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Choose Any of These Quality Plastic Items and Receive a Terrific Plasticware Bonus! — ae gs Buy this turn-top 2-pe. dish drainer set 60 L covered trash decanter and get 2 with bonus ice cube barrel and bonus dust tumblers as a bonus tay Reg. 4.96. pan. Reg. 11.46. Reg. 2.96. Salt & pepper set, large micro- wave splatter shield or clip-on dust-pan. Reg. 1.96-1.99. Save 25” 20 ft. Soaker Hose. Provides a 336 constant, ree mist of water 49. for your lawn. Reg. 7. Cake plate and cover Reg, 4.96. TRAIL, B.C. WANETA PLAZA CHAHKO-MIKA MALL Prices Effective until June 6, 1989 or While Quantities Last STORE HOURS: Monday-Saturday 9:30-5:30 Thursday-Friday 9:30-9:00 NELSON, B.C. |=" PRICE IS JUST | @®@ THE BEGINNING May 31, 1989 C1 Castlégar News SECTION Now, 24 hour convenience for everyone. (Yes, even bank customers.) KS. Kootenay Savings Canada's future may be in lab Editor's note: Canada’s prosperity may rest in the hands of and working on the technologies of tomorrow. Canadians have created some world-class products. But many experts say not enough Is being done now to ensure future success. Here's a report. By JOHN WARD The Canadian Press In a cramped, crowded lab buried in a glass-and- concrete bunker at the University of Toronto, Dr. Anthony Sun is working on a medical marvel His laboratory, little larger than the average living room, is seeking a means to cure diabetes and possibly other diseases. Sun, a lean, loose joked man with a whispery voice, is one of thousands of scientists, engineers and researchers across the country working on the technol- ogies of tomorrow. Their efforts, experts suggest, may spell the difference between prosperity and decline for Canada in the next 100 years. Are there enough of them? Are they getting the help they need? For much of this century, wealth and job creation in Canada have depended on the fiery steel furnaces of Hamilton and Sydney, N.S., the clattering looms of Montreal textile mills and the ponderous auto assembly lines of Oshawa, Oakville and Windsor in Ontario. Mining, forestry and agriculture have been a sort of economic backstop, subject to cycles of boom and bust as prices of such goods as wheat, copper and plywood see-saw. But the factories and laborers producing tonnes of steel, kilometres of textiles and lines of cars, trucks and tractors may be on the way out. The metals, cloth, cars and trucks of tomorrow, as well as the TVs, VCRs, microwave ovens and compact isc players, are likely to be churned out by the emerging industrial upstarts of Asia — South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore TOUGH DECISIONS Canada is left facing harsh choices Should it depend on private enterprise to steer the economy, as the United States does? Or should there be some sort of government-directed partnership to point the way, as in Japan and, increasingly, in Europe? The likely candidates are so-called knowledge based industries, which sell brainpower and advanced technology instead of steel girders or four-wheel-drive pickups. To the Science Council of Canada, three areas — the stuff of Buck Rogers and Captain Kirk — appear to hold the key to future prosperity They include computer chips and -programs that will help produce artificial intelligence — robots that can make decisions or learn from mistakes. In biotechnology, | researchers — like Sun — manipulate genes and cells to produce new organisms tailored for special tasks. New bacteria could produce medicines, devour dangerous wastes and even fertilize fields by taking nitrogen right from the air Finally, there are new industrial materials, exotic synthetics, plastics and ceramics stronger than steel, more resilient than wood, lighter than conventional alloys PROSPERITY IN SCIENCE? ... h int of high may be the key to the future prosperity of Canada many experts say. Sun, amid snakes of intricate glass tubing, odd-shaped flasks and beakers, is working on a method that may allow a cure for diabetes — a condition where the body cannot regulate sugar levels in the blood — and other diseases. It's called encapsulation. The idea is, for example, to take the cells that produce insulin — the substance that controls blood sugar — surround them with a special membrane and implant them in the victim's body. The membrane is porous enough to allow nutrients to pass through to the insulin-making cells and let insulin seep out. However, the body's defence cells, the ones that cause rejection of transplants by attacking foreign cells, can’t get in Sun is confident that his idea works — he’s collaborating with a group of Chinese scientists who have already tried it on humans, although that's at least two years away in Canada But Sun has an axe to grind when it comes to research and development in Canada. His blunt assessment: It's a joke. There are too many of what Sun calls “me too” Projects in which Canadian researchers try to duplicate work being done south of the border. ~ THE FINAL FRONTIER for space research. «Canada has had some success ii Critics say Canada needs gamblers Editor’s note: It’s one thing to invent something, and quite another to risk all to get It to market. Critics say Canada doesn't have enough creative gamblers. By JOHN WARD The Canadian Press In the free-for-all atmosphere after the First World War, barnstorming flyers created the international aviation industry out of dreams, daring and a willingness to risk everything on a throw of the dice Where are those risk-takers today? That's a question being asked in Canada, as the need for new technological marvels becomes more and more apparent There are many researchers in Canada. Some big companies — Bell Northern Research and Spar Aerosp- ace, to name two are working on exotic and sophisticated technologies Some smaller firms are also in the forefront of new ideas. Archer International Developments Ltd. of Calgary, for instance, has developed a computer mixing Process called QSound. It allows a stereo qui to sound like q P i —ato have what might be described as ‘tires! ‘dimensional sound But where are other dreamers willing to run the risks of bringing new products on the market? NEED STRATEGY The Science Council of Canada complains there's no co-ordination “Canadian strategy for technology development has_tended to be piecemeal, short-term and—anct sufficiently related to clear industrial goals,"’ it chided in a February report continued on pege C3 “Nobody wants to take risks,"’ he said, explaining that getting grant money is easier if the research isn't a big leap into the unknown. That doesn't mean there's no original. research going on in Canada, just that much of it has been at least touched on by other scientists. But Canadians from coast to coast are working on a variety of ground-breaking projects At Memorial University in Newfoundland, scient- ists are studying ways to exploit the resources hidden beneath the frigid waters off the East Coast. In Vancouver, Dr. Julia Levy of the University of British Columbia is working with a private company, Quadra Logic Technologies, on the use of light-sensitive chemicals to fight cancer. MUST ADAPT Few dispute that Canada must adapt to the changing world economy. But there's a hot debate over the ‘thows"’ and ‘‘whats."’ What are the key models? In Japan, industry, government and academic researchers are closely linked and propel the world’s most dynamic economy in carefully thought-out direct ions. | SUCCESSES Al Editor’s note: Canadians have created many world-class inventions — from Pablum to snowmo- biles. However, many of Canada’s innovators left the country to develop their ideas. By JOHN WARD The Canadian Press Pablum. Kerosene. Snowmobiles. The tuck away beer carton handle. What do they have in common? They're all Canadian innovations The history of invention and innovation _in Canada has had its ups-and- downs. For every world-class success — such as insulin, a life-saver for diabetics — there's a flop. Look at the patented device for lifting a woman's long skirts as she crossed muddy streets. Canadians have long had a habit of leaving the country to develop their ideas. Donald MacKay, for instance, left Shelburne. N.S.. and designed the sleek, fast sailing ships known as clippers in New England Thomas Willson of Hamilton was working in an American laboratory when he discovered a way to make carbide and acetylene cheaply. That discovery was the basis of the giant Union Carbide Co. He returned to) Canada with the idea of making acetylene indispensable for street lighting. However the electric light filled that niche and Willson's discovery ended up as the basis for oxy-acetylene welding. Still, many Canadian inventors stayed home Doctors Frederick Tisdale, Theodore Drake and Alan Brown developed Pablum, the baby food, in Toronto in the 1930s. Abraham Gesner refined and popular. ized kerosene or coal oil in the Maritimes in the middle of the 19th century. Armand Bombardier built his first snowmobile at Valcourt, Que., in 1922, the same year Frederick Banting and Charles Best discovered insulin at labs in the University of Toronto. Oh yes, in 1957 Steve Pasjack of Vancouver invented. the beer carton handle, that pop-up D FLOPS Many have left to make breakthroughs In Europe, governments and industries ignore national borders to unite for certain high-tech projects. The Airbus jetliners purchased by Air Canada are a case in point, with several countries working on various components of the aircraft In the United States, the market remains the driving force, although massive spending on military research tends to give Washington more clout than it first appears. Military work can have civilian spin-offs. Canada has tended to use a mix of these models. Government steps in at various points — helping aircraft manufacturers like de Havilland or Canadair, for example — but the market tends to provide the driving force for industry Often, there is little co-ordination among govern- ment, industry and university researchers SEES FAULTS Canada's record in innovation has been spotty, suggests Toronto historian Michael Bliss, arguing it's full of examples of high-tech run amok. Consider the Avro Arrow, the much touted, widely cherished 1950s fighter plane. Bliss says it was a case of costly, unneeded high technology that went wrong and, luckily, was cancelled before it ate up even more millions of tax dollars. Bliss sees government as the culprit “I don’t believe that government can pick winners and losers and | distrust the steering effects of government," he says in his clipped, straightforward voice James Laxer, chairman of the political science department at York University in Toronto, takes a different tack “The approach we're taking ... is based on the idea that the market system is going to do the job,” the lanky professor said as he lounged in a cardigan in his living room. ‘‘I think the really successful economies in the world today are not the ones that sit around waiting for market signals.” JOINT PLANNING Laxer pointed to the European aerospace industry, which is making a concerted effort to compete with American giants with the Airbus jet, as an example of joint industry-government planning “They anticipate where the market is going to go make the technological breakthroughs based on figuring thesé things out. Or to use a word that's disgraceful, they plan for these things."’ As Bliss sees it, original research isn't a magic solution. The Japanese have rarely come up with major , but have on small improv- ements, efficient production and strong marketing. “It doesn’t matter whether we invent the wheel in Canada,"’ he says. “‘What we want to learn to do is build wheels that we can sell to the rest of the world.’’ Larkin Kerwin, the stern-faced physicist recently appointed to run the Canadian Space Agency, has his own solution. Start with basics. “*We've got to shake up the education system,”’ he said. Stop talking and start teaching “It’s all very well for a committee to sit down and say the future of this countfy is in robotics. We just don't have the horses to do robotics and we're not training the horses to do robotics.”” bc cardboard device that makes carrying a dozen, beer so_easy There are Canadians whose discoveries altered the very fabric of the country, yet they remain little known Consider Charles Saunders He was a quiet, self-effacing chemist who toiled in obscurity for years, patiently ‘crossing wheat varieties at the federal experimental farm in Ottawa around the turn of the century He called himself docile. ‘‘My passion was for the flute.” he once recalled. “I loved playing it Once I was willing to give up anything for it."* Yet this painstaking man with the salt-and pepper beard and wire-rimmed glasses produced Marquis wheat, a hardy, fast-ripening strain of wheat that made the grain belt of the Canadian West a practical proposition. The vast wheatfields of Saskatchewan and Alberta owe their existence to a man whose only real memorial lies in the billowing crops he inspired In the field of high technology, Canadians have had mixed success. The Candy nuclear reactor, widely used in Canada, doesn't sell abroad. The Avro Arrow fighter plane and the Avro jetliner have been variously hailed as super-sophisticated machin es killed before their time or costly white elephants produced to satisfy a misguided nationalistic bent The Telidon computer graphics system, much touted a decade ago, has never realized its ballyhooed potential Yet, Canadians have an innovative heritage that should be remembered, including the first G-suit to protect pilots in high-speed fighter planes, the first commercial electron microscope. the variable-pitch airplane propeller, the wirephoto machine, the first practical robot factory and a host of other inventions and discoveries Among the ironies of invention is the fact that an American invented the Macintosh Apple comput er A Canadian produced the McIntosh apple.