o

elgar halts work

By CasNews Staff

Celgar Pulp Co. has told businesses working on con-
tracts to supply goods and services for the ex-
pansion and environmental cleanup of the Castlegar pulp
mill to suspend work while further information is
developed to respond to the provincial government's
review of the expansion proposal, the general manager of
the project said Tuesday,

Celgar issued the ‘suspehsion instructions after the
government's major project review committee told the
company late last week it would not receive approval in
principle for the $630 million project at this time, Wilf
Sweeney said in a news release.

He said Celgar has carried out extensive work on the

aspects of the d project and had
started limited work in the hope that some progress on the
Project could be made before next winter.

“In view of the time now required to address further
questions on the environmental aspects of the job, -it is
economically prudent that we pause in the preliminary
work,”’ Sweeney said. ‘Major dollar amounts are in-
volved in many of the decisions related to our planned

modernization and expansion. Timing is crucial in those
decisions, especially when it comes to the manufacture of
the very large equipment we need to clean up our air and
water emissions.””

Sweeney said Celgar and the pi

In addition, the company must complete some of the
predictions to cover an entire year of operation as well as
supply other technical data, he said.

Meanwhile, Sweeney said preparation work at
the mill, the rel of utilities,

**have agreed on a course of action 5 through which gover-
nment and public environmental concerns will be ad-
dressed within a time frame that may enable approval in
principle by September.”

In a separate news release, provincial Environment
Minister John Reynolds on Tuesday confirmed last
week’s decision by the review committee to delay ap-
proval in principle for the project.

**Before approval in principle can be granted, more
assessment work needs to be done, especi lly in the area
of effluent di: and air said.

On Saturday, Celgar general manager Jim Browne
told the Castlegar News the review committee wants to see
documents suppasting some of the conclusions about the
new mill's predicted environmental performance con-
tained in the environmental impact shossehent prepared
by the company’s consultant.

will stop once the necessary connections are made. Celgar
has told other suppliers to stop all-work in progres:
cluding engineering and work, all orders for
material and fabrication, and all shipments, he said.

The suspension of preliminary work on the project
may leave some local contractors looking for work, said
Ed Conroy, who represented the Castlegar school board
on the City of Castlegar’s Celgar expansion advisory
group.

Conroy, who is challenging Rossland-Trail MLA
Chris D'Arcy for the New Democratic Party nomination
in the riding, said local contractors may have been turning
away work in anticipation of the expansion project
receiving quick government approval.

“It makes it kind of difficult for a lot of these
people,”” he said, referring to the review committee’s

continued on poge A2

Board to hold
referendum

By CasNews Staff
. The Castlegar school board voted Tuesday to
place a $200,000 referendum before district voters,
likely this month, superintendent of schools Terry
Wayling said today.

The board will use the money raised by the
referendum, if approved by voters, to hire additional
teachers and support staff to implement the Ministry
of Education’s new primary education program this
fall, Wayling said.

No firm date has been set for the referendum but
it likely will be held April 21, he said.

“What the board is trying to indicate . . . is that
they’re committed to the philosophy and the direction
of the new primary program,"’ Wayling said.

Wayling said a taxpayer with a home valued at
$43,400 would pay an additional $43.28 if voters ap-
prove the referendum. On a $54,500 home, the in-
crease would be $54.26, Wayling said.

“It ranges roughly $10 for each $10,000 of
assessed value,"’ he said.

GISLATIVE LIBRARY
TAMENT BLD

ORIA B.
1X4 FEB.

ae —

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Vol. 43, No. 27 75 Cents

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CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA,. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 1990

WEATHERCAST

Tonight: Generally clear skies
Lows 0-2. Thursday and Friday
Sunny and warm highs near 20.
Probability of precipitation is near
zero through Friday

2 Sections (A & B)

TOP CITIZEN...

dent Colin Phillips (right) pr

witha plaque ica bie os pacha ¢ 1989 Good Citizen of the Year. In introducing
the area's 32nd good citizen, John Mansbridge listed Killough's extensive recent good work
as well as his long community involvement. Rossiand-Trail MLA Chris D'Arcy called
Killough “a dedicated citizen over a long period of time.” —cosews photo by Burt Compbelt

ents Joe Killough

Regional districts
launch lawsuit

By CasNews Staff

Dissatisfied with the lack of
progress in negotiating @ settlement,
the Regional District of Central
Kootenay and three other
districts launched their long-planned
lawsuit Monday against the provincial
government and B.C. Hydro in an at-
tempt to force the Crown utility to
pay taxes on its properties in the
Kootenays.

RDCK board chairman George
Cady said today lawyers representing
the regional districts filed a writ Mon-
day in B.C. Supreme Court, the first
salvo in the legal battle to get Hydro
to pay property tax on its Columbia
River Treaty dams and other proper-
ties in the Kootenays which are exem-

pi PR bP ES
‘on Section 15 of the Charter of Rights
which states all people should be

treated equally. The regional districts
maintain it’s unfair Hydro doesn’t
pay taxes while other businesses and
property owners in the same areas do
Last year, Hydro began paying
grants in lieu of taxes to local gover-
nments based on the amount of power
each of the utility's dams produces,
or, in the case of the Hugh

Officer

REVELSTOKE (CP) — An RCMP
officer acted appropriately to ensure
public safety when he shot a 21-year-
old woman here last Dec..4 during a
hostage-taking and attempted armed
robbery, @ coroner’s jury ruled
Tuesday.

Keenleyside dam north of Castlegar,
its potential to produce power
The RDCK would have received
$155,000 last year but turned the
money down because acceptance of
the grant might have jeopardized the
lawsuit, Cady said
Cady said last year after the grants
continued on page A2

cleared

cevich that he had no choice but to
shoot the woman.

He testified that Prcevich raised a
rifle and aimed it at him when he
shouted for her to ‘‘drop it."’ It was
later found that the .22-calibre
weapon wasn’t loaded.

The shooting occurred during an
armed robbery ‘attempt while Pr-

continued on poge A2

REFORM PARTY OF CANADA

Tories under fire
at. info meeting

By DONNA ZUBER
Special to the Castlegar News

The policies of the Conservative
government — especially its handling
of the country’s economy — came
under fire Tuesday in Castlegar at an
information meeting of the Reform
Party of Canada.

Gordon Shaw, vice-president of the
Reform Party's executive council,
told -about45 people-who~ attended
the meeting at the Scotsman Motor
Inn that Canada’s economy is of
“particular concern’’ to his party.

“It took Canada 117 years... to
acquire~-a national debt of $170
billion, and in the last five years our
debt has more than doubled since the
Conservatives came to power,’’ Shaw
said. ‘How long will it be before
Canada becomes a third-rate coun-
try?”’

Government perks such as trips and
pensions for members of Parliament,
unnecessary jobs in civil service, gra
ts to big business and grants to
special-interest groups are all areas
where the Reform Party believes cut-
backs could be made to alleviate
Canada’s debt, he said.

He said the Reform Party strongly
opposes the Tories’ proposed good
and services tax.

“We should not have (the GST)
unless and until the government can
demonstrate that they can cut their
spending,’’ Shaw said.

He said the party sees the federal
political system as the root of most
problems.

‘*It doesn’t matter who is in power

it doesn’t allow the democratic
process to work,’’ Shaw said, adding
that his party advocates a ‘‘triple-E"*
senate which he said stands for equal,
elected and effective. Senators in
Canada are currently appointed by
the prime minister.

The Reform Party wants the Senate
to become an elected, powerful body
with equal representation from each

Strike

GORDON SHAW
. - - critical of Tories

province.

The Reform Party also supports the
use of referendums on major issues
such as the Meech Lake Accord,
Shaw said.

He noted that in Switzerland,
referendums are used often but in
Canada the last time a referendum
was used was during the Second
World War

“‘We're not saying we should be as
extreme as Switzerland, but let's go to
the people with major issues, like con-
stitutional changes," Shaw said.

He added that in Switzerland,
almost any given person on the street
knows what is happening politically,
“because they are involved.”

Shaw said the Reform Party’s
policies are based on common sense
and the party is attracting people
from across the political spectrum

“People are joining the party from
all three political backgrounds
because we are not left, right or cen-
tre,’’ he said. *‘Our policies support-a
democratic style of government based
on common sense.”’

forces

billing estimates

By CasNews Staff

Some people will get inaccurate
electric bills this month because of the
strike at West Kootenay Power, com-
pany spokesman Jack Fisher said
today.

Because of a lack of manpower,
meters weren't read last month but
bills were issued based on an estimate
of how much power customers used,
Fisher said.

“That means that some people will
get bills that are not accurate and
we'll just have to answer problems as
they arise,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s been no
serious problems so far."”

Fisher said the estimates could be
either over or under the actual
amount of power used.

“We're talking about 60,000
customers here, so it's possible that
we may have some high and some
low,” he said.

The strike by approximately 180
WKP workers is in its 12th day today.

Union and management haven't
talked since negotiations broke down
a few days before the strike.

Fisher said there’s been no change
in the status of negotiations since a
mediator was sent back to Vancouver
March 2t

“Last I heard (yesterday afternoon)
there’s been absolutely no change in
the situation at all.""

Money is the key issue in the strike
with the IBEW demanding wage
parity with workers at other utilities
The union is also seeking a health
plan comparable with that of other
workers such as office staff at WKP

Another 35 WKP employees joined
the walkout when the Office and
Technical Employees Urtion refused
to cross the IBEW picket lines

The Reform Party was created Oct.
31 - Nov. 1, 1987, at a convention in
Winnipeg and now has about 30,000
members in the four western provin-
ces. Its leader is Preston Manning,
son of former Alberta Premier Ernest
Manning.

The party’s current objectives are
aimed strictly at the federal level,
Shaw said, in an effort .to disspell
rumors that the party is moving in on
provincial polities.

Both Shaw and the local coor.
dinator of the meeting, Dorothy
Bagg, said they were pleased with the
turnout at the meeting. Shaw said a
couple of years ago 25 people would
have been a good turnout

Approximately 20 people had
signed up for membership in the party
before the room cleared last night

INSIDE

Felix
Belczyk

page B1

Lottery
numbers

The winning numbers drawn
Tuesday in the Keno lottery
were 15, 18, 24, 28, 33, 45,
48 and 51.

Air
Cadets

page B4

Forest
industry

page A2