ie Castlegar News February 24, 1988 - Giles Defence spending rises BUSINESS B.C. grape growers February 24, 1988 Castlegar News 87 SPRING SPENDING More foreign LIVE IN CONCERT! MONDAY, MARCH 21 — 7:30 p.m. CASTLEGAR PENTECOSTAL NEW LIFE ASSEMBLY -7th Street Castlegar, B.C. 365-5212 OTTAWA (CP) — Ottawa will spend $860 million more on defence than it did last year as part of the Conservative government's defence buildup, after a year in which real growth in defence spending was 4.8 per cent. Figures released Tuesday in the government's annual estimates show spending will grow to $11.2 billion from $10.34 billion in 1987-88, That's mainly because of a small increase in the number of personnel costs, more money for operations and maintenance and more money for new fighters, frigates and low-level air defence. The $860 million increase does not include $200 million that is being restored to the defence department this year, after the government decided last year to defer some payments into the 1988-89 fiscal year, It means that the defence department will actually have more than a billion dollars more to spend in the coming fiscal year than in this one. Tuesday's estimates are the first since the govern ment's white paper on defence last June promised real 2 eye fe No acquisition fee. With Industrial Horizon Fund, your savings benefit from the proven professional money management of Mackenzie Financial Corporation (ma Wt, you pay no acquasition fee In fact, if your investment horizon is long term. chances are agers of The Industrial Group of Funds) you will pay no redemption fee, either Top management and planning, With ad/your money working for you from day one. Small wonder Industral Horizon Fund is a runaway best seller Broaden your vistas. Call or write for more information today! Industrial Horizon Fund wss“- Please send me jnore information on Industrial Horizon Fund CALL COLLECT 492-4800 MAUREEN FORSTER GREAT PACIFIC MANAGEMENT CO. LTD. 102-396 Ellis Street, Penticton, B.C. V2A 4L7 Ay offer mae cy by prpects Heder 4 ding increases of at least two per cent per year over 15 years. PROJECTS CONTINUE Additional money is to be provided for special projects, such as the controversial plan to buy a fleet of of about 10 nuclear-powered submarines for the navy at a cost of at least $8 billion. About $23 million is devoted in the 1988-89 spending plan for the new submarine program. The coming year's capital budget is being increased by $188.3 million for: more CF-18 fighter jets, more work on the 12-ship frigate-replacement program, an update of some air-defence frigates currently in service, trucks for the army and naval aviation. That total also includes more than $300 million for the PM's office to spend less low-level air defence project that will eventually cost more than $600 million, That high-technology weapon is in the final stages of testing and is to go into service with training units this year. The navy's biggest expenditure beyond normal operating costs is $728.8 million for the frigate program. The new anti-submarine vessels are being built at Saint John, N.B. ARMY GETS GUNS The army, lagging behind other services in the drive for new equipment, will spend $51.5 million on new small arms that include modififed M-16s for the infantry. New anti-armor weapons will be purchased, as will special devices for detecting chemical weapons. The government said earlier this year it plans to spend more than $200 million on’ new trucks for the armed forces, Defence planners are also mulling over the purchase of new main battle tanks, but no significant amounts of money have been dedicated, The air force, the biggest spender of the three services, also gets a boost in new equipment. The largest increase comes in the Canadian contribution to the new North Warning System being developed with the United States, Almost $154 million will be spent on North Warning this year to build and supply more radar stations to watch northern approaches to North America. Another $116 million will be spent_on the eontinuing acquisition of CF-18s. The last batch in the 138-plane order should be delivered in late 1988. Another major focus of the white paper is a planned boost in the size of the reserves and a program to equip them with more modern weapons. Spending during 1988-89 on the reserves will climb to $418 million from $397.9 million in 1987-88. ESTIMATES HIGHLIGHTS OTTAWA (CP) — Highlights of federal spending estimates tabled Tuesday in the Commons: © Spending in the fiscal year starting April 1 estimated at $132.25 billion, up nearly eight per cent from the $122.6 billion the government said last year at this time it would spent in the current fiscal year and up five per cent from the $125.3 billion it actually spent. Federal employment in the coming year of 291,164 so-called “person years,” the equivalent of one.employed person for a full year, down 0.8 per cent or 1,961 persons years and the lowest level since 1973-74. e An $860-million increase to $11.2 billion in defence spending in the coming year, an amount that does not include anticipated costs for such items as nuclear-pow- ered submarines. © $312 million and 200 person-years for the new Western Diversification Office and $306 million for the new Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, although total economic and regional development spending declines. « A $112-million increase to $612 million for Via Rail Canada Inc., a 22.4-per-cent increase over the current $500-million subsidy. e An $80.2-million increase and 24 person years for more RCMP security for airports, VIPs, diplomats and the June economic summit of world leaders in Toronto, with additional RCMP airport security of 96 person years in the coming year and 115 person years in 1989-90. e A $26-million increase in funds for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., for a total of $907.2 million in 1988-89, an increase almost entirely to meet negotiated increased salaries and benefits for employees. OTTAWA (CP) — Spend ing by the prjme minister's office is going down next year, but it’s not quite what it seems. Ten people who have been working directly for Prime Minister Brian Mulroney be. gin working on April 1 — when the government's new FILM HUDSON TAYLOR A Presentation by the Overseas Mission Fellowship ‘Show how Gods power can help you to there 18-011 ‘dson Toylor Founde of Missions to the interior of Mainline Chino. AT THE PENTECOSTAL NEW LIFE ASSEMBLY 602-7th Street Across trom Twin Rivers Elementary Sunday, March 6 at 6:30 p.m. You ore Invited! STEVE SHUTT fiscal year begins — for the administration branch of the Privy Council Office. The Privy Council Office is the prime minister's department of government, responsible for such things as cabinet agendas and co-ordinating government work. Because of the staff shuffle among people who help handle such things as Mul- roney's mail, the prime min- ister’s office is expected to spend $6 million in the 1988-89 fiscal year, down from the $6.18 million esti- mate for the current fiscal year ending March 31. The figures are contained in the government's spending estimates for 1988-89, tabled Tuesday in the Commons. While the shuffle will re- duce opposition grousing about the growth of the prime minister's office itself, GUY LAFLEUR HOME OF CHAMPIONS * ALL-STARS * Thursday, March 3rd 7:30 p.m. COMINCO ARENA ADMISSION: Adults *9.00 Advance ($11.00 at Door) Children (under 12) *5.00 Advance (*7.00 at Door) TICKETS AVAILABLE AT: TRAIL: L&J Books, Parks and Recreation CASTLEGAR: Pete’s TV CRESTON: Paul's Superette ROSSLAND: Alpine Drugs NELSON: Oliver’s Books THE HOCKEY IS FAST AND THE ACTION EXCITING! the estimates indicate that the cost of running the operations of the office of Deputy Prime Minister Don Mazankowski have increased by almost twice the inflation rate. Mazankowski is also the Treasury Board minister who oversees government spend- ing. Spending in Mazankow. ski's office will rise to $5.1 million from $4.7 million. As late as last fall, the govern- ment was expecting this year’s spending to drop to $3.4 miliion, well below the $4.7 million figure forecast last spring. PAYS SALARIES Also included in the oper- ations of Mazankowski's off- ice are: the office of Doug Lewis, deputy government House Leader; the office of Lowell Murray, government leader in the Senate and minister of federal-provincial relations. As well, it covers the salaries and chauffered For Your Support Last Year! © The citizens who contributed at the door or through payroll deductions Celgar Pulp and Westar Timber Cominco School District No. 9 Selkirk College Dr. Yule and the professional people Thank you as well to volunteers, W.K.P.L.,.B.C. Welding and the canvassers. CASTLEGAR DISTRICT limousines of ministers with out portfolio. In 1986, Mulroney hired Tory ad executive Dalton Camp to work out of the Privy Council Office to help the government put the best face on what it was doing. Camp's unofficial title OTTAWA (CP) — The un- around Ottawa is the Spin employment insurance fund Doctor. His official title is should be out of the red this Senior Advisor to Cabinet. year for the first time since His office of three people is the Conservatives came to expected to spend $261,000 power, the federal govern- or $11,000 more than last, ment said Tuesday in its year. latest spending estimates. While Camp works to Ottawa expects a surplus shore up Mulroney's for- of more than $2.8 billion in tunes, the government will the fund this year. spend $1.3 millionto shore up = The fund had a cumulative the slopes of Parliament Hill, deficit of nearly $2.3 billion at where erosion on steep banks the end of 1987. The latest dropping to the Ottawa River forecast is for a cumulative poses an eventual threat to surplus of $587 million at the Parliament itself. end of this fiscal year, March Keeping the institution of 31. Parliament running next Premium_—‘Tevei from year will cost taxpayers $237 workers and employers has million. risen steadily in recent years, The big-ticket item is the partly because more people House of Commons, where are working. The total paid 282 MPs plus staff and sup- out in benefits has been port services will take $190.4 coming down slightly as million from the public purse. fewer people are unemploy- UI fund to have $2.8B surplus ed. The unemployment insur- ance program is financed by contributions from workers, employers and the federal government. PREDICTS DROP The government expects its contributions to fall slightly, to just under $2.7 billion, in the fiscal year beginning April 1 from the comparable estimate of near- ly $2.8 billion for the current fiseal year. The 1988 contribution rate for workers and employers has already been set, so they won't get a reduction in pre- miums until next year. Total spending by the De- partment of Employment and Immigration during the new fiscal year is expected to drop by $107 million to just over $4.5 billion. \g ] T CHURCH DIR ST. PETER LUTHERAN 713 - 4th Street Office 365-3664 Rev. Glen Backus Worship Service 9 a.m Sunday School 10:15.a.m Youth Group, Sunday, 6:30 p.m. Bible Study, Wed., 8 p.m. Listen to the Lutheran Hour '0.1m..0n Radio (ROK ANGLICAN CHURCH 1401 Columbia Avenue Sunday Services 8:00 a.m. & 10:00 a.m. Sunday School 10 a.m. Rev. Charles Balfour 2271 Parish Purpo: “To know Christ and make Him known" ew 809 Merry Creek Road Past Fireside Motel Sunday School 10:00 a.m. Morning Worship 11:00 a.m UES. AWANA — Children’s Program Kindergarten to Grade EDNESDAY NIGHT Study @ Prayer 8 p.m. Church 365-3430 or 365-7368 Cc P PENTECOSTAL NEW LIFE ASSEMBLY SS 602 - 7th St. © Ph. 365-5212 Near High School SUNDAY SERVICES Christian Education 9:45 a.m Morning Worship 11:00 a.m. Evening Service 6:30 p.m WEDNESDAY 7:00 p.m. Bible Study — Prayer Crossfire for Youth FRIDAY 7.00 p.m. Youth Meeting 365-581 Pastor Stvert Louri 365-3278 Sunday Morning Worship 10:30 a.m. Nursery & Children's church provided Mid-week Service & Study Wednesday 6:30-8:00 p.m. Bible teaching for all ages A Non-Denominational Family Church, Preaching the Word of Faith FULL GOSPEL FELLOWSHIP (A.C.0.P.) EVANGELICAL FREE CHURCH 914 Columbia Ave. Sunday School 9:45 a.m Family Worship Service 11:00 a.m. Ladies Bible Study Friday, 9:30a.m. Youth Ministries Discipleship Ministries PAST Tst Sunday, 7:00 p.m. 2hd, 3rd and 4th Sundays, 10.a.m No service 5th Sunday GRACE PRESBYTERIAN 2605 Columbia Ave, os 2404 Columbia Avenue Church School 9:45 a.m. Morning Worship 1ba.m. Pastor ira Johnson Phone 365-6762 Rev. J. Ferrier Phone 365-3182 Morning Worship : “m. Sunday School 11:00 a.m. Below Castleaird Plaza Phone 365-6317 Pastor: Barry Werner Phone 365-2374 SUNDAY SERVICES — Sunday School 9:30 a.m. Morning Worship 10:30 Evening Fellowship 6:30 Wednesday: Home Meetings 7:00 p.m. Friday Yout! Ministries 7:00 p.m. HOME OF CASTLEGAR CHRISTIAN ACADEMY 365-7818 UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA 2224-6th Ave. 1% Blocks South of Community Complex 10 a.m. — Worship and Sunday School Mid-Week Activities for all ages. Phone for information Rev. Ted Bristow 365-8337 or 365-7814 SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH 1471 Columbia Ave., Trail 364-0117 Regular Saturday Services Pastor Cliff Drieberg 365-2649 interest in B.C. land VANCOUVER (CP) — Foreign investors, especially Asians and Europ: » are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into Vancouver-area real estate and analysts say the pipeline. may never run dry. Japanese interests are building a $13-million con- dominium project in West Vancouver, while Hong Kong d fear free trade By MICHAEL BERNARD KELOWNA, B.C. (CP) — Peter Calissi cups a brittle grape vine in his callused hand, bemoaning the effects of free trade with the United States. The trade agreement, he says, will force him to pull the vine out by the roots, along with thousands of others he has carefully nurtured. buyers snap up apartments, office sites and mid-si retail centres. The most expensive office tower sale in Vancouver last year was the purchase by the West German-based Polaris group of the BCED Building for $55 million. Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing is a leading contender to develop the city’s prized waterfront Expo 86 site. “Canada is viewed by foreigners as a very stable place to put their money,” said Ronald Shon, president of Building in Vancouver. Fs “Vancouver may not have the explosive growth prospects of Hong Kong or Tokyo, but investors know that when they invest here, their money will be safe for the long term.” John Markoulis, who helps manage Li's North American real estate holdings, said many foreign investors think Vancouver is underdeveloped. “Vancouver has the infrastructure and the position. ing to be much more of a major player in the Pacific Rim than it has been,” Markoulis said in a telephone interview from Houston. “It has not really participated in the boom that has gone on in éastern Canada, so for general invest- ment, it's perceived to be a bit undervalued.” Federal moves to encourage welathy foreigners to immigrate to Cariada have improved Vancouver's image among offshore investors, he said. But while foreign money continues to pour in, the vast majority of real estate assets in Vancouver is still owned by Canadi _ ially by large instituti such as insurance companies and pension funds. Claude Pierce, research director for Colliers Mac- aulay Nicolls Inc., said 15 of the 20 class A office buildings in V. — those which d premium rents — are Canadian-owned, while 55 of the 79 class B office buildings are in Canadian hands. Offshore buyers accounted for more than half the office buying last year, said Pierce, but noted that investment goes in cycles. “Last year was a strong year because of the strength of foreign currencies, but I don’t think there is pro- portionately more investment now than ever before,” he said. David Goodman, an apartment building salesman for Block Bros. Realty, said he thinks there is more foreign investment now than every before in the apartment sector. But overall, he said, Seattle and Los Angeles still attract more foreign interest. However Vancouver's low vacancy rate and the lack of rent controls make the city more attractive to foreigners all the time, he said. “The Hong Kong investor still is number one (among foreign investors) but the Japanese are moving up very, very quickly,” said Goodman. “They appear to have an almost voracious appetite for apartments.” Goodman estimated that about 15 per cent of apartment buildings in Vancouver's upscale West End are owned by foreign interests. He said Asian buyers will often accept lower yields on real estate investments than local buyers because they are used to it at home. Phil Barter, an accountant for Price Waterhouse who Shon Group, which owns the Georgia Medical Dental ol hen politicians do things like this, they just don't give a damn,” says the 54-year-old Italian immigrant as he stamps his feet in the crisp layer of snow that covers his 15-hectare vineyard overlooking Okanagan Lake: The free-trade deal means a bitter harvest for Calissi and about 200 other British Columbia grape growers, some of whom have spent more than 20 years cultivating 1,300 hectares of vineyards on the rolling mountainsides framing the Okanagan Valley. The provincial government has pledged to purchase all the estimated 13,000 tonnes of grapes, worth $8 million, to be harvested this year. After that, once the trade agreement takes effect Jan. 1, 1989, the growers will be on their own. The B.C. growers are not the only ones who fear the worst. Ontario's grape industry — about eight times larger than British Columbia's — has been overproducing for years, forcing the provincial government on one occasion to buy and dispose of $18 million worth of grapes. POLITICS DIFFER However, unlike British Columbia, where Premier Bill Vander Zalm has welcomed freer trade, Ontario growers Ve strong support from Premier David Peterson. He has threatened to scuttle the free-trade agreement if Ontario growers — among other interest groups — are not accom. modated. The agreement will result in the phasing out of B.C. regulations that require the province's eight commercial wineries to purchase at least four tonnes of domestically grown grapes for every tonne of imported grapes. The wineries, in turn, are given preferential treatment on liquor-store shelves. Domestic wine is marked up 50 per cent over producer cost, while imports sell for a minimum of 110 per cent above their landed price. As well, B.C. wineries are guaranteed 25 per cent of available floor space in the provincially run liquor outlets. The “B.C. first” policy appears to have paid off. British Columbia wineries now supply about 20 million litres a year, or 60 per cent of all wine consumed in the province. Across Canada, domestic wine takes about 20 per cent of the market. With their protections about to be stripped away by free trade — assuming the pact is ratified by Parliament and the U.S. Congress — B.C. growers expect wineries will turn to cheaper grapes from California. “We've told them not to expect us to buy any B, grapes next year,” said a source close to recent discussiot between the wine industry and federal and provincial government representatives. Few blame the wineries. They must compete with the likes of Gallo Brothers of California, whose giant winery could satisfy all Canadian wine demand with just a few days’ production, Growers have been told by the government they must “become competitive,” but Calissi said the huge difference in operating costs between here and California makes that difficult. Alan Brock, chairman of the B.C. Grape Marketing Board and a vineyard owner himself, said at least half of the province's viney could di: in the next few years. “I'm faced with a situation where I know that 10 acres (four-hectares) of my grapes are going to have to come out IS COMING! for all your Zipper installed. Car snowmobile sect trailers. * Leather Goods * Shoe Repair We repair all western boots, dress shoes etc We repair all hockey equip. Clothing repair VICTOR'S SHOE REPAIR ‘Mao Lieng Owner monoger CASTLEGAR TRAIL 1038 Columbie Ave. 1598 Bay Ave. 3as-c432 344-2599 WE DO MORE THINGS THAN YOU THINK right away,” he said What will he replace them with? “You probably couldn't have picked a worse time in the history of this valley to try to find alternative crops,” said Brock. Orchardists growing apples, peaches, cherries and pears face the same keen competition with U.S. growers and the same yawning cost ga EUROPEAN THREAT And as if free trade were not enough, there is also concern about the outcome of a preliminary ruling by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which found that Canadian liquor pricing policy discriminated against European wines. If Canada grants the same concessions to the Europeans as it has to the United States, it will open the doors to a flood of surplus wine from the heavily subsidized European inaustry, say the growers. If that happens, said Brock, grape growers will demand that imported wines face the same rigorous regulations that domestic grape owners face — such as prohibitions on the use of a wide variety of pesticides. “Why should they test our wines (for chemicals) and not test wines being sold to the consumer coming from other countries?” Report says absenteeism is cause of on site accidents Regular miners who were most familiar with their jobs had fewer accidents than regular or replacement workers who had missed work the previous day, the study shows. Higher acci- dents also were the pattern TORONTO (CP) — Ab senteeism by workers not only triggers high financial costs for employers but can contribute to more on-the-job accidents, says a report by U.S. researchers. The study, published in the February issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology, a publication of the American Psychological Association, for pairs of replacements who were absent the day before year into B.C. real estate. China. monitors real estate values in the estimated that Hong Kong investors pump $500 million a He said that figure could go up as 1997 approaches and the British Crown colony reverts to the control of However a major European investor, who did not want to be named, said he is not attracted to Vancouver, especially the downtown office market. He said the HongKong Bank Building formerly the Bank of B.C. Building) has been offered for about $130 million but he doubted there would be any takers. Vancouver area, | was done by industrial psy- chologist Paul Goodman and economist Steven Garber. The researchers gathered data from production crews — both regular and replace- ment workers — in five underground coal mines. They tracked the activity of the more than 2,300 miners during about 70,000 work days, during which time 340 CLASSIFIEDS GET RESUTTS . Call 365-2212 For example, they said, manpower policies could be and nearly twice as high among mixed pairs of ab- sentee regulars and replace- improved by organizing pools ments. of replacement workers Absences should be con- around specific job categories sidered in designing pro and by giving on-the-job grams to reduce on-site acci- training to replacement dents in mining and other workers before work begins. Local & Friendly Services * Upholstery Needs Boat top, boat seat, window & seat Kitchen chairs, restourant choirs, tent Leather jackets, new zippers id inds of shoes. work boots ? * All Hockey Equip. OPENING 2D NEED To- KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR NEW 4 Call Velcome Wagon Phone Connie 365-7601 Joyce 365-3091 Our hostess will bring gifts and greetings, along with helpful community information. industries, the researchers conclude. We're Over Hydro losses improve VANCOUVER (CP) — B.C. Hydro had a net loss of $5 million for the nine months ended Dec. 31, a $72-million improvement from the cor- responding period a year ago, the Crown corporation re- ported. Hydro’s total revenue in creased $125 million to $1.5 billion during the nine month-period. The warmest spell of wea ther experienced by British Columbia since 1958, plus de- creased natural gas prices combined to reduce gas rev- enues $28 million to $233 million, the company said in a news release. Electric heating revenues also dropped, but domestic sales of electricity increased $20 million to $1.1 billion be. cause of higher demand from businesses and large indust- ries. Export sales of electricity to the United States jumped to $142 million from $11 million during the previous nine-month period. The increase in American sales was caused by low water conditions in the Paci- fie Northwest and increased fossil fuel costs in California, where oil, gas and coal are used to generate electricty, Hydro said. were reported. edmonton house “MORE THAN JUST A HOTEL ROOM” Welcome to Edmonton House where every room is a four room suite. The bedroom is just that, a room - separate and private. The living room is spacious and leads out to your private balcony. 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