Pree tne eee

EXPL bg
Castlegar United Church Nov. 10, with fiv

. Explorers held their Initiation Service at the
1g. (left to

irls join
right) Aimee Guido, Joyce Kosowan, (leader), Sara Vatkin, Jill
Brady,

mber

Vatkin (leader), Utako Kambara, Chelsea Van Vliet, Kathleen
inville, Laura Rainville, A

$80 billion U.S.
budget cut near

(Reuter)

WASHINGTON
— President Ronald Reagan

ing his weekly radio address,
Reagan said he expects
to ‘on $30

said y an agi

on cutting the U.S. budget
deficit ‘is near, adding that
White House and congress-
fonal negotiators ‘are dis-
cussing $80 billion in re-
ductions over two years,

Negotiators are searching

for an agreement with sub-
stantial cuts that will re-
assure financial markets
around the world. They have
been holding talks for three
weeks.
“I'm confident, this coming
week, the negotiators will

y, Valerie agree to a deficit-cutting

Richelle Davies.

, Shannon Carter, Laura Kosowan, Melanie Gibson, Jane

package that is fair and en-
forceable,” Reagan said dur-

billion in deficit reductions
during the current fiscal
year, which ‘on Oct. 1,
and another billion the
following fiscal year.

The size of the two-year
package is larger than
sources familiar with the
talks had been projecting.
Previous estimates had put
the total at between $70
billion and $75 billion,

‘The larger amount reflects
the desire of Congress and
the White House to produce a
pact that will convince in-
vestors of U.S. determination
to control the deficit, a key

influence in the Wall Street
crash last month.

Congressional sources said
the agreement is likely to
inelude about $10 billion in
tax increases during the first
year and a cut in defence
spending of between $4 bil-
lion and $5 billion.

Both items had been parti-
cularly difficult for the Rea-
gan’ administration to accept
because: of the president's
staunch public opposition to
either move.

The talks began in re-
sponse to the Oct. 19 stock
market crash, which has been
blamed in part on the huge
U.S. budget and trade def-
icits.

Force-feeding
academics early
stifles growth

CHICAGO (AP) — Upwardly mobile parents trying
to force-feed academics to their preschoolers risk stifling
creativity and causing early burnout, child experts say.

“Twenty years ago, people thought that precocity
was bad . . . the feeling was ‘Early ripe, not rot,’ ” said
David Elkind, president of the National Association for
the Education of Young Children.

“Now the motto is ‘Early ripe, early rich,’ ” Elkind
said at a news conference during the annual convention of
the group — the United States’ largest professional

i of early chil

“We have to recognize that education is not a race,
child-rearing is not a race. In our desires to believe we
can give children a leg up, we are really handicapping
them,” he said.

‘The trend is most noticeable among upwardly mobile
young professionals who use such devices as books, flash-
cards and piano lessons “to try and get (children) on the
fast track,” said panelist George Sterne, chairman of the
American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Early
Childhood, Adoption and Dependent Care.

“Increasingly we see children whose schedules at age
three and four would boggle the mind of adults . . . they
have 60-hour weeks,” Sterne said. “They're tired, they're
irritable, they have bellyaches . . . it's obvious they're on
overload.”

“Since all this has been going on, we've had marked
drops in SAT (scholastic aptitude test) scores, an
increasing number of children with learning disabilities,”
said Elkind.
PARALLEL GROWTH

While there's no solid proof or statistics that such
problems have resulted from pushing academics on pre-
schoolers, there's been parallel growth in both, he said.

In about 26 states legislation and other measures are
pending that would have children enter public school at
age four, said panelist Samuel Sava, executive director of
the National Association for Elementary School Princi-
pals.

Elkind noted that illiteracy is virtually istent

Schmidt announces bid

The latest candidate to seek the
Federal New Democratic Party’s nom-
ination in the newly-created Kootenay
West-Revelstoke riding says he is
confident that he can take the nom-
ination on the second ballot, if not the
first.

Ron Schmidt, a Castlegar resident
and president of the Rossland-Trail

incial NDP C

in Scandinavian countries, “where children don’t begin
forced education until age seven.”

“If you try too hard to force them to learn things. . .
you do run the rusk of, first, burn-out, and second,
suppressing creativity.” Sterne said.

Parents who push their children may only want the
best for them. “But what they don't realize is that
children are going to learn if they are exposed” to normal
life, Sterne said. “They don’t need high-tech curricula to
do this.”

The market is filled with an increasing number of
books and early educational programs like those that
urge pregnant women to talk or sing to their unborn
children, said Elkind.

“What kids need is constant, unconditional lov-
ing... . They don't need flashcards . . . they need to be
free to express creativity,” Sterne said.

Sava added, “We will do a great disservice to the
children of this nation if we do not permit them to be
children.”

Pp Associa-
tion, formally announced his bid for the
federal nomination on Thursday.

“I would like to get the nomination
on the first ballot at the convention,
but if that doesn't happen I'm confident
it will come on the second ballot,”
Schmidt said in an interview. “A

nomination race such as the one in ‘

front of us is a healthy, exciting process
for the NDP which will build the party
stronger than it is now, and hopefully
we can win an election with one of
those candidates,” said Schmidt.

While no date for the nominating
convention has been set, it is expected
to be held sometime next April.

The two other declared candidates
for the NDP nomination are former
Kootenay West MP Lyle Kristansen
and Nelson resident Marty Horswill.

Schmidt said he expects more

1.

Lingerie & Aerobic Wear

For Comfort
and Style

This

Katrin
Liebenow

Audrey
Maxwell

Camisols

Aerobic Wear © Leather Gloves
Half Slips © Scarves

Full Slips ¢ Panty Hose
Nightgowns ° Teddys

For Great Selection
and Prices See...

Department Store

1217-3rd St., Castlegar 365-7782

will toss their hats into the
ring.

He said he sees job creation in the
Kootenay West-Revelstoke riding as
one of the more pressing issues.

“I see a lot of things wrong in thi
country. Jobs is a priority in Kootenay
West-Revelstoke. We need some kind
of secondary industry. With us and Ed
Broadbent (federal NDPleader) form-
ing the government we could push for
secondary industries,” said Schmidt.

He added that an ideal secondary
industry would be one that takes a led

He added that an ideal secondary
industry would be one that takes lead
and zinc, which are smelted at

..andall
should be well!

Yes, by 9 a.m. Sundays you

RON SCHMIDT
. .. first ballot?

Cominco’s Trail operations, make a
product out of the two metals and sell
that product in other areas.

“The other thing we need to do is
provide the small business person with
tax relief grants, more grants, and low
interest loans if they are going to
expand their businesses ‘and’ create
jobs. With the “Conservative gov-
ernment the large corporations get all
those benefits and we need legislation
to ensure the same thing for small
business,” said Schmidt.

He added that small businesses
provide the majority of jobs in Canada
and will continue to do so under an
NDP government.

Schmidt said the recent free trade
deal signed between Canada and the
United States will have a negative
impact on Canada’s economy.

“There's a large number of Ameri-
can companies operating branch plants
in Canada, selling their products to
Canadians and with Mulroney's deal I

Dalai Lama.

PAILS

should be enjoying your Sun:
day Castlegar News

It you're not, we want to
correct the matter

Hf you fall consistently to get

ONLY

*1.50

EACH

woman's Sergeant Bilko 'T-
shirt has become the first
known case of someone mis-
taking Phil Silvers for the

As Kris Tait, 25, described
the scene to British news-
papers, a large crowd of Ti-
betans apparently
with the soliders about a
likeness between the late
pease :

1 Sundey Castlegar News
9 a.m., then us
ad complein. Call

Heavy duty all-purpose
plastic pails with tight-fitting
covers and handles

Tibet's exiled god-king.
Tait said she was on vac-

suspect those branch plants will close,
the products will be made in the U.S.
where labor is cheaper and simply be
trucked back to Canada, causing a loss
‘of jobs to us. And also there's the small
businesses losing customers to the U.S.
which will also cause a loss of jobs,”
said Schmidt.

He added that he is “amazed and
shocked at the sellout of Canada to the
United States” and said that is one of
the reasons why Canadians should toss
the Mulroney government out of office
in the next federal election.

“The issue of free trade should be
fully discussed with the Canadian
people and not done by some ‘fly by
night’ committee between now and the
end of the year, which is what Brian
Mulroney suggests,” said Schmidt.

He added that he believes the
Conservatives can be defeated in the
Kootenay West-Revelstoke riding and
that the NDP can be elected.

“I think the NDP has a real good
chance of winning the election because
their position on trade is not that it will
be free trade for Canada, but in fact
cost us dearly in terms of jobs and our
own economic stability. The NDP has
also always been popular in this area
and elections are won with work and
organization and I offer that to the
NDP with the éxperiénced? ‘capable
onganizers (who) will be working with
me once I obtain the nomination,” said
Schmidt.

He added that his committee's
plans to organize and sign up new
members and encourage them to vote
for him at the nominating convention.
Schmidt said he will soon name his
campaign manager.

“At the same time we will also be
talking to our current members and
encouraging them to support us and
my candidacy. I expect there will be 20
to 30 organizers out there working in
the plants, shops, mills, offices and on
the street,” said Schmidt.

Chinese think Phil Silvers
looks like the Dalai Lama

LONDON (AP) — A Chi-
nese soldier in Tibet who
tried _to_tear_off_a British

Two-Gallon

reported.

She said he accosted her
and tried to rip off the
T-shirt, then a crowd of Ti-
betans gathered, pointing at
the portrait and chanting
“Dalai Lama!

The tourist, from Seaton in
southwest England, said she
wrenched free, crossed her
arms over her chest and fled
to find a change of clothes.

Bilko has become a cult
figure in Britain because of

agreed

and the

Monday o¥
365-7266 and ask for cir-
culation.

[Castlegar News

Need cleaning. $1.50 each
CASTLEGAR NEWS
197 Columbia Ave.
197 Columbia Ave. 365-7266) Castlegar

WEEKLY SEWING SPECIALS
papery) ars . 30% Off

Nov. 23-30 45” Printed Flannelette
fog, $5.95,

Dec. 1-5 All Fall Fashions . . .

Dec. 7-12 All Corduroy wise w:

CARTERS SEWING CENTRE
pon

ING OUR BEST TO SERVE YOU
623 Columbia Ave., Castlegar 365-3810

LICENCED DINING ROOM
PEN 4 P.M. DAILY
WESTAR & COMINCO VOUCHERS ACCEPTED
— AIR CONDITIONED —
Reservations for Private Parties — 365-3294
Located one mile south of Weigh Scales in Ootischenia.

ation in the town of Gyangste
when a solider on a bicycle
noticed the shirt with the
likeness of the character Sil-
vers played in the 1950s tele-
vision series, the Guardian

late-night reruns of the U.S.
series by the BBC. Tait, an
avid fan, told the Guardian:
“Looking back on it, I sup-
pose he does look a bit like
the Dalai Lama.”

Police file

There were no injuries
following a two-vehicle acci-
dent at the intersection of
Columbia Avenue and 3rd
Street the evening of Nov. 3.

A 1976 Ford. sedan driven
by Ralph McAllister, 67, of
Ootischenia received $750
damages while a 1974 Ford
van driven by Richard Card,
46, of Castlegar sustained $50
damages.

Police report McAllister
was driving north on Colum-
bia Avenue about 7 p.m.
facing a green light and. Card
was westbound on 3rd facing
a red light. Card stopped and
noted MeAllister approach.
ing. He proceeded to make a

right turn onto Columbia
Avenue and McAllister was
unable to avoid the collision.

Card was charged with
failing to yield.

“68 «

Police report approxi-
mately $2,000 worth of equip-
ment was taken from a Mott
grader at a construction site
near the Christian Academy
on Broadwater Road. The
theft occurred sometime be-
tween Nov. 10 and 13.

As well, some windows
were smashed on an ex-
cavating machine owned by
Giengér Contracting. Police
are stilt investigating.

‘ Briefly

Talks break off

Proposal that a union negotiator called “not too
encouraging.”

“The company made a proposal to us, but I must
say it's not the most encouraging proposal,” said Ron
Fontaine, chief for the IK. i
Association of Machinists.

He said the union will study the company's
proposal and will submit a counter-proposal today.

Costs to drop

OTTAWA (CP) — The cost of overseas telephone
calls and calls using teleprinter services will drop on
Jan. 1, says the Canadian Radio-television and Tele-
communications Commission.

The rate reduction ia in keeping with an
agreement that saw the Montreal-based Memotec
Data Inc. buy Teleglobe Canada Inc., which was a
profitable Crown corporation that served as. the.
national overseas telecommunications carrier.

Rate changes approved by the CRTC will cut the
average cost of a one-minute call overseas to $1.86
from $2.15. .

Treatment closer

CORNWALL, Ont. (CP) — AIDS research is
closer to finding ways of treating the deadly disease
than it is to a vaccine, says the French doctor who
isolated the virus.

“There seems to be more progress towards
treatment, but things could change in six months,” Dr.
Lue Montagnier, the world’s leading AIDS reseachers,
said at a national AIDS education conference.

“The only thing we can do now is inform,
especially the young people, so we can prevent it,” he
said. “We don't have a vaccine. We don't have a cure.”

Ginsburg probe

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former U.S. Supreme
Court nominee Douglas Ginsburg’s work on a Justice
Department cable television case while he had nearly
$140,000 US invested in a Toronto cable company is
the subject of a preliminary departmental inquiry, a
federal law enforcement official says.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity,
said that the inquiry is being conducted by the office of
public integrity — part of the criminal division of the
Justice Department where Ginsburg worked as head
of the antitrust division from 1985 until he became a
federal appeals judge last November.

Premier quits

ROME (AP) — Premier Giobanni Goria resigned
Saturday after the tiny Liberal party backed out of his
problem-plagued, 3%/-month-old coalition government
over proposed tax increases.

President Francesco Cossiga asked Goria, a
Christian Democrat, to stay on until a new govern-
ment is formed.

Goria's government was the 47th in Italy since the
Second World War. The shortest was the 1972
nine-day of Giulio Andreotti.

The president could ask Goria to try to put
together a new coalition or turn the challenge over to
someone else. Cossiga is d to begin di i

|
|

|
|
|

FRIDAY NIGHT FENDER BENDER . . . Friday the 13th
proved to be unlucky for the driver of this vehicle after

the car was
Police i

CLIFF MICHAEL

Smith rejects probe

VICTORIA (CP) — Attorney General Brian Smith has
rejected an NDP call for an investigation into the
resignation of former highways minister. Cliff Michael
because there is no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

~ “The man is guilty of bad judgment, but there is no
évidence that supports criminal wrongdoing,” Smith said
Friday after the investigation was sought by Moe Sihota, the
NDP member for Esquimalt. “And the man has paid a very
heavy price for what he did.”

Michael resigned his portfolio Thursday after he

dmitted he app West i
following a cabinet committee meeting last summer about
selling land the minister held in his Shuswap-Revelstoke__
riding.

Michael followed the initial meeting with a phone call
and sent the businessman a company brochure listing him as
president.

It was the brochure — and the threat of media coverage
of a possible conflict-of-interest situation — that led to the

today with leaders of the major parties.

Mine found

MANAMA (AP) — A Soviet-flag oil tanker
sighted a floating mine in the northern Persian Gulf
Saturday in the same general area where another
Soviet vessel was damaged by one earlier this year,
shipping investigators said.

The London-based Lloyd's Shipping Intelligence
Unit identified the ship as the 32,040-tonne Mak-
hachkala.

Bomb kills seven

BEIRUT (AP) — A nail-packed bomb hidden in a
box of chocolates exploded in the crowded lobby of the
American University Hospital on Saturday, killing
seven people, including the woman who was carrying
it.

Thirty-seven people were wounded.

The device contained about one kilogram of TNT,
a rifle grenade and dozens of nails, said police Col.
Mounir Maalouli. “We found nails in the bodies of the
victims.”

He quoted a Lebanese soldier wounded in the
blast as saying a nervous-acting blonde was sitting in
the lobby with the box of chocolates when “the parcel
exploded.”

Nureyev returns

MOSCOW (AP) — World-renowned ballet dancer
Rudolf Nureyev returned Saturday to the country he
abandoned 26 years ago, saying he is glad he can visit
his sick mother at her home in the Ural mountain city
of Ufa.

Nureyev defected in Paris in 1961 during a tour
with the Kirov Ballet of Leningrad and soon became a
featured performer in the United States. His
permitted visit is an apparent outgrowth of Soviet
leader Mikhail Gorbachev's campaigns for a more open
society and rectification of some errors of the past.

Rally stormed

KWANGJU, South Korea (AP) — Presidential
candidate Kim Young-sam was rushed to safety by
bodyguards Saturday when supporters of another
opposition candidate threw rocks and sticks and
stormed the dais during a campaign rally.

Demonstrators shouting the name of rival
candidate Kim Dae-jung broke up the rally.

Appeal rejected

BANGUIAP) — The Supreme Court has rejected
Jean-Bedel Bokassa’s appeal of his death sentence for
crimes committed during his 18-year reign, but no
execution date has been set.

The court in the Central African Republic
rejected Saturday the former emperor's argument
that as chief of state he was not subject to normal
criminal prosecution for his actions.

Bokassa, 66, was convicted June 12 or ordering
systematic illegal arrests and of having at least 20
political opponents murdered, He was also convicted
of diverting huge sums from the state treasury.

|
|

Premier Bill Vander Zalm said Friday.

Vander Zalm i the j of
BCTV reporter Eli Sopow after the reporter told the
premier he knew about Michael's effort to sell his land three
weeks earlier.

OFFERED JOB

Sopow, who has been offered a job with the premier's
office, made the revelation during a media gathering with
Vander Zalm. He said he confronted Michael with the
allegations and Michael confirmed them.

Vander Zalm said he was “disappointed” Sopow did not
air the story at that time and asked why he “sat on it.”

Sopow said he had more research to do on the story and
told Vander Zalm some sources had not come forward when
he talked to Michael. He would not comment on his job
negotiations with the premier’s office other than to say all
good reporters “get five or six job offers a year.”

Questions about what government officials knew about
the Michael affair and when they knew it dominated inter-
views with Vander Zalm and David Poole, his principal
secretary.
At one point, Vander Zalm contradicted Poole on what

~ oe
(fa

CLIFF MICHAEL
. .. paid high price

call — at the convention but drew the conclusion there
“wasn’t much to them.” .

It wasn't until Vander Zalm was questioned Thursday
morning that the premier’s office decided to launch its own

prompted the premier's office to i Michael
further.

Vander Zalm said he ordered the investigation after
learning about the phone call and the brochure but Poole
said the premier acted after he was asked about Michael by
Sopow on Thursday morning.

HEARD RUMORS,..

Poole said he first heard ramors about Michael's actions
before the Social Credit convention Oct. 22. He said he,
“briefly” mentioned them to Vander Zalm before the
premier left for his 10-day trip to Japan and Hong Kong.

“They certainly didn’t sound serious enough to postpone
a trip to Hong Kong,” Vander Zalm said.

Poole said he also talked to Michael about the rumors —
which Poole said made no mention of the brochure and phone _

Ottawa tries to

Poole said. That investigation revealed the
phone call and, more importantly, the brochure.

“Those were considerably different things that what we
had been hearing. I don’t think (Michael) treated this in his
own mind as a serious matter.s But as more became known,
it was obvidus thi, was more serious than originally
thought.”

Stephen mer minister of intergovernmental
affairs, ‘takes over. ichael’s responsibility for trans-
portation and highviys. Rogers had to resign from ‘the
environment earlier this year over a perceived
conflict of interest but was quickly named to ini
mental affairs, a post later taken over by the premier'’s
office.
Conflict charges-resulted in Stan Hagen’s resignation
last summer as advanced education minister but he was
reappointed two weeks later following an investigation by
the deputy attorney general. Jack Kempf quit as forests
minister ing of of travel
funds in his office and now sits as an Independent.

B.C. BINGO
BATTLE
RAGES ON

VANCOUVER (CP) — A bitter bingo war in i
Columbia is in danger of “going nuclear” and has led to
the suspension of more than 100 licences, #
spokesman said.

“There's definitely a war going on and it’s in d i
of going nuclear,” said Al Hintz, acting director of the
gaming control branch. “Some charities aren't getting the
25 per cent of revenues they are supposed to and the
government has decided to get this back under control.”

Win

Most other provinces have similar regulations
requiring that a certain percentage of the take — in some
cases up to 50 per cent — be turned over to charities.)

But competition in British Columiba's $150-million-a.’
year bingo has become so intense, says
that parlors have begun offering larger and larger prises
to attract players. be

CHARITIES SUFFER

As a result, charities, which rely on the bingos, for
funds, have often not been getting the 26 per cent of
proceeds they are required to receive under provincial
law.

The problem-is for the most part linked to competi-
tion between large bingo halls which have
around B.C. in the last few years. Unlike the traditional
small-time bingos in smokey chureh basements, the big
halls sit hundreds of people and offer prizes as high as
$1,000.

‘There are 65 such professional opérated bingo halls
in British Columbia, said Hintz, and as they compete for
the business of the 2,000 charities in the province holding
bingo licences they risk not having enough money left
over to meet the 25-per-cent requirement. As well, some
halls have had to close because of the licence suspensions,

“Three and four of these halls are opening just blocks
from each other,” Hintz said. “Sheer logic would suggest
there will be big problems. We have to do something
about this mess.”

WANTS PROOF

For now the government will not give licences to
charities using any new professionally run bingo halls
unless it can be shown they will provide the 25-per-cent
cut, said Hints. n

“We're not trying to drive them out of business, but
we're near the saturation point in terms of professional
halls.”

The B.C. government fears bingo could get out of
control as it did in Manitoba five years ago when jackpots
grew larger to attract players, but the amount of money
left over for charities dried up.

the

s stepped in
and took over the operation of all bingos. Now all
revenues after expenses must be turned over to charities.

Norma Mitchell, head of the B.C. Bingo Lottery
Operators’ Association, supports the suspension of
licences.

“It will turn into a cancer,” she ssid. “If one can

Association which is affected by the suspensioiis; sald thy

hold a bingo.’ ’ *
“There are more than 200 charities who want to hold
bingos right now,” he said. “Where are they going to go?”
‘The association is going to court to challenge the
government's action and in the meantime will seek an
injunction to carry on business.

Lumber tax will
not be abolished

WASHINGTON (CP) —
Canada’s tax on softwood
lumber exports to the United
States won't be abolished
‘across the country as Ottawa lukewarm to the idea.
had hoped, federal, provincial A senior Ontario forestry
and U.S.: industry sources official said the 5
which accounts for a fifth of
Canadian lumber exports to
the United States, reluct-
antly accepts the federal tax.
But it won't hurt its lumber

phase out the tax nationally.
Other smaller exporters,
such as Alberta and the
Maritime are also

Quebec have agreed to re-
place the tax with equivalent
provincial mieasures, the
sources The tax was
imposed by Ottawa to placate
U.S. lumbermen demanding
protectionist tariffs.

sell trade deal

OTTAWA (CP) — The
federal government has be-
gun to flood the country with
16 million pamphlets singing
the praises of the Canada-
U.S. free-trade deal.

The literature, which in-
cludes more than 20 titles,
has already begun to appear
in post offices, supermarkets
and mail boxes.

A spokesman for the Trade
Department, Paul Fortin,
said on Thursday that print-

Lawyers for both sides are
working out the final text of
the deal, signed Oct. 3 in

Washington.

The total budget for pro-
moting the pact is $12.7
million for the current and
previous fiscal years. About
$2.7 million was spent in the
last fiseal year, and $3 million
is being held to promote the
deal after the final text is
ready.

Beginning next week, hun-
dreds of small printers across
Canada will begin production
of two series of pamphlets.
One series will deal with six
free-trade issues, the other
with each of Canada’s six

Nine million pamph-
lets have been ordered.

Police
look into
murder

KELOWNA, B.C. (CP) —
RCMP are investigating the
fatal shooting of taxi driver
Roche Frie, 25, whose body
was discovered early Friday
in a school yard in this
Okanagan city.

His taxi was found later in
the day a dis-

Suspect
committed

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C.
(CP) — A man arrested in the
Fraser Valley last spring has
been commited to stand trial
on two murder charges.

Thomas James Cunning-
ham, 30, of Port Coquitlam, is
charged in the death of Mary
Beverly Williams, a 32-year-
old former resident of Burns
Lake, whose body was found
in the Fort Fraser area last
year.

Cc h. is also

tance from the school.
RCMP said Frie was shot
to death with a single bullet.

in a murder that
dates back to 1980 — the
death of Jay Jack Bauming.

anies that led the assault on
Canadian softwood last year.

When Ottawa agreed to the
16-per-cent levy last Decem-

would raise the price of Can-
adian lumber by the same
amount. Under the terms of

Despite more than 11
months of negotiations, Ot-
tawa has failed to persuade
all the provinces to accept a
formula to replace the tax,
the officials said.

British Columbia and Que-
bec have raised tree-cutting
fees to offset the federal tax,
which generates $600 million
a year in revenue and has
helped shrink Canada’s share
of the U.S. lumber market.

ONTARIO SAYS NO

Ontario, which opposed the

lumber agreement, has re-

pro-
posals from Quebee and B.C.
on Tuesday, but refused to
say of the measures would be

“We'll look and listen to
what they have to say, that’s

Fair Lumber Imports.
Many lumber analysts be-
lieve U.S. companies would
welcome the stumpage fee
imereases proposed by B.C.
and Quebec because it would
benefit those of them who
compete. with Canadian
companies overseas.
provincial timber-
cutting fees would boost pro-
duction costs for the entire
Canadian forest industry, in-
cluding pulp and paper, and
make it easier for U.S. comp-
anies to compete in Japan