Castlégar News April 1, 1990 “The Kootenays are the future of . but we can 0 one better than that. We can say that Castlegar is the future of the Kootenays."” — Richard Maddocks, executive director of the Castlegar and District it Board. Step for a moment into Castlegar in the year 2000 and this is what you might see: * A city with a population around 15,000 — the size of Trail and Nelson — or bigger. * A city that is the hub of transportation, in- dustry and distribution in the West Kootenay. * A double-lane Highway where Columbia Avenue used to be and new highways direct to Spokane, Kelowna and Cranbrook, as well as a new in- terchange at the junction of Highway 3 and Highw: 22 and a bridge between Castlegar and Robson. *® Shopping malls, tourist offices, office Stories & photos by Ed Mills buildings, restaurants — a McDonald’s — a fully oc- cupied industrial park, more parks and leisure facili » and a retail sector surpassing the onés in Nelson and Trail. From the mayor, to the president of the chamber of commerce and director of the economic develop- ment board, all say the future of Castlegar as pictured above need not be just a dream. In fact, they say, the city is just a short step away from into an era of economic and industrial growth that could last two decades or more. “The future of Castlegar looks absolutely ex- cellent,” Mayor Audrey Moore said. ‘“‘L, think everything’s coming together for the city right now."’ Signs of that future are here. The housing market is experiencing a boom of its own (see story below) with commercial property following suit and investors circling like hawks waiting to clutch a piece of the ac- tion by dropping money into the city. Construction of the new Castlegar Hospital wing and a retirement home are two major projects under- way that have already created 75 construction jobs and will offer 60 permanent jobs between them upon com- pletion. But all of that is small potatoes compared to what could happen here. Even those people speculating on the future admit they can’t anticipate half of what's in store for Castlegar in the coming decade. The launching pad for this future city is the ex- pansion of the Celgar pulp mill. If the expansion goes ahead,.(it is still_under review) some 1,100 temporary jobs will be created in Castlegar and that’s just the beginning. a Right on the heels of the expansion, B.C. Hydro has 22 years’ worth of projects planned in and around Castlegar that would keep the Celgar construction workers and their families in the city and consistently add more. The spinoff people and mon residual effects of the influx of into the city will be phenomenal, * Castlegar Chamber of Commerce president Jim Craig said. ‘Just 100 new families has an effect on community, from the schools, which may teachers, to the RCMP, which additional manpower,” Craig said. : a boom. Theoretically, we could ride without even knowing it's happening. “*I personally think everything’s going fo happed® like it’s supposed to," he added. That means (the) Celgar (expansion) will go through, we'll get a new bridge to Robson and all the sundry products like new mails will follow.”” Richard Maddocks, executive director of Castlegar and District Development Board, said that among the spinoffs of an i is an eas Castlegar's future has arrived April 1, 1990 Castlegar News aa Salmo declares itself English only town By CasNews Staff and News Services The village of Salmo has become the first B.C. municipality to declare itself an English-only community but it did it in a roundabout way. Salmo council Tuesday voted against: supporting a resolution from the Greater Vancouver Regional District calling for support of bilingualism in Canada. The end result is that Salmo is now an English-only community, Mayor Merle Hanson said Saturday. “*It amounts to that,"’ he said. However, Hanson added that it’s unlikely Salmo council will back the move with a bylaw. “*It’s my opinion council has no intention of enfor- motions saying they will only conduct business in English. Before Salmo acted, B.C. municipalities had spurned the unilingual campaign. Kelowna, West \ i N and Duncan have recently passed motions supporting bi alism or Quebec’s role in Canada and Creston and Penticton have refused to adopt English-only positions, At a Fed of Canadian i tion earlier this month in North Bay, Ont., the three B.C. mayors present voted for a motion supporting bilingualism. They were Len Traboulay of Port Coquitlam, Gretchen Brewin of Victoria and George Ferguson of Abb: of the fe Snelgrove said he didn’t think the motion would have conven- VANCOUVER (CP) -— Members of the Association for the Preservation of English in Canada say Salmo could be the beginning of an English-only sweep throughout British Colum Salmo council opposed a resolution calling for support of bilingualism, implying the small community is now English-only. “This is encouraging,” president Cecil Paul sai Kelowna association an interview. “This gives a Group applauds move Other B.C. municipalities have spurned the English-only campaign. Kelowna, West Vancouver, Richmond, Nanaimo and Duncan have passed motions supporting bilingualism or Quebec’s role in Canada and Creston and Penticton have refused to adopt English-only positions. an i i said if French dies out in Canada, it will be because it isn’t needed. JUST THE START . . . It seems everywhere you look in Castleg r these days there's ity construction of some sort in progress. 5 Some say the activi could see in the next increased tax base which would produce money to im- prtove the city’s infrastructure — from roads, to street lighting, to sewers. He also anticipates extension of Highway 23 - Highway 6 south from Fauquier to Castlegar. The ex- tension would provide a link to Highway |—the Trans- Canada + — and i to the Coquihalla Highway and the Okanagan. Maddocks said that would open all sorts of op- portunities for investment and tourism in the Arrow Lakes area as well as open up a corridor to markets in places Castlegar hasn’t had wide access to before. That will have a huge impact on the city, he says. ‘The Kootenays will no longer be isolated from the other markets east, west, north and south,’’ Mad- docks said. And Castlegar’s central location in the Kootenays MAJOR PROJECTS IN THE CASTLEGAR AREA TOTAL NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES Mostly construction N/A PROJECT Bank of Commerce Aquatic Centre Intermediate Care cost $1 million $2.2 mil. $2.6 mil. Home Hospital LongTerm $6.5 mil. Care Aid New Dietary Dept. School Board Facelift Int. Renovations Keenleys! General installation $6.5 mil. $455 mil. During construction 30 After 2 additional Additional 45 after completion Construction Peak ponetrictiog 560 Completion 10 FINISH DATE Fall 1990 Completed 1990 START DATE Spring 1990 Completed Current January 1990 January 1991 Early summer 1990 18 months-2 years in negotiation 4-year project Celgar Pulp Expansion First Commercial Shopping Centre $630 mil. $7 mil. $800,000 $100,000 $500,000 evron Williams Moving 2500 sq.ft. United Buy & Sell 15,000 sq.ft. Birchland Condos $2 million $10-$15 mil OK Welders $200,000 6,000 sq.ft. Apartments Approx. 20 Units. $2 million Housing marke Anticipation of _an_economic _ boom in Castlegar has shown up in the residentiat- real estate market in this city. ; For real estate agents in the area, the boom has already arrived and they’ve been enjoying unprecendented levels of sales for the past six months, especially in the residential market. Their only problem is, they have more buyers than houses to sell them. “‘We’re getting houses that are sold in an hour,’’ said agent Brad Walsh of Casttegar—Realty. “They’re not even listed — they’re shown and sold.”* A confidential Multiple Listing Service year-end bulletin obtained by the Castlegar News shows that Castlegar Realty reaped the biggest rewards from the boom among agencies in the city with 193 sales valued at over $9.5 million last year. The bulletin, which lists sales amounts in residential and com- mercial real estate for every agen- cy in the East and West Kootenays, shows that only East Kootenay Realty in Cranbrook, Rosling Real Estate in Nelson and Cranbrook Agencies, sold more Property last year than Castlegar Realty. Castlegar’s two other agencies also saw skyrocketing sales in 1989 with NRS Mountainview selling close to $8.5 million (147 sales) to rank seventh in the Kootenays. Even Mt. Sentinel Realty, essen- tially a one-man operation, sold 1,100-1,200 construction Completion 30 150-200 construction Completion 5 Completion 1-2 25 construction N/A Spring 1990 Spring 1990 In negotiation April 1990 Spring 1990 2-year project Late fall 1990 July 1990 N/A Spring 1990 N/A Fall 1990 N/A N/A N/A N/A Spring 1990 N/A N/A April 1990 * N/A Figures Not Available $2.4 million_to-merit_17th-spot-in reported sales in the top 20, ac- cording to the bulletin’s figures. The bulletin, which is produced by the Kootenay Real Estate Board and distributed to all mem- bers of the board, doesn’t include exclusive sales not reported to MLS, which means total sales for each of the three tocal companies could be $500,000 to $1 million higher than reported in the bulletin, Walsh said. The remarkable thing about it, Walsh added, is the housing Fall 1990 market-only started really gaining momentum in May last year, so, in effect, Castlegar Realty sold almost $10 million in real estate in just seven months. “From May to December last year this office sold a house a day — just in this office! In the years before, there wasn’t $10 million in real estate sold in the entire city,”’ Walsh said. In total, $20.8 million was reported in total sales between the three Castlegar agencies in 1989. And if the expected economic KOOTENAY REAL ESTATE BOARD MULTIPLE LISTING SERV! 1989 YEAR END SALES FIGURES. AGENCIES East Kootenay Century 21 Vision (Trail) RHC Realty (Nelson) Rosling R. Estate {rrail) NRS Mountainview ter Sor SALES soles SVOLUME 185 64 14,513,170 238-74 13,324,991 159 $8" 11,104,425 193 33 9,544,561 205 42 9,473,800 213459 9,464,563 8,870,600 8,402,565 144 24 14713 RE/Max High Country (East Kootenay) Caldwell Agencies (Cranbrook) RE/Max ABJ Creston Winderere Realty Border Country Realty (Grand Forks) eo! Caldwell Agencies (Kimberley) RE/Max (Cranbrook) Mt. Sentinel Realty Burne Realty Ltd. (Nelson) 24 42425 Kaslo Real 2% 30.3 * Cross Sales ore those with more than one company in volv * Figures don't include sales not reported to tf frenay Real Estate Board parted to the. Kew makes it an ideal spot for a distribution and transpor- tation centre for the surrounding cities and to the U.S. “*We're in a position to service 80,000 people comfortably so it makes sense to have such centres in Castlegar,’” Maddocks said. He says that will mean expanded road networks to make transportation in, out and through the city more convenient and to make room for the greater traffic that will a and boom. And as Castlegar begins to show signs of that booming economy, it becomes a prime target for in- vesters looking to spend money on just the kind of distribution and transportation ventures Maddocks is talking about. Castlegar is ‘‘one of the last undeveloped cities so close to the U.S. border,”’ and that’s an even more at- tractive lure for potential investors as a result of the in- y troduction of free trade between Canada and the U.S., ie said. B.C. Hydro’s community relations coordinator Al Geissler said Hydro hopes to begin its projects — seven in total, worth $7 billion in today’s dollars — to coincide with the completion of the Celgar expansion so as to avoid the chronic boom-and-bust cycles ex- perienced by ‘based towns in the K The projects, which are slated to begin with work on the Keenleyside dam in 1991, are scheduled to be completed with the construction of Murphy dam in 2010 (see chart). Still, the Hydro projects are also not sure things. Those projects, like the Celgar expansion, must face public and governmental scrutiny before they can go ahead. And in today’s environmentally conscious at- mosphere, there is no such thing as a sure thing for resource-industry projects anymore. But Maddocks said that if the Celgar, Hydro and highway projects bégin, and the resulting spinoffs oc- cur, Castlegar could be in a position of never having to rely on just one industry to power this city again. That would be xelcome in a city where some people are scared the Celgar expansion won't be ap- proved and all the glowing prospects for the future will be lost before the city has a chance to diversify its economic base. nothing: compared to what There aren’t many who disagree that if the Celgar expansion doesn’t go through the bright forecast for Castlegar is in jeopardy. Others are willing to go fur- ther than that. “*If you took 400 to 450 jobs out of this town and all the spinoff jobs it would have a major, major im- pact on this area and it sure in hell wouldn't be a positive one,’’ Craig said. “If the (Celgar) project collapses, you can kiss Castlegar off.”” Maddocks said Celgar has stated that it would leave the city if the expansion doesn’t go through and that, he noted, ‘‘would devastate Castlegar.’” “*Some of the projects in the city are going to hinge on Celgar, so you would have affects to the commercial and retail sectors, and housing would be affected negatively as well,”’ he said. Currently, investors and developers are sitting on the sidelines waiting for the outcome of the Celgar ex- pansion, Maddocks said. A decision one way or the other on Celgar will essentially make the decision for those people, he said. ‘But they are interested, there’s no doubt about that.”” Rumors that Castlegar is on the verge of a boom have circulated before, so people who have lived in the city seem justified in asking what makes the latest ones any different. “*I’ll tell you the difference between,this year and last year,’’ Maddocks said. “*Last year we were getting inquiries (from investors and developers interested in the area). This year, we’re getting inquiries with urgen- cy on them. They can’t get the information fast enough.”’ Still, Maddocks added, ‘‘I’ve been around long enough to know that you can’t count on anything until the shovel is in the ground and they start digging.’’ Nevertheless, he said that if he had to bet, he'd say things will go ahead as planned and he expects a lot more work in his office in the months ahead. Mayor Moore said the city has the best future of any in the East and West Kootenays and that’s good to see for the people who have been through some pretty tough times here in the past. “It’s their turn to have some good times,’ she said. Still, only time will tell. t signals boom ‘boom materializes, beginning with the $630 million Celgar pulp mill expansion, which is still under review, 1990 could get even better for real estate agencies in Castlegar, Walsh said. “Right now we're certainly going to equal the volume (in sales of last year) and we may even be ahead of it,”” he said. One large stumbling block for realtors in the city is there are more people wanting to buy than houses available. “*There’s buyers banging down our doors and there’s no product to sell them,’’ Walsh said. “*We're scrapping (with NRS and Mt. Sentinel) over every listing.** That kind of demand has pushed house prices in Castlegar up 10 to 15 per cent in the last year and people are still willing to buy, said Castlegar Realty owner ‘Wayne McCarthy. But the lack of housing coupled with high demand should mean Castlegar will be seeing some new house construction in the near 1988, future, McCarthy said. Even then, “tit’s a sellers market out there.” Demand for housing is such that NRS is-currently involved in developing land in South Castlegar for a 45-lot subdivision. What the real estate agents are which show a dramatic rise in ac- tivity in the real estate market in Castlegar from 1988 to 1989. The average sale price for a home in the city jumped to $61,290 last year from $48,941 in a 15.7-per-cent increase. And the number of sales for single detached houses in city also rose to 228 homes last year from 146 the year before, a $6-per-cent in- crease. (The figures are for the City of Castlegar only and not the surrounding area which the three agencies in the city also serve.) A survey conducted by the K Real Estate Board using data from the three local agencies shows that a 1,200-square-foot, attached, three-bedroom, single- storey home with one-and-a-half SIGNS OF THE TIMES . . . If the signs of an economic tend to show up in the real estate market first then all you have to do is look around the city to see why people Gre anticipating a bright future. baths, one-car garage, a full basement and serviced lot, would sell for $77,500 in Castlegar as of January of this year. In August 1989, that same house would have sold for $62,000 and in May of last year it would have gone for $61,666, according to the board’s statistics. If you’re thinking of beating the higher cost of housing by renting, consider that CMHC reports the vacancy rate in Castlegar at 0.6 Per cent as of October of last year. In April 1989 the rate was 3.2 per cent and in April 1988 it wad ‘7-5 per cent.— cing anything like that,”” Hanson said, referring to Salmo's status as English-only. operates. Village clerk Bryan Snelgrove said the discussion by members of Salmo council was brief. “They essentially objected to the inequality of the way both languages are being treated by the Province of Quebec and by the of it all ici ies to any practical effect on the way the village of 1,014 “There might be a couple of French-speaking people around here, I’m not sure,’’ he said. Ferguson said in a news release Thursday that federation directors have adopted a plan urging member he said. “It’s got absolutely nothing to do with prejudice. It's like the turban question and the RCMP. It’s got nothing to do with prejudice.’’ The English-only reaction has so far centred on rights. press incial and territorial gover- nments to pass lesiglation to protect official language It will also encourage governments to serve official language minorities in -the language of their choice “‘where there is a significant demand to do so,"’ and sup- about 40 Ontario communities which have passed to promote HI THERE! .. . Jackie Tallant plays peok-o- -boo through a hole | we a parechote at Selkirk College Friday. The activity was part of a program for kids run by Early Childhood Education students at the college. —comnews photo by Ed Mills 5,000. forced to speak French.” Doukhobor film is put on back burner again VANCOUVER (CP) — An on- again, off-again feature film about a sect of the Dy is off again. Filming of The Dispossessed, a fic- tional account of the Sons of Freedom, has been postponed for several months because two of its stars — Amanda Plummer and Elias Koteas — are unavailable until the fall, producer John Stark said in a news release Friday. Production was supposed to begin this spring in Kamloops, he said. But Plummer has just signed to star opposite Robin Williams in a major Hollywood film and Koteas, in the current film Teenage Ninja Turtles, now is doing a feature movie with Paul Hogan. Stark, who has been trying to get his $5.2-million film off the ground for the last decade, has been plagued by funding delays. Last October, he estimated the film would be ready for release by Sep- Police file Castlegar RCMP are investigating an attempted bank robbery Friday at the Canadian Imperial Bank of ‘Commerce in the Castleaird Plaza. The attempted robbery occurred at 5:17 p.m. Police said the suspect was ‘‘ver- bally diverted’ and left the bank. No theft occurred. Police are searching for a young male but have no detailed description. Any witnesses who may have infor- mation are asked to contact the Castlegar RCMP. . . Gerald Charest, 66, of Trail, received minor “injuries Saturday when the van he was driving ran off the road near Tarrys Hall and struck a tree at 5:44 a.m. The accident is under investigation. Lottery numbers The winning numbers drawn Thur- sday in the B.C. Keno lottery were 11, 15, 22, 23, 24, 32, 36, 43. The winning numbers in Wed- nesday’s Lotto 6/49 draw were 2, 19, 20, 26, 32, 37. The bonus number was 45. The four Extra winning numbers for B.C. were 5, 19, 30, 96. The jack- pot of $2,039,355.30 goes to a single ticket bought in B.C. The winning numbers in the B.C. Keno lottery were 7, 14, 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 45. These numbers, provided by The Canadian Press, must be considered unofficial. But later, Stark decided to base the production in Vernon, inthe Okanagan Valley 300 kilometres nor- theast of Vancouver. Stark, 53, a writer-actor-director whose An Evening with Stephen Leacock has appeared on CBC, PBS and BBC television, has said he has commitments from Canadian and U.S, distributors plus an all-Canadian cast. Trucks continued from front page Ald. Albert Calderbank, chairman of the planning and development committee, said Wednesday's meeting with the residents was ‘‘friendly but obviously they’ve got some very strong views” on the proposal. Calderbank said the committee will present the proposed lease to Cham- bers to get the company’s reaction before bringing it to council He said a final decision on the mat- ter has not been made since the com- pany may not like the terms of the lease and council could still reject the Proposal. “At this stage of the game, there’s very strong representation from the residents . . . so it will have to be well- discussed at council and, of course, there are some members of council that are against it,’’ he said. ‘‘You're going to have a bit of a split on it.” Calderbank said people who buy property should be aware of the types of zoning in the area around their property. lot of impetus to our petition (in Kelown The association, which has gained national atten- tion in recent months with the passing of sii r English-only resolutions in Ontario, has 10 chapters in British Columbia and a provincewide membership of “It’s good news,”’ said Clare Scatchard, a former immigration officer who is vice-president of the Surrey-White Rock branch of the association. should I be forced to speak French? We are all being “English is . “Why the growing language, it’s the language of international trade,’’ he said. Salmo Ald. Phil Berukoff said the English-only declaration will change nothing in the community of 1,014 about 425 kilometres east of Vancouver. So far, he said, reaction in Salmo has been’mixed. Berukoff and others who suppori the resolution «Say what council has done is not anti-French. They say their actions are a result of Quebec’s decision to ban English signs. They also add that in Western Canada, the numbers of French Canadians don’t justify money being spent on bilingualism. Deadlock continues VKP strike e By ED MILLS Staff Writer After a week on the picket lines, there’s been no movement from either side to settle the strike at West Kootenay Power and a union spokesman said workers are gearing up for the long haul. “The longer it goes the more determined we are and our people are prepared for it,’’ International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union spokesman Al Oliver said Friday. The IBEW voted to strike March 20 and walked off the job-on March 23 to back its demand for wage parity with workers at other utilities and a health plan comparable to that of other WKP employees. Members of the Office and Technical-Employees Union, which represents another 35 WKP workers, are refusing to cross IBEW picket lines. Oliver said the union’s position is supported by the fact that WKP has shown a profit in each of the last-three years and will show a record profit for last year, although those figures haven’t been released yet. “In a report to the B.C. Utilities Commission for a rate increase (in January) the company reported that cost is down and productivity is up, so I guess that supports our case that much more,”’ he said. WKP spokesman Jack Fisher said Kempf returns to VICTORIA (CP) — The-last of the Independents in the B. * nings in that way... ON STRIKE... West the picket lines as the strike p betas vite pact week. CosNews photo the utilit profits are regulated by law and ih the company’s view have no bearing on the present negotiations. “*We've never looked at our ear- in that we pay our employees on the value of our (profits),’’ Fisher said. ‘‘The union may believe that if we make a good return they’re entitled to it. That's where we sit right now.”” Where the two sides aren't sitting is at the bargaining table. “The negotiations are at a stand- still right now — nobody's talking,” said Fisher,“ “During the period I have sat in the ‘wants back into the party fold. Jack Kempf, who quit the Social Credit caucus three years ago, says he plans to seek the Socred as an Social Credit member, many people in the party have urged me to return to caucus,”’ writes Kempf. “IflLam and in the new Bulkley Valley-Stikine riding in the B.C. Interior. Writing in this week’s issue of his constituency newsletter, Kempf says he hopes to return to caucus. tly re-elected, I will return to caucus. Thereafter, I will pick up where I left off, working hatd for those 1 represent.”’ Attempts to reach Kempf by phone D’'Arcy to appear on open line show By CasNews Staff Rossland-Trail MLA Chris’D’ Arcy will be the guest Tuesday on Shaw Cable’s open line show On Line D'Arcy will discuss topics such as the proposed Celgar pulp mill expan sion and the proposed PCB: storage facility in Warfield, a news release from Shaw Cable says. Richard Maddocks, economig development officer for the Castlegar and District Development Board, will host the program. Local media representatives will also be on hand to ask D’Arcy questions and members of the public are invited to call in their questions. Broadcast time is 7 p.m. on Chan- ne! 10. On Thursday, Jim Solley of Revet.ue Canada will be the guest on the second open line show of the week. Solley will answer questions about completing income tax forms. Maddocks will again host the show and the public may call in their questions. Fisher said company supervisory staff have been able to handle the work load to this point without any. major problems. “There have been a few minor power outages and they've been responded to,” he said. Oliver said he’s heard from all his shop stewards who have reported that morale on the picket lines is good. “The fellas are really gung ho and eager that they’re going to deal with it this time,’’ he said. The same union struck WKP in May 1985, an action that ended in a settlement nine days later. Socreds were unsuccessful Friday. He was at: tending a meeting in his riding of Omineca. Four Socred backbenchers quit caucus last fall, saying they feared for the party's electoral futufe. They returned four months later. Kempf, 54, left caucus three years ago. Budget continued from front page In Area J, the residential rate is up slightly, to $2.8152 per $1,000 this year from $2.6971 in 1989. That means the owner of a $50,000 home will pay $140.76 this year compared to $134.86 last year Businesses in Area J will pay $6.8973 per $1,000 in 1990, up from $6.608 last year. Henderson again pointed out that the tax assessments may vary within the same rural area because some residents of the area may pay for fire protection, for example, while others do not. As well, only part of Area 1 is taxed to help pay for the new Cast- legar and District Aquatic Centre, Henderson said. Celgar continued from front pege “The whole idea of this review process is to look at these projects and then to ensure that the standards that we not only have in place today but the standards that we're bringing in for pulp mills for 1994 — which will be the most stringent in Canada — that those will be met by the proposed plan,"’ Dirks said. ‘‘Going to phase two of the project I’m sure will answer those questions."* However, Dirks admitted he is worried about the possibility the delay might jeopardize the project. “*Well, that is a concern,’’ he said. ‘I'd be less than honest if I didn’t say that wasn't a concern of mine. I'd like to see the project go ahead. But I also want to ensure that we get the cleanest possible plant that you can have."” However, Rossland-Trail MLA Chris D'Arcy slam- med the review committee's decision because he said it will delay the needed environmental cleanup at the mill. “*I think it’s a bad environmental decision," D’ Arcy said Saturday. ‘It sets pollution control in the pulp mill here back indefifiitely because even though it's been stated (the delay will be) six months, we really have no idea that after six months have gone by that the rules won't change and the goalposts moved once again “It also sends a message to all of the pulp and paper mills around the province — indeed, industry in general — that even when they announce a cleanup and a Pollution abatement program they don’t really need to hurry use government is going to delay them anyway,”’ the New Democrat MLA said ‘D'Arcy said the delay is also bad news for the tocat forest industry “because it will continue to see the $2 per cent of our pulp fibre resource that’s being exported from the region continue to be exported for that much longer.”” He said the questions and concerns people in the area have raised about the expansion project could have been addressed even after approval in principle is granted. “Those concerns should have been met by now in any event,"’ D'Arcy said. ‘It's a bad decision because everyone knows whatever Celgar does it’s going to be a massive improvement on what we have today.”” Castlegar Mayor Audrey Moore said Friday she wouldn't comment until she received written confir- mation of the committee’s decision, which she had not received prior to leaving for a meeting in Cranbrook “I frankly can’t react to hearsay,’’ Moore said. ‘‘I'd feet a tot better if tad something in my hand.** Meanwhile, the Coalition for Information on the Pulp Mill Expansion said it is pleased there will be meetings and hearings on the proposed expansion and: hopes that all regional and community concerns will be discussed in a fair and open public process. CIPE said it encourages the major project review process staff to schedule the meetings and hearings as soon as possible ta ensure no prolonged delays. “T am also pleased of Celgar pulp’s continued com- mitment to the proposed expansion”! said Cal Him, co chairman of CIPE. Added Craig Lawrence, CIPE’s other co-chairman: “The decision of the major project revi asking for more information on the total impacts of the expansion as we have all along. “we--stitt-have-many questions of the—rermisof— reference, the composition of the review panel and the degree of public input,”” he added.