuations and rescue missions in effect, the need for support from other countries is immense. Japan has become a second home to me. When I arrived in December 2009, I believed that I would stay eight months and then happily return to my life in Canada. Now, I have been here for one-and-a-half years, and I plan to live here until at least August of 2012. This country is amazing and the people here are incredibly kind and generous, beyond belief. This is evident in the calm and continued respect that has been demonstrated in the areas hit hardest by this disaster. Japan is a true friend to North America. For example, after hurricane Katrina, Japan pledged $1.5 million dollars in private donations, along with the donations of money and supplies from the Japanese government. Now, the Japanese people need your help. Growing up in Prince George was an amazing experience and I know that P.G. is full of kind-hearted people who are willing to help those in need. Japan is in need and as a former (and, perhaps, future) resident of our northern provincial capital, I urge you to give to the Canadian Red Cross, so they can help to provide the support that Japan so desperately needs. Sarra McMillan Naha, Okinawa, Japan Words, prayers of support appreciated As the world knows, my home country of Japan had an unimaginably devastating earthquake and tsunami last week. As the days go by, the death toll climbs significantly. Watching the news through all sorts of media, I beyond expressing what I feel. Meanwhile, I have been receiving a lot of phone calls and e-mails from across Canada concerning the well-being of my family and friends. With all your kind and caring words and prayers and hugs, my day gets a little easier even though I feel awful and sad about people who are affected by this historical disaster. I can not express enough how grateful I am for all your warm and kind support for me, and I just want to say “Thank you” to each and every one of you who makes my life in Canada better. Etsuko Rustad Prince George